The Gorrilla Water Collar

[Guest]

Yes bugsuperstar

Robin, my design has evolved to resemble your drawing, except that the jug is buried until the top is level with the ground. This will allow the water to be released slowly below the soil surface

I hope Backcountry gets his internet provider prob.em straightend up. He's an important, experienced contributor to these conversations.

 

[cannabal13]

Silverback, i'm blown away. your original device is exactly what i need. up to 115 degrees here in the desert for a couple of months. You could water good in the morning and by noon the top 3 inches will be dry. i knew leaching water was the trick and here's the affordable delivery system to do it. I was thinking of making a closed, little bit larger, square pvc system for each of my 2 holes with a tee for a bottle on each side for 4. couple of bucks extra for tees, but a bargain for more water and a surrounding soak. So simple, so effective...thanks so much. pics soon. 1cannabal

 

[lunatick]

great ideas

great ideas

hi all i live in arid region near the sinai desert ,these ideas will help me a lot,i`m gonna try and implement some of them soon.

last summer i`ve experimented with backcountrys wet pot idea in my veg garden,with great results(tnx for that btw).

i`ve seen something similar to the water collar,they use a 2" pvc pipe packed with water crystals,looks use full. here`s the link.

sorry for my bad english

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg050146536217.html

 

[Guest]

cannabal 3, thats the value of this site, were all able to share our thoughts. Ive learned from experienced growers and newbs alike here on this site. I hope my contributions are valuable. This is really just an extension of the groundwork and research done by Backcountry. He had already invented the wheel, i just made it roll a little better.

thanks for the link lunatic. That's interesting and has the wheels turning. Im looking at disposable diaper material which is the same substance as the chrystals and absorbs 4x its own weight in moisture. The are much cheaper than water chryst.

Each grower will benefit from customizing the idea to his enviroment. Here's hoping for plentiful moisture for all of us.

 

[cannabal13]

Put duct tape on the threads of the bottle either 1 or 2 layers most likely 1, and it'll wedge into the 1" opening of the t to a t. i bought the threaded t (top) and the threads grab the duct tape. i want to bury the collar at least 3 inches deep so i got a short riser with threads for each t to bring it up. cannabal

 

[Cerb]

Subscribed. Don't mind my intrusion.

 

[coxswain]

Wow! This makes so much sense. Vacuum in reservoir that's created with a help of gravity pumping air trough dry soil. I've just put together a basic setup for testing this principle. I've used a half liter plastic soda bottle and stuck it approx 3 centimetres deep (a little more than an inch) into one of my decorative home flovers. I wattered the flower just prior. So far water levels are stable. I'm anxious to see if they'll drop. Probably will as the soil dries up. This baby really likes water.

Anyway ... questions rose while thinking of this. How do we prepare soil for holes we dug up? Do we still use ferts as much as before? With this method ferts can be easily added to a reservoir while refuling.
What's the optimum depth?
How important is placement of reservoir? Can it be buried to the watering level or should it be above those levels to ensure enough "gravity pressure"? Anyone experimenting with this?

@Silverback.
With your double reservoir setup ... how will you refuel? If one will be in the ground and the other poping out how will you separate them to refuel? Or will you make a sealed hole in the upper reservoir for refuling?

regards

 

[lunatick]

a mini ver i made/

a mini ver i made/



just planted 1 auto flowering seedling in it outdoors(snl).

my hope that this mini ver could supply water for 6 days or so,i added some rock mulch on top.

I'm also experimenting with water crystals,i took apart a diaper and got a nice amount.

 

[jakeh]

Silverback,
I just picked up a pack of ghs white widow as well as himalaya gold based on your recommendation. I am probably going to grow just a couple of each along with 2 power plants from dutch passion. So far I have 2 holes dug with the biggest planters home depot has plopped down inside them filled with miracle grow moisture control, 2 mounds of the same on top of the ground and am considering a third option using hempy buckets. I figured between the moisture control, time release ferts and roots going out the bottom I should be in good shape for water. I actually have 2 other holes dug I dropped a couple of bales of coir in but I am worried about having to constantly feed them which is where my hempy buckets question comes in.
Do you think if I strapped 2 5 gallon buckets together with 1 bucket 2 inches higher than the other using the higher bucket as a 5 gallon rez with the lower bucket as the hempy bucket I could have something close to a maintenance free outdoor hydro set up? I am going to order a couple of smartvalve mkII's to stick at the bottom of the hempy bucket and see what happens. It does not meet the cheap criteria of your guerilla collar.
$20 smart valve
$15 buckets and plumbing
$ 8 seed
$10 coir and perlite
for a total of $53 per hole plus an easy 1-2 hours of labor.
This is actually only $15-$20 more than my giant planter holes. My mounds were no more than the cost of dirt but termites got them last year and cut my crop back considerably. Any major problems with this idea?
jake

 

[Guest]

Dang it sound expensive jakeh.

Its just my opinion , but i dont think a maintenance free grow is really possible unless adequate rainfall is recieved. In any situation that requires watering, I think you have to tend to them periodically regaurdless of the set up. The real goal in my mind is to reduce as much as possible the trips, time and resources required to keep them growing well.

If it were me, i would dig my holes and not put a container at all but a hole liner using weedmat and then just fill the hole with the MG and bury a 1 gallon milk jug 12" from the plant. this method will allow your plant to access an moisture in the natural soil but not allow pooling that can occur in a container. The 1 gallon milk jug will provide enough moisture for 4 days in the worst drought conditions - 95 degrees, windy and no nightime cooling for extended periods. The jug will provide adequate moisture for a couple of weeks if any rainfall is recieved or their is some moisture in the ground alread.

Maintenance free is a tough order.

 

[lunatick]

a small update the mini water collar works just fine,my plant is unfortunately a male.

average temps are about 30c and i could water the plant every 9 days or so at this early stage.

plant is healthy and show no signs of under\over watering,ill try to get some pics next week when ill end his life and keep its pollen.

 

[foo_bird]

http://www.irrigro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=58
I've used this before and it seems to work

 

[Guest]

I was in the hardware store yesterday and saw a product called "vacation watering system". It was a conal shaped container that gets poked into the ground and inside of the container is a gel based water that is released at a consistent rate over a 2 week period. Im going back to get the name of the product. as that sounds promising.

 

[blynx]

I was in the hardware store yesterday and saw a product called "vacation watering system". It was a conal shaped container that gets poked into the ground and inside of the container is a gel based water that is released at a consistent rate over a 2 week period. Im going back to get the name of the product. as that sounds promising.

They are GelSpikes, manufactured by The Direct Root. Their products use DriWater

 

[BACKCOUNTRY]

Dri-water! Heheh! There were whole threads on that stuff a couple years ago! I was wanting to try the stuff out but never got it together, any one else try them yet?

 

[5pound]

I will be this year on several of my plots, I hate relying on something like this that I have never used before so I will be monitoring it more than I theoretically should have to. I guess I should write about it during the season huh

 

[ShoeboxSherman]

...........

 

[Guest]

Hey BC, good to hear from you. I hope all is going well.

Mine are going in the ground all this week. I spent yesterday planting and have to plant everyday until next tuesday. Im finding that each planting takes about 10 minutes by the time get everything done. Im sure that since ive made all of these arraingements and done all of this work, it will rain like hell all summer. After tuesday, let it pour.

 

[HinduKushed_423]

Simplicity

Simplicity

i love this thread.

only idea i have is what about a straight tube? that might not be most efficient but if say you wanted to mid season retrofit your grow you could simply pick up an auger bit slightly larger or smaller then he tube you are putting in ?

 

[lunatick]

hi all,i pulled the male plant that i had in the mini water collar:

the plant was about 10"(autoflower)five weeks old,four weeks watering with the collar.

i took apart the root system and i noticed that the root system was small but the plant looks healthy,my assessment is that the soil has been kept too moist in my case(too many pin holes)next time ill try 4 holes in each pop bottle,however its kinda strange cos i haven't seen any signs for overwatering.

i did planted another snl seed today in the same old system,i added some water polymers this time and ill water less often this time,once every 10 days or so.
next time ill add some pics(i don't have my camera).