Drip irrigation system
terence.mccallum
Posts: 72
Hi all, I sometimes go away for a few days and with having a large greenhouse have problems watering my plants, I am thinking of buying a drip irrigation system can anyone give me advice on the pros and cons of these systems and what system is the best value for money
thanks Terry
0
Posts
If you have a tap from which a hose can be run to the greenhouse, I would suggest the Hozelock irrigation system. I use one for pots and baskets, but it would work well for a greenhouse too.
There are systems which use gravity feed from a water tank, which might be more practical for a large greenhouse but I don't have personal experience of those.
Hozelock and Gardena are the most common systems you will find in garden centres. I have had poor experiences with the automatic water timers from both these manufacturers with none ever lasting more than 2 years before dying. I have just picked up a new timer from Screwfix which has the advantage of being much cheaper than the other two so at least if it doesn't last any longer I will have spent less.
It takes a bit of experimentation to fine tune whichever system you pick so factor that in and the time it will take before you leave it on auto.
The pro is that it will water while you are away. The con is that it won't feed, and may overwater and deplete the compost of nutrients if you don't keep an eye on it. If you set the timer for a set period, it does not adjust for the fact it may have been dull all day and not need watering, or boiling hot and need watering twice. I believe that to do that accurately you have to have an "electronic leaf:"
get plant sensor ,soil moisture must be 80 ~ 82% -grow stimulated moister.
self watering soaker will keep moister at minmum, or optimum depends on water height.water level(water pressure) equal to water amount and moisture.fail safe metod is minumum self watering with manual correction ,depends from wheater.
http//m.ebay.ie/itm/20x-Self-Watering-Plant-Automatic-Drip-Irrigation-System-Spike-by-Gravity-/282527554836?hash=item41c7f45d14%3Ag%3AXY8AAOSw3YJZQtNU&_trkparms=pageci%253A3f7e12bd-58f8-11e7-92ba-74dbd180c1bc%257Cparentrq%253Adae267d715c0a88a8dd3b722fffdc676%257Ciid%253A7
Thanhs for the advice everyone, I might try and set up something as per Mikes advice thanks agin