Automatic watering for vacation

Anybody have some experience with this? I was wondering what the best system is to automatically water plants for a time period of 7-10 days.
I found a few devices that seemed like they'd do it but I would like to hear others opinions before I buy anything. I don't think some of these will be able to water enough for 10 days unless I added 2 or 3 in one pot.
I don't have access to a faucet, and my tap water has way to high of ppm to use anyway

I use a black bucket as a Rez and a hydro/water ring with ball valve. This is times with a Idevices switch.

Rainbird has a complete system for $30. Timer, hose and emitters.

But that runs from a faucet, I was considering it but my ppm is so high on my tap watee

ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ said:

But that runs from a faucet, I was considering it but my ppm is so high on my tap watee

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I've been thinking about this too, might have to be gone for 3 days. I'm in the same boat really. My tap water has a 9.0 ph, so I can't hook up to a faucet timer. What we need is a short interval timer, like 1 minute at a time. Mix up a rez, (5 gallon bucket probably) with the nutes we want, toss a bubble stone in the bottom to keep the oxygenation up. Toss a small volume fountain pump in there and keep the rez out of the grow area if heat can get to it. Buy a drip line emitter system, or plan it out by buying the hoses and fittings at a hydrostore or off amazon. I saw a guy build one and he used a larger main line, with smaller off shoots. He put a tee in when the main line enters the grow area and forms a loop with the main line. This equalizes pressure so your first emitter puts out the same quantity of water as the last one. So, plug your fountain pump into your timer, that will set your interval, vs a faucet based timer that just opens to a pressurized system. Then the fountain pumps usually have an adjustment for volume, which you might fiddle with to get your volume right. Set everything for a 1 minute test and record how much comes out of the emitter in that one minute interval, and use some logic regarding how much it is going to take to get the media damp. Set it up and make sure it runs for a while in advance. Make sure your rez has enough water based on your settings to not run out until you return.

If you buy a pump, make sure you size it for the proper lift capability and one that doesn't pump too many gallons per minute or hour.

Oh, and it might be a little hard on the pump, but if you want to adjust the water flow down a little, you might be able to install an inline valve and close it just a hair to choke it down a little.

Underground Scientist said:

Oh, and it might be a little hard on the pump, but if you want to adjust the water flow down a little, you might be able to install an inline valve and close it just a hair to choke it down a little.

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This is what I do, ball valve with a rai/hydro ring on a dtw system in soil. Once dialed in its autopilot. The use of a Idevices switch helps with the timing "I water once a day for 60 sec."

This is all a diffrent language to me haha I have never worked with any kind of hydro equipment. But I like that you guys actually have some ideas, I'm pretty good at DiY so maybe I can get some of this stuff together and build it. Im not leaving till July anyway

You could run from a pump in 5 gal bucket. I use a water psi regulator (20 psi) my water pressure is to high. Get the pressure compensated emitters ones otherwise your runs need to be similar to avoid pressure drop.

Jaybodankly said:

You could run from a pump in 5 gal bucket. I use a water psi regulator (20 psi) my water pressure is to high. Get the pressure compensated emitters ones otherwise your runs need to be similar to avoid pressure drop.

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He needs a Rez based system, tap water is no good. But even with a Rez and pump, pressure compensated emitters might be good. Don't they make flow regulators, like 1/2 gal per hour, etc. I think he might be looking for a low cost solution. A lot of the emitter stuff is cheap though. Timer and pump are the biggest expense, but you could probably get out of that reasonable depending on the application.

Underground Scientist said:

Mix up a rez, (5 gallon bucket probably) with the nutes we want, toss a bubble stone in the bottom to keep the oxygenation up. Toss a small volume fountain pump in there and keep the rez out of the grow area if heat can get to it. Buy a drip line emitter system, or plan it out by buying the hoses and fittings at a hydrostore or off amazon.

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I've been thinking about something like this for an upcoming vacation. But I'm worried about the bubble stone -- I've read that running one continually in the reservoir will significantly impact the pH of the water (raising it, I believe). Anyone with experience there? If that's the case you could put the bubble stone on a timer as well, and just aerate shortly before watering -- the key question being how long does it have to run? (Then it gets more complicated -- if you're gone a week, the water in the reservoir at the end has been aerated more times than at the beginning; how much does that affect the pH? I suppose you could pump into a secondary reservoir, aerate that, and then water from there -- only aerating the water you were going to use right away.)

An alternative possibility is to try to incorporate some sort of waterfall effect into the delivery of the water to the plants, so it's un-aerated in the reservoir, but gets aerated on the way to the plants.

Maybe I'm over-engineering and it's not really a practical issue -- love to hear the thoughts of those with more experience than I have.

Interesting ideas you all have, seems like a really common problem people have. I wish there was an easy to setup system already out there for this purpose.
What about a wick system? If I planned ahead and ran two wicks down the inside of each pot when I fill with dirt, then placed the 4 plants around a 5 gallpn bucket to put the other end of those wicks into, would that be enough? Maybe even three wicks spread out in each pot? I've never used wicks so I don't know how well they work

algebraist said:

I've been thinking about something like this for an upcoming vacation. But I'm worried about the bubble stone -- I've read that running one continually in the reservoir will significantly impact the pH of the water (raising it, I believe). Anyone with experience there? If that's the case you could put the bubble stone on a timer as well, and just aerate shortly before watering -- the key question being how long does it have to run? (Then it gets more complicated -- if you're gone a week, the water in the reservoir at the end has been aerated more times than at the beginning; how much does that affect the pH? I suppose you could pump into a secondary reservoir, aerate that, and then water from there -- only aerating the water you were going to use right away.)

An alternative possibility is to try to incorporate some sort of waterfall effect into the delivery of the water to the plants, so it's un-aerated in the reservoir, but gets aerated on the way to the plants.

Maybe I'm over-engineering and it's not really a practical issue -- love to hear the thoughts of those with more experience than I have.

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Our water may vary, nutes may vary, the best way is the run a test.

Scroll down on page 6, the watering ring and valve is pictured. This is going to a 5gal rez bucket with a small pond pump.

http://rollitup.org/t/club-quantum-board.935663/page-6

Don't bother with a claber system. They water 1.2 litres per day regardless of the amount of plants you have. Damn near killed mine.

ChaosHunter said:

Scroll down on page 6, the watering ring and valve is pictured. This is going to a 5gal rez bucket with a small pond pump.

http://rollitup.org/t/club-quantum-board.935663/page-6

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Was that pretty easy to set up? How much did it cost you? Would it work for 4 plants?

It's all relatively cheap, you could even take some of the same hose with holes and a T fitting to make the ring. The one you see I'm using was like $8. I would have a ball valve for every plant as some drink more than others. Also my little pump has an adjustment flow as well. So between that adjustment and the valve you see I can dial in watering at any stage of a grow.

What's the name of your pump? You just hook it up to a ball valve with some tubing then to the plant and disperse it evenly with the ring pretty much?

Kind of like these?

I just repot into large containers if I'm going to be gone for a week.