Moisture Sensor Controlled Watering

Anyone know of, or use moisture sensors to determine when to turn the irrigation pumps on and off? I am trying to determine how i can best leave my soil systems running on their own for a week or two at a time and ensure that things are sufficently dried before the irrigation kicks on again...

Ideas?

I'm always out of town on business. I would skip the fancy sensors. Just use a timer. Set it to run the pump for a few minutes every 4 days or whatever you need to fully water them. It's worked for me over the years.

yeah that's what I am doing now, and still overwatering... or so it would seem... it's really hard to find that balance if you're not there looking at it everyday...

if you know you are overwatering while watering every 4 days just lower the time the timer let the water go or set it to once every 5 days.

i know i need to water once every 2 and a half days right now for instance, so if i was to use automated watering system that is what i would have programed.

to check when and how much you need your pump to go water once until water goes off the draining holes and check how much time it takes until the pots become light. (when there is no water the pot is much much lighter)
thats the time you need to wait between each watering.
check how much water it takes until the plants pot is full again and fill a cup with your system and check how much time it takes to get to that emount.
thats how much the pump needs to work each time.

i would have set it to go a bit more frequent with a bit less water, just in case.

ettubrutus said:

yeah that's what I am doing now, and still overwatering... or so it would seem... it's really hard to find that balance if you're not there looking at it everyday...

Click to expand...

It takes some experimenting before you get it right. And even then it isn't exact. Plants go through more water and certain points in their life cycle so you never get it quite right - you can only hope to get close.

I see what you are hoping for with a sensor, but I'm of the opinion that simpler is mo' better when it comes to automation. It would take very little for that sensor to be a tiny bit off and you empty your reservoir in one watering trying to reach some set point and you come home to dead plants. I like the simplicity of a timer on/off.

Quit watering your plants by hand and just use the timer method and you'll get it dialed in pretty close for when you are away and it counts for real.

Like so many things, the key is practice.

Picasso345 said:

It takes some experimenting before you get it right. And even then it isn't exact. Plants go through more water and certain points in their life cycle so you never get it quite right - you can only hope to get close.

I see what you are hoping for with a sensor, but I'm of the opinion that simpler is mo' better when it comes to automation. It would take very little for that sensor to be a tiny bit off and you empty your reservoir in one watering trying to reach some set point and you come home to dead plants. I like the simplicity of a timer on/off.

Quit watering your plants by hand and just use the timer method and you'll get it dialed in pretty close for when you are away and it counts for real.

Like so many things, the key is practice.

Click to expand...

Yeah... this coming grow will be #4 that goes all the way with hopefully no casualites again... I've improved my yield about 30% each time and have always had some small little fuck up that hoses the plants just before flowering... I know the knack will come after several tries, just trying to implement some of the knowledge I've gained this last year and a half...