Set up a new drip system. How many emitters are needed

hotrodharley said:

"Drip irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface.Wikipedia

We used drip irrigation in farming starting a long time ago. The purpose is to deliver slowly. Like fewer drip emitters over a longer period of time. I personally am not experienced using a drip system over a period of just a few hours.[/QUO

Thanks for input. I gotta keep trying it and see what works out.

nurrgle said:

I think you have enough emitters per site, I use a very slow drip as well and it works great for me.

I currently running 2l per day to my indoors during flower in 7 gals. Run the water three times per day for 4 min each time.

Just watch your girls they will let you when they are happy

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Thank you. With yhe outdoor I wasn't sure the best way to do it. I am using soil not coco. And they each need 5 gallons so not sure if it should go on multiple times a day or one time until the water is gone

goofy81 said:

I think with drip irrigation, the approach is a slow enough feed to really saturate every bit of coco.
3 times per day for 4 minutes each.. I used to do that and still at the end of my grow, my roots are still crowded at the bottom.
I now run my pumps for 10 seconds on, 2 minutes off for a duration of 30-40 minutes. It's amazing as the roots are now everywhere and even climbing into the drip hoses!!
But it all depends on how powerful your pump is too. With my last crop I was really amazed with the root distribution on my 11 gallon airpots

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Thank you. I am in soil not coco. And its outdoor so the 15 gallon pots need about 5 gallons every 3 or 4 days. What would you recommend for a schedule with those? I have the green drip emitters. 4 per pot. I believe they are 2gph. What size pump would you reccomend and how often/ how many times per day. Thanks again

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hotrodharley said:

My digital timer has 8 possible cycles in 24 hours. Check them out. Each cycle has an On/Off time and you can set it for daily.

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TrichomeChaser said:

Yeah I have one of the timers where I can set several different times. What I'm trying to figure out is the best way to utilize the system to ensure I'm getting a sufficient amount of water to all the roots. As I mentioned before with the pump that I have right now it took about 4 or 5 hours for the 30 gallons to get to the 6 plants through 4 drippers per pot. 24 total.

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hotrodharley said:

Turn it on, time how long it takes before first run off. Set the time to run that long at regular intervals . If it's too wet after a while simply reduce the "On" time each cycle.

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greenvalleysupp said:

Your feeders should be rated at some type of flow rate, use that to try to figure out what you want to feed over a 24hr cycle and then split it up over 4 - 6 feeding periods. As others pointed out the benefit of drip feeding is to spread feeding out over a long period to enable constant saturation of the plant medium.

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TrichomeChaser said:

I might need a stronger pump. They just don't seem to be dripping equally in every pot. How strong of a pump would you recommend?

Ill have to get the new pump and try that out. I'm pretty sure the girls will take atleast 6 gallons each before getting any runoff



The drippers are rated at 2gph I believe. But I dont think the pump im using is strong enough to actually push that amount out to all the plants. Trying to figure out what pump ill need.

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hotrodharley said:

Your drip lines should be equal lengths to assure equal pressure. No idea on the lift (head) you need.

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Dmannn said:

I have adjustable emitters on 1/4 line used just for water. Each 100 gallon pot has 3 around the plant. Works pretty good even with a filter. Like these

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F29VQJD/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?psc=1

I also use a moisture meter like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Moisture-Dr-meter-Hygrometer-Outdoor-S10/dp/B00PTLGKSQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533334347&sr=1-5&keywords=moisture+meter

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TrichomeChaser said:

Yeah I did make sure to mAke them all the same length so that one wasnt getting more water then the other. However, it happened anyway but I'm assuming its because the pump is not strong enough. I think yhe one I was using was. 250gph so I just grabbed a 400gph today that I need to try out.


Thanks man. I was looking for emitters like that at the grow store but they only had the single drip ones. I may switch to what you just showed me if these ones don't do the trick, hoping the stronger pump will give me even distribution from all the emitters.

What is your schedule like in the 100g pots? You run it multiple times a day? How many days per week? If you dont mind me asking. Thank you

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Dmannn said:

So far once a week. I leave the water on for about 2-3 hours until the pots feel wet on the outside. I will have to increase watering as the plants swell.

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TrichomeChaser said:

Oh yeah thats not bad at all. What stage are yours at right now? Starting to stretch? How much water do you think they each get in that 2-3 hours of water on?

Mine are just starting to do some real stretching outside. Couple shooting out alot of pistils that are starting to flower earlier then the others. I got mine in a outdoor scrog setup because they are in a fenced in area that I can't let them outgrow. So I have 2 plants for each 8ft by 5.5ft scrog net. Sucks where I live the tap water is horrendous. Comes out at 450ppm and I refuse to use it on my plants and have it cause all sorts of problems so I have to take the extra time to fill barrels with RO water and add calmag every watering. Keeps them healthy though so ill take it.

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