Drip irrigation for vacation

All, if I were to install a drip irrigation system specifically for when I'm on vacation a few times a year and potentially can't get help. My tap water pH is typically around 8. I'm in both Dwc and ffhf/ffof/vermiculite. I have never not checked my pH except maybe once accidentally. Would 1 high pH watering be very harmful? Anything I can do to assist this or any other suggestions? Thanks community.
Maybe a fair way to do this is take a runt and water it with no pH adjust and see what happens? Worth the risk. Seeds are available everyday and clones can be cut.

Use a reservoir instead of tap water. You can set the ph/ppms and your plants will actually be fed while you are away.

waterproof808 said:

Use a reservoir instead of tap water. You can set the ph/ppms and your plants will actually be fed while you are away.

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I'm still researching how to make that all work. Would that be a gravity fed kit or something including an electric pump? Appreciate the idea, the only other downfall I'll have is lack of space. I'm maxed out in a 10x8 with a.c unit, dehumidifier nutrients and supplies and 5 tents in the space. So feeding drip lines in from the outside is the most plausible. I'm going to look more into this though. Thanks for the idea to re think

A vacation, what a lovely idea. I haven't taken one of those since I started growing quite a few years ago. I keep meaning to take a cycle off and just rest but there's always something too exciting waiting for me to grow. The reservoir idea is the best way I've thought of and then have an automatic pump on a timer hooked up to ring emmiters and just figure out how long they have to run each day to give your girls a good feed. A Rubbermaid tote would do the trick with a fountain pump and the necessary lines and fittings for the emmiters. I've just never had the extra money for it or really wanted to travel the last few years to be honest.

ExclusiveX420 said:

I'm still researching how to make that all work. Would that be a gravity fed kit or something including an electric pump? Appreciate the idea, the only other downfall I'll have is lack of space. I'm maxed out in a 10x8 with a.c unit, dehumidifier nutrients and supplies and 5 tents in the space. So feeding drip lines in from the outside is the most plausible. I'm going to look more into this though. Thanks for the idea to re think

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I use an electric pump that is connected to a smart surge protector I can control with my phone.

Blumat trop-f

i've got an auto feed setup for coco or dwc or hempy. my max is 14 days away without an issue.

Jjgrow420 said:

Blumat trop-f

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Yep. Worked for me for 9 days away earlier this month, will use it again for another 9 next month. Still have it set up and feeding as we speak.

Blumats work perfectly for soil grows.. no more worrying about your plants so you can relax on vacation…I use em all year round

You guys nailed it. Giving me faith in something like this that I basically invested no time researching thinking this wouldn't be something that would work for me. This has been extremely helpful as long as I don't F this up! I actually leave several times a year that can be 4 full days away so this should help those shorter trips too. I'm getting one ordered now and I can't wait to test it out. Assuming I'll need to figure out how to separate the two. Since I run Dwc and soil. I use different nutrients for each. Either way. Any tips for making for work or is the kit going to be fairly straight forward?
I'm looking at the medium kit now for 12 plants max. Says right in the description, go on vacation with no more worries. Best part is no batteries, timers etc. Loving this idea thank you all

Check out my thread. Lots of good info there
I'm not telling you it's the best thing. There's many routes you can go. Just some insight on the fact that they work and have worked for others as well. Good luck!

ExclusiveX420 said:

You guys nailed it. Giving me faith in something like this that I basically invested no time researching thinking this wouldn't be something that would work for me. This has been extremely helpful as long as I don't F this up! I actually leave several times a year that can be 4 full days away so this should help those shorter trips too. I'm getting one ordered now and I can't wait to test it out. Assuming I'll need to figure out how to separate the two. Since I run Dwc and soil. I use different nutrients for each. Either way. Any tips for making for work or is the kit going to be fairly straight forward?
I'm looking at the medium kit now for 12 plants max. Says right in the description, go on vacation with no more worries. Best part is no batteries, timers etc. Loving this idea thank you all

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This thread is worth a look through.

There's a few others here too. Note that you should give yourself a week or two to dial things in, though you could probably do it OK in a rush situation. The first time I set mine up it took a while for me to fuss the drips to where I wanted soil moisture, but the second time I set them, I dialed them in with no problems at all.

On my first trip out, I had them watering 14 plants (both cannabis and my vegetable seedlings in the tent, tomatoes & hot peppers). They did so well that the tomatoes stretched a foot plus while gone...and the cannabis was beautiful and healthy on return.

What I got (medium deluxe kit plus some extras):


Setup:


What it looked like all set up:


What it looked like when I got home after travel:



I like it so much that I'm just running it for everyday use now.

This is awesome. So I have a question that I'm confused on. If this is something I run regularly using fox farm soil, which I may eventually switch to rock wool but for now, since in soil should I mix nutrients every single refill, or should I be running half of a week say on water on and the other half mix in my nutrients. I know in my Dwc, I full nutrients once a week but top the pots off 1-2 times a week with water only. Do I need to maintain that same method somehow?
**Let's assume I use a large enough container to make it 4 days on a reservoir. Should I be topping it off with water only once after the 4 days (even if reservoir is 100% empty) then after 4 more refill with fresh nutrients? Does this sound right? Appreciate input folks.

ExclusiveX420 said:

This is awesome. So I have a question that I'm confused on. If this is something I run regularly using fox farm soil, which I may eventually switch to rock wool but for now, since in soil should I mix nutrients every single refill, or should I be running half of a week say on water on and the other half mix in my nutrients. I know in my Dwc, I full nutrients once a week but top the pots off 1-2 times a week with water only. Do I need to maintain that same method somehow?
**Let's assume I use a large enough container to make it 4 days on a reservoir. Should I be topping it off with water only once after the 4 days (even if reservoir is 100% empty) then after 4 more refill with fresh nutrients? Does this sound right? Appreciate input folks.

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I've been using full Ca/Mg per gallon and I've halved my nutrient load (Maxibloom at 3.5g per gallon instead of the 6 or 7 that you'd use with hand watering and alternating)...and use it all the time, no switching back and forth with just water, etc.

I got a tote that was bigger than I thought I'd need. I figured I wouldn't probably need more than maybe 10 gallon capacity, but I bought a 20. I'm actually happy that I did. I've found that my plants are really drinking more now that I'm using this system.

Last Wednesday I cleaned and refilled the tank with 8g of water/feed. I'm using it at a rate of 1.5-2g per day now(!) for my two plants in 5g bags. So, I've topped the tank a few times this past week, each time with a couple more gallons. The point being that you definitely don't want to run dry, which means you'd have to do a full reset of the system. My real goal each week is to end up with 1-2g still in the reservoir, which is easy enough for me to lift down, dump out and clean at ground level.

When I went away for 9 days I put 11g of water in the reservoir...and I should have probably put about 13 in the tank. It had run dry, but not so quickly that it harmed the plants; it was just a pain in the ass to clean and reset things, especially the lines.

So, in daily use, my week looks like:
Weekly:
-empty/clean/fill the reservoir 1 time

Daily (ish):
-Check level (made a measuring stick...super low tech) to see how the plants are drinking, add more if needed.
-Check pH (I do this at least every other day), adjust downward as things drift up.

For travel: it's fill the reservoir enough to make it for however many days you're gone...and set the pH to the low end of your range so that when it slowly drifts up during that time, you're still in pretty good shape.

If I had say 8 plants in 3-5 gal pots, what reservoir size can someone recommend. Would 2 five gallon buckets so 10 gallons be enough for say 10 days. Let's pretend they are in stretch drinking the max. From what I read they use way less water or there is less waste so I'm wondering if the actual quantity of water used over time would be much less vs hand watering each which is a gallon+ every 3-4 days typically for me, fair guess/average. This is watering in soil that is.

Good deal I appreciate this info. I'm going to need a couple big reservoirs it sounds like. If in soil then, can I water the pots by hand before I leave, then turn on the auto drip irrigation? Would it delay it's dripping because of the extra, pre wet soil? If so I'm golden and will do exactly that. Getting my ducks in a row so I'm successful out of the gate thanks to my teachers here. This drip thing really sounds legit. One day maybe I can go ebb & flow when I have a bigger room.

ExclusiveX420 said:

If I had say 8 plants in 3-5 gal pots, what reservoir size can someone recommend. Would 2 five gallon buckets so 10 gallons be enough for say 10 days. Let's pretend they are in stretch drinking the max. From what I read they use way less water or there is less waste so I'm wondering if the actual quantity of water used over time would be much less vs hand watering each which is a gallon+ every 3-4 days typically for me, fair guess/average. This is watering in soil that is.

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In 5g bags I was doing ~2-3g per bag every 4 days to get the runoff. I feel like I'm doing similar but they're actually drinking more than it going right to runoff.

My plants are 3rd week of flower right now and are drinking somewhere between .5 to .75 gallons per day each at this size:





So doing the math, that's ~1.5g a day times 7 days for 10.5g a week, so I'd not want less than 12g in the tank if I were a gambling man...because as they get bigger they get thirstier.

ExclusiveX420 said:

Good deal I appreciate this info. I'm going to need a couple big reservoirs it sounds like. If in soil then, can I water the pots by hand before I leave, then turn on the auto drip irrigation? Would it delay it's dripping because of the extra, pre wet soil? If so I'm golden and will do exactly that. Getting my ducks in a row so I'm successful out of the gate thanks to my teachers here. This drip thing really sounds legit. One day maybe I can go ebb & flow when I have a bigger room.

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You'll want to set up the system the week before and make sure it's set and doing what you want...then let it run while you're gone. And yes, the carrots 'sense' the soil dampness and only drip when it's dry enough to need it.

I'm stocking up my cart getting extra fittings and supplies. Trying to do this right. 1 last question. Does the blumat filter work with this drip irrigation and no pump or is that made only for there pump system. Didn't specify. Man I'm getting excited. Not only for Vacation but for potentially using this regularly. Thankfully I got till July 4th weekend to prep once it arrives.

ExclusiveX420 said:

I'm stocking up my cart getting extra fittings and supplies. Trying to do this right. 1 last question. Does the blumat filter work with this drip irrigation and no pump or is that made only for there pump system. Didn't specify. Man I'm getting excited. Not only for Vacation but for potentially using this regularly. Thankfully I got till July 4th weekend to prep once it arrives.

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The filters will work with the drip system. I had two (one on each leg out of my reservoir), but only one in use right now. The other wasn't sealing as well at the threads...I have some teflon tape for it, but haven't gotten around to using it on the threads.

I bought a few extra 8mm shutoff valves, the filters, some extra 8mm & 3mm tubing and a handful of extra connectors.

Having 3 8mm valves allows one for each output on the reservoir, then one at the far end of my loop for an air-bleed/flush-drain. So when I clean the system (or if I have to pull anything apart), I can shut the valves off the reservoir and do whatever and then just open them when I'm done.