Automatic watering (tomatoes)

I'm thinking about installing some automatic watering in the greenhouse for the regular summer crops. As such the pots will be placed in the same position year-after-year, so I figure I can lay out some pipe, and drippers, and be able to reuse it next year without having to reconfigure or start again.

I've got a water butt outside the greenhouse, with a standard tap at the bottom. I'm imagining that I can connect up to that, adjust everything, and just make sure the water butt is full and leave it alone until the first frost!

If I put a dripper in a pot (Toms are in 11" pots) and set it at a rate I like will that work? strikes me it will just deliver water to that one part of the pot, and at a very slow rate, such that the far side of the pot will be dry.

Would I be better to water in the morning, as normal, and then turn the drippers on during the day, and off at night - so that the plants get continuous water even if I'm a bit lazy during the day (normally give them a quick drunk once or twice during the day, as well as their main drink in the morning). Presumably that way I could adjust a bit depending on what the weather forecast was; I don;t want to drown them on overcast days.

(No electricity available in the G.H.)

And other advice or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks.

 

Sounds like a good plan to me, Kristen. Though I would set it to water in the evening. If watering in the morning, most of it will have evapourated before the plants could take it up.:thumb:

 

Hi Kristen,

I have an automatic system in my greenhouse. You don't need electricity. Mine is a battery powered jobby that goes on the tap and the feed / supply hose comes off the bottom of that. You set it up so that it allows watrer to pass at scheduled times of the day. Up to three different occasions in one 24hr period and each session as short or long as you like.

I have drippers which is have placed on the soil right near the tom stems so no worries about one side of the pot being wet and the other dry. I have found that one a day for longer is better than less given more frequently.

Like Dai I like to have it come on in the evening as on a hot day that is when they are the most thirsty.

The dripper come in different kinds that allow differentrates of flow, usually measured in litres per hour. You can have different drippers all on the same system so that some plants get lots and some only a little in the same time period.

 

Thanks for that, I've got a few bits, but I'm thinking about getting some more before I start. Game plan is:

Run a distribution pipe clipped to the wall's foundation. I'll need 4 right-angle bends and a T to join to the water butt.

Install the thinner feeder pipes at intervals. I have plants at two foot intervals (matching the glass pane width), with one row near the glass, and a second next to the central path - so that's one-long and one-short for each 2' pane of glass. I might add some taps to them if, say,t he Toms get planted well before the row nearest the glass (Melons, Peppers, Aubergines).

Add some more water butts (blue ex-orange juice, or similar), and daisy-chain them, so that they will be self levelling and all contribute to the available water supply. The greenhouses total 42' x 10', and I figure that 1" of rain will give me nearly 1,000L. I expect there are times in the summer where a good thunderstorm can yield 2", so I plan to allow for 2,000L storage

It appears that Gardena make a timer that doesn't have to have a standard mains-water-tap screw fitting - i.e. it can fit a variety of push-fit type connectors.

I'm also planning to pump rain water from the house downpipes to a larger storage tank near the veg patch (100 yards from house to veg patch), and install some pipes round the garden so that supply can be used instead of Mains water for general irrigation. Plus I would quite like to replace our cesspit with a modern system, which would give me garden-quality water, at least.

Looks like it may turn into a large project!

 

That sounds like a very interesting ( and large:D ) project there Kristen. Keep us informed, please.:thumb: