I’m on the hunt for a drip system for my own personal medical cultivation. I’ll have a veg of 12 - 16 5 gallon pots at the end of vegetation and feeding into 3 flowering areas of 4 -6 5 gallon pots. I would like to keep it simple so a recirculating drip system is the plan. Issue is finding the best option for a DIY build. Where are you finding the best source for your pumps,timers,tubing,fittings etc. Local stores have limited options and steep prices. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you
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You may wish to consider a Blumat automatic drip irrigation system. For the grow setup size you described, you would not need pumps or timers; instead, the Blumats are gravity-fed from an elevated reservoir. I now use Blumats in all my coco grows. Mostly mother plants in 1-3 gal fabric pots, but I have one plant just about ready to harvest in a 10 gal fabric pot and she loves the Blumat system!
Lots of great information and customer support (including no-pressure assistance with system design) available from the folks at Sustainable Village, who have taken this originally-European product used for food crops and have applied it to cannabis cultivation.
https://www.sustainablevillage.com/blumat/blumat-kits
Let me know if there is any additional info I can provide as an end-user.
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I was looking at the blumat systems. Would the feed rate be adequate for 5 gallon pots? Also how do you suspend your reservoir above the grow? Sorry last question, if I were to get these would they be long enough to feed from outside elevated into a tent? With 4 tents my concern is with these that I would have to setup multiple reservoirs to reach all pots, say 2 per tent or one per side.
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Blumats are awesome and @mvbreleaf you can call Sustainable Village (posted above) and they have excellent customer service and will answer all your questions, especially specific grow-room set up.
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Hi @mvbreleaf,
A gravity fed system like Blumat, will definitely save you money on electricity. Also, they have reliable products and are easy to set up. I would recommend them!
When I saw the abbreviation “DIY,” it made me think about an article I had once read. I had a close friend that mimicked this set up, and it worked very well: https://cocoforcannabis.com/diy-automatic-watering-system/
This link also gives a very in depth look into creating your at-home irrigation set-up.
If you’re looking for something that is already set up for you, EasyFeed works well for at home growers: http://www.easyfeed.co.uk/index.php/systems
Hope this helps
Cheers,
Jess
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Thank you very much everyone. The information has been greatly appreciated and as always very informative. Jess, I will be reading the articles at the links you posted before I make any decisions on the next step. Thanks again for your time.
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One thing to pay attention to is the total flow rate as seen by any submersible pump with a drip irrigation system, which can take some time to feed. Sub-pumps should have a minimum flow rate specified to prevent overheating. At a minimum, you wouldn’t want to be heating your nutrients even though the pump may be serviceable for some weeks/months before failure.
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Thank you Joe. I will be sure to reference the specifications for any pumps used. It did make me think of checking for what the min/max flow rate would be required overall and at each site in order to insure proper feeding. I would think that each style of grow could be potentially quite different? A recirc drip for example. Would sizing up the pump and emitters be a matter of getting as much flow as possible during the run time? Sorry I think perhaps that might be another topic
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Your irrigation system will have a specified flow based on the number of emitters involved and the flow of each. The total back pressure of the emitters plus tubing and plumbing will be the ‘head’ that the pump sees. At the low flow rates of emitters, the plumbing back pressure is almost negligible. Any pump should have a published curve that will plot the flow against the head.
Most drip emitters require pressure in order to achieve their stated flow, centrifugal pumps aren’t very good at creating pressure. You will likely find that in order to achieve the needed pressure for proper emitter operation and even distribution, you will need to oversize the pump which will also have a higher minimum flow for thermal stability.
Alternatively, you could switch to a positive displacement pump but will need to insert a pressure tank to prevent the pump from rapid cycling and burnout.
With high-flow/low-pressure irrigation systems (1/4 GPM each or more @ <1/4 PSI), the feed circuit engineering is essential to even flow distribution.
I imagine a recirculating drip system would involve a ton of emitters to get enough flow rate and/or a very long feed time.
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