So I am sick of watering each of my soil plants lots of wasted water right now they are in small pots as they are seedlings I will be transplanting in the next day or so. parts needed: 1-80gph pond pump $14.99 at home depot 1-air pump and stone $FREE it was kicking around $9.99 from wally world if you have to buy it 1-5gal black bucket $6.99 from hydro store 10ft 3/4" vinyl tubing $7.50 3/4" plastic T and 90deg elbow $FREE hydro shop freebie 15ft 1/4" emitter tubing $3.99 Bubble stakes adjustable from 1gph-5gph $0.99/ea Total build cost $68.48 with 25 drip stakes and including the air pump/stone Ok I'm back so here we go. After gathering all the materials listed above continue to step 1 Step 1 place bucket where you plan on keeping it somewhere out of the way but also easy to refill it when it needs to be. Step 2 place air pump close to the bucket attach the air line to the air stone and put it in the bucket. Take your pond pump and place that in the bucket. Step 3 Take your 3/4" tubing and eye it up to see how your going to have to route it mine is simple as I have the room to have the bucket in front of my plants you may have to run the hose through a hole into your cab this will all depend on your setup. See my pictures at the end for examples using T's and 90deg connectors I lay 2 rows of 3/4 tubing where I want it to go. So plan out your runs cut the lines and put it together its hard to walk you through this part because every ones setup will be different so take you time measure twice and cut once. Step 4 Take a sharp knife and poke a hole in the 3/4" tubing 1 hole for every drip stake needed and poke your emitter plugs into the holes they will take some force a little dab of water of spit makes it easier to slip them in the tube you wan them tight to avoid any leaks. Step 5 Cut your 1/4" emitter hose to length for each drip stake. I leave an extra few " so you can move the pots around or go to larger pots with out having to use new lines. Connect the emitter hose from the emitter plug on the 3/4" line to the corresponding drip stake again its a tight fit so a little water or spit helps the tubing slip on. Step 6 Fold the ends of each run of tubing and use a zip tie to hold it shut. Step 7 Now we get to test it out 7a.)spin all the drip stakes closed if you got adjustable ones. 7b.)fill bucket with water or your preferred nutrient mix. 7c.)plug in air stone 7d.)plug in the pond pump and check for leaks from any of the connections if you spot a leak fix it before going to step 8. Step 8 8a.)Open one stake to where the water output is acceptable leave the rest shut. 8b.)Turn off pond pump 8c.)open the rest of the stakes to match the first one they don't have to be exact. 8d.)turn pond pump back on all the stakes should have water flowing out of them now. 8e.)adjust drip stakes so they are all fairly even in flow Step 9 Put down the watering can, cup, jug what ever you used to use as you are no longer a slave to these plants plug in your pump once a day. For my little pots it takes 15-20sec to get run off then I shut it off and that's it once every day or two. Bigger pots will require a longer run time you can also plug the pond pump into a 24/7 digi timer if your going on VAC and it will water your plants every day at the same time. Here are some pics of my set up this took me literally 20min start to finish
Thanks! Might be the way for me when I start flowering. Although it takes out all the love you give to plants and all the time you spend with each other. LOL plenty of time to spend after there harvested...right?
