Automate drip watering

[90Gizmo]

Summary: automatic watering doesn't mean you know when or how much.

I'm using a 1/2" tube with four drippers per 10 gallon pots and a 400 gph aquarium pump. It was the hydroponics shop suggested three or four drippers per pot. The pump doesn't need to be that big but it was the smallest I could get with an acceptable to me cord length.

I've timed it a few times and get that the 12 drippers drip about a gallon in ten minutes. I would prefer it drip faster but since I'm not doing it I don't care. What automates it is that I have the pump plugged into smart switch and I have a remote reading moisture in one of the pots. I use a home automation system called Tuya. It has a learning curve but I've used it a lot so it was about a minute to set up for watering: if the grow bag moisture is less that 40% then turn on the water pump for 20 minutes. And that's 2/3 of a gallon for each of the three containers.

I've watched the plants since June and below 40% is when they start to droop. What's harder is knowing how much water to give them. I used to give them about a gallon each when they needed it but I forgot or didn't get outside and sometimes they were drooping. And I was watering them so fast some of the water probably ran out without touching much soil.

I have enough water for at least three days so that shouldn't get to drooping much. But it's still a learning curve there's things as a beginner I don't know yet: Do I want to try to keep them a constant moisture? If so then constant on the wet side or constantthe dry side? Oh it probably depends... I'm putting pH down and Cal-Mag in the bin because I don't think my amendments, GG Glacier Dust, has calcium in it. Should have got Baltic ROCK DUST.

Bottom line is it's d@mn convenient but that doesn't make it smart. I still have to look at the leaves, check for bugs and the like. I think of the automation as more of a lifeline. If I'm down and don't care, it happens, it will keep them alive for a few days. Same Tuya integrates with Alexa so after checking on them I can walk away and say "Alexa, water the weed. "

The plants are getting very thick at top. I'd expected fat buds by now but at least they're still developing. All three plants are outgrowing the green house now and I need a new net to en-ScOG the third one. I guess that's better than the other way so I'm not complaining.

Oh. I've been setting seeing this hard luck case on the local humane society page for a few months so now we have three cats.

[Bluey]

Automation with Tuya is great.
I have the same setup as you but 3 drippers in each 13 gal pot with coco. The drippers are more like sprayers and i hit them 3 times in a day in mid/late flower mostly for 1 minute. In 6 days I'd use about 26gal in the tank on 4 pots.
1 minute wasn't enough for any runoff so I'd hit it for 2 minutes on one watering every 2 or 3 days.
You're in more of a soil so my approach doesnt apply for you.
I control temps humidity and lighting all via Tuya. Its brilliant and I couldn't grow without it.

[90Gizmo]

Of course you have the same setup, you're the one that told me how to do it. Thank you. My drippers are so slow that it can take four hours to get a maximum reading from the sensor. The moisture sensor registers with Tuya as a humidity sensor, which it isn't, so it took a while of observation to see what corresponded with the need to water. And I think it's going to vary from soil to soil. Spouse used water retaining soil (yes dear, you're right again as always) for the orange tree and it reads 100% almost always and needs watering at 97%. The best thing about Tuya to me is that it keeps me from killing my plants with kindness. Now I just have to remember that no one is watering the tomatoes if I don't go outside and do it myself.

[Bluey]

I just used trial and error on the watering relying on runoff as the indicator. My climate is really stable so that helps with the watering frequency and amount.
I swapped out the drippers for mini sprayers that are adjustable. The slow drippers had a tendency to block. Even the sprayers I had to keep them off the coco as when the pump switched off it tended to draw the water back into the tank and if it was sitting on the medium it would draw it into the dripper/sprayer and block it.

I'm glad it's working for you and once you get into the whole automation thing it can really help you nail a quality crop of high yield.

[90Gizmo]

Here's a graph showing two waterings today. Each 10 gallon bag has for drippers and they are very slow. The sensor is in between two. You can see that it takes a few HOURS for the water get over to the sensor. When I water by hand I usually make one pass to wet the soil top then once more to give a soaking watering. I don't know why it just seems right to me. So the first watering starts a timer for the second watering and I think that the second one goes deeper towards the roots. Anyway the plants seem to like it.

But it is a painful learning curve and I blame the heat for making me change nutes systems. I don't think that the top dressing of Gaia Green is getting soaked by the drip irrigation and signs of malnutrition show. So I've added Cal-Mag to the last tote of water and I'm going to add some bloom nutes next.

They are starting to bud but I've given up on the idea of a September harvest and am starting my to think how to heat. I'll probably hang plastic to make he the grow area smaller and use electric.

The growth makes me feel like a midget. I've added a net to the rest of the grow area and it's all over my head. I think it must be like the view the cats get when they inspect my indoor grow.

[Bluey]

You're going to run out of greenhouse. Those things are monsters.
Let's see how things pan out temp and humidity wise in there. I guess that's the great unknown. Cold nights and hot days will push them up and up. 🤞