Sunday 21 June 2015

Automatic Watering Systems

On Wednesday I managed to fit a watering system in my large greenhouse.
Drippers going to tomatoes 
 I've had two drip kits sat in the shed for years, in fact they moved with us from our last house. I brought them from a car boot sale for £5 a box and they come with all the fittings that I need, I just had to buy some clips to hold it in place.
£5 car boot buy
 I decided to fit the first kit in the greenhouse with all the tomatoes, hopefully this will save me lots of time in the summer and they'll be watered far more regularly reducing split tomatoes and blossom end rot. Another advantage is I will feel slightly less guilty about getting our neighbours to look after all my plants and livestock, as it'll be one less job to do when we go on holiday. 

Might need to reduce the pressure

The system waters all these plants and I'll have some trays on the large shelf  (to the left-hand side) to water my chillies as well
I now need to find a good quality electronic timer to control the watering system. I'd like to add other systems on to this for my other greenhouse and an area I'm going to make for propagation.

 Anyone have any recommendations on a good reliable timer that can manage multiple watering systems?

17 comments:

  1. THAT should make life a little easier!

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    Replies
    1. Hopefully it'll cut down my night-time chores

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  2. Greenhouse Sensation have one for 37 pounds Kev.

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  3. Do you have Home Depot stores there? That's where I'd get one here.

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    Replies
    1. I tend not to go to too many shops if I can help it!

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  4. Got any old computers around? I know I have a few stored out in the shop. Those old computers can be turned into great automatic timers with an RS 232 card. Somewhere I have seen the plans for them but a little google would pull em up I think.

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    1. I'm surprised Brian below didn't suggest this one! It sounds a little full on for what I need at the moment but maybe in the future it could be something I look at doing as I'd like to use one for a security system at some point as well.

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  5. Hozelock timers. Dead simple to use, and as long as you keep them from freezing, reliable.

    http://www.hozelock.com/watering/auto-watering/water-timers/ac-180.html

    About £30 each

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    Replies
    1. Never been over impressed with hozelock but maybe I should give them another look.

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  6. I would like to get our soaker hoses on automatic times as well. Its on the list.

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    Replies
    1. My list is like yours I think! Never ending!

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  7. Hozelock....
    or Lidl do one from time to time...
    as per all their offers...
    there are two types, we've used both...
    the Hozelock one got nicked from the blue barrel we used at the allotment...
    then the barrel went!!
    Sad to say this... it would have been another plotholder!!
    Another reason we moved to France and our own land...

    The Lidl one we now have is clockwork... and is designed for the huge water pressure we have here...
    but the previous one, which replaced the stolen Hozelock, worked on a PP3 battery...
    and worked very well, too... but it was only designed for 2 Bar pressure and we have 3 Bar here... rising 5 Bar at times!!
    So we gave it to a fellow allotmenteer and friend...
    That one could be set for a totally variable weekly cycle...
    the clockwork one only does four hours max at a time...
    but we have three irrigation blocks...
    spuds, cucurbits [all of them, including the two melons] and now the mini-polytunnel for cherry tomatoes...
    and I've rigged the timer so that it can be used in-line with each block.
    The next block to be "hosed" up will be the raspberries...
    and then a drip system for the Logan, Tay and Japanese Wine berries... they are 3 metres apart... so soaker hose is no use...
    and we'll be using the clockwork one on those, too.
    It was only 9€s when we bought it...
    Lidl UK did it as well the same week...
    but I noticed that it cost more... around £12!!
    [I keep the UK Lidl site open as well as the French one...
    I can get my bro' to get stuff that Lidl don't do here...
    and send it to us!!]

    Tim

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    Replies
    1. I have got a clockwork one from Lidl that I picked up acouple of years ago so maybe I could dig out that one. ideally I'd like one I could set for when we go on holiday to make my neighbours job easier as my garden is a fair undertaking to look after!
      I need to get some water on my blueberries as last year they started dropping in the hot weather.

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  8. I need to sort out something like this as my parents do all our watering when we're away and I feel guilty about putting them to so much trouble.

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    Replies
    1. That was my main reason for putting it in - I felt guilty asking my neighbours to look after the garden, chickens and sheep!

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    2. Now you just need an automated chicken feeder ;)

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