What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Indoor Drip Irrigation Systems

  • Thread starter Grey Moss
  • Start date
Hey everyone, lately I've been thinking about setting up a drip irrigation system. I've been wanting to set up a system for a while now to avoid having to move my plants around so much to water them all as well as having a more reliable way to water them while I'm away. Looking online I've got all the basics down for what I need to do.
I would need:
Tubing
Drip nozzels
A submersible pump
A timer for the pump

Is there anything that I'm missing that I would need? Any tips from others that have similar systems set up?
 
A reservoir to hold the water. If you want it to recycle the water you will need something to catch the water and return it to the reservoir. If you don't want to recycle the water you will need to continuously refill the reservoir. So keep it in an accessible place, or hook up a float switch to an RO unit.
 
One of these days I'll try a very inexpensive bubbler system as used by window sill farms. Unfortunately the Window Farm website shut down which had plans but the principles are very simple using an aquarium air pump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXe7Cqh7XtE

Here's a drip system based on a traditional water pump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWJ_8uq_y4

If you don't want a recirculating system you could always use a gravity fed system using a digital hose timer:
https://www.orbitonline.com/product...e-faucet-timers/1-dial-1-outlet-digital-timer

I suggest you find the MythBusters episode 212 on if water boiled in microwave oven will kill plants which shows a gravity fed system using these timers.

Edit: Here is the full episode 212 on Dailymotion
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mtwlw
 
Last edited:
Raistlarn- Yeah. I do have a vessel that will serve as the reservoir. I wasn't planning to make it a recirculating system just to simplify it for now.

NAN- thanks that was very informative.
 
I just got all the necessary parts today in the mail so I set to assembling the drip system today.


Tubing, water pump, timer, and nozzels


Elbow pieces


One irrigation section assembled


Pump and tubing adapter assembled




Tubing installed into the rack


The reservoir


The pump attached to the rack tubing and ready to water

Overall this wasn't too difficult of a project. One thing that I wish I did differently was pick a different type of tubing. The one I used was very stiff and proved hard to bend into place without making a mess of the plants.

Over the next week I'll work out how long the pump needs to run each day to provide the right amount of water.
 
Looks good. let us know how it works out.
 
Back
Top