Automatic watering

[Token LaRoche]

Not getting a search hit on this.

I'm running into a couple of situations recently that might interrupt my ability to care for my plants. Work project might drive me out of town for a week or more and family summer plans could do the same. My "grow operation" is tiny and I'm a noob.

I'm looking for suggestions to put this all on "auto pilot" for a bit, should the need arise. I'm pretty sure I can get a "trusted friend" to manage it if I have to go that route, but would like to avoid that if I can.

Thoughts? Given where I'm at today, I probably just need a way to water things just once in my absence. Two pot plants in two plant pots; starting to look good.

What do you do when you have to leave for a week or more?

Token LaRoche Reviewed by Token LaRoche on 04-06-2013. Automatic watering Not getting a search hit on this. I'm running into a couple of situations recently that might interrupt my ability to care for my plants. Work project might drive me out of town for a week or more and family summer plans could do the same. My "grow operation" is tiny and I'm a noob. I'm looking for suggestions to put this all on "auto pilot" for a bit, should the need arise. I'm pretty sure I can get a "trusted friend" to manage it if I have to go that route, but would like to avoid Rating: 5

[Mal420xl]

there are all kinds of watering controllers out there. check out just about any hydro shop online and look under irrigation or water management. they have tons of them. a week isnt all that long unless its really hot and dry. you could probably get away with letting them dry a bit and then give them a good dousing before you left.

[Token LaRoche]

Thanks, mal. I picked up a "Claber Oasis" thingamajig. It's a 6+ gallon bucket with a timer that runs on a 9v battery. Gravity feed and will probably get the job done if the plants don't consume much more than they already are. Looks like the issue on this might be the feed rate (not so much the capacity).

I just split a gallon between my two plants and got zero runoff (last watered 4 days ago). The girls are getting thirsty.

[tlranger]

The more you automate, the more your needed. Things happen, the plants needs change. Just check and recheck before you leave. I too use automation to gain some time, just seems like about the time I get comfy, then it bites me

[Token LaRoche]

Lots of truth there, tl. I kinda dig the automation stuff, so this is fun. Could see setting up sensors, fert mixers and running it all from a deck chair in Cancun. :rasta:

Now I gotta nother question though. From all I've read on this Claber thing, it's not too friendly with liquid ferts, which is what I use. Apparently after some time, the nutes clog the drippers and valves, but everything looks easy to clean. Looks like a long term problem if you don't clean everything, so I'm not worried about that.

The question, though... once mixed, does everything stay mixed? I mix 2-3 liquid nutes into the water (very scientific - use graduated cylinders to measure - ha!). Then I pH balance the whole batch with pH UP and the liquid indicator drops (which I'm learning to hate). My worry is that the nutes would "settle" in the water over time and concentrate at the bottom of the tank over a period of a couple days. The auto-watering system would then overfeed the plants because the nutes are no longer mixed well with the water.

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but does anyone know?

I'm really thinking that for a week or two, pH adjusted water alone will probably get the job done, so this part is probably academic.

[Mal420xl]

toss an airstone in it

[Token LaRoche]

Great answer. Thanks!

[Token LaRoche]

So, been playing with this Claber Oasis thingy for a couple weeks on and off; pretty well got it hacked for anyone interested.

It's a drip system -- you put "drippers" in your pots and feed the drippers with the Oasis tank (holds 25 liters). The Oasis has a valve and a timer (runs on a 9 volt battery), but it isn't well suited for pot growing because the timer wants to run twice a day and you can't get enough water for thirsty pot plants. You control the amount of water by the number of drippers you put in each pot and how long the valve is open. Four drippers for an hour will deliver about a liter of water. Four drippers seems about the "reasonable max" for me in one 3-gallon pot, and I've been watering almost a gallon per pot, every 4 days or so. You want the wet-dry cycle and the timer that comes with the Oasis can't do it.

Turns out, the Oasis timer is based on a PIC microcontroller, so the odds are good one could reprogram it to get what you want, but that would take some reverse engineering of the electronics and I didn't have the time or inclination for that. But, I did figure out how the valve works. Apply 9 volts and it opens. Apply 9 volts with the polarity reversed and it closes. Based on that, I threw together a little Arduino - based controller to run the valve and now have a set up that will deliver 3 liters every 4 days to each of my two plants. Arduino Uno was $15 from a Chinese Amazon dealer, $7 or so for a relay board to control the valve; misc wiring and stuff, I'm in it for about 30 bucks, and probably not much more than 2-3 hours of my time.

For the time being, I've decided not to run my liquid plant food mixture through this because of concerns that it might plug things up. But, I think it'll handle pH adjusted water just fine for a watering or three. imp: