Alternatives to Hand Watering Plants

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XxHammer

XxHammer

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So, as title suggests... What is your alternative to indoor watering?

I am planning to install an RO system because the water here in AZ is horrible... And was thinking of some sort of tank that would then mist each plant. ..

Lets see what ya'll doing....
 
BigCube

BigCube

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There are several ways, I've tried about all of them.

1 DWC or RDWC
2 Drip feed
3 ebb and flow aka flood and drain
4 timed waterings eg hour on hour off
5 fogponics
6 "kratkey" aka letting them sit in water.

The only one of these I haven't tried is fogponics. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. But I find doing any of them right, contained in a small tent is not really possible. With the exception of DWC/RDWC of course.

I find that the only real way to get the control I want in a small tent is to hand water. But maybe that's just me 🤣
 
growsince79

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There are several ways, I've tried about all of them.

1 DWC or RDWC
2 Drip feed
3 ebb and flow aka flood and drain
4 timed waterings eg hour on hour off
5 fogponics
6 "kratkey" aka letting them sit in water.

The only one of these I haven't tried is fogponics. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. But I find doing any of them right, contained in a small tent is not really possible. With the exception of DWC/RDWC of course.

I find that the only real way to get the control I want in a small tent is to hand water. But maybe that's just me 🤣
I did ebb n flow for decades. It works great but you lose a little height. Dwc seems like it would be less forgiving in a power outage.
 
BigCube

BigCube

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I did ebb n flow for decades. It works great but you lose a little height. Dwc seems like it would be less forgiving in a power outage.
I'm sure it would be lol. I've only done ebb and flow with 8ft ceilings. Where do you put your reservoir?
 
growsince79

growsince79

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I had a low profile 20g under the plants. Only had about 2.5'-3' for plants. Pain in the ass changing res and washing the geolite pebbles.
 
XxHammer

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yes... this is for when I have an entire 10x10 or 12x14 room to dedicate to growing.
 
AnimalHouse

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While at home I water by hand but for vacation I set up irrigation lines of 1/2" tubing coming from a pump inside a 55 gallon barrel in the room. The pump is plugged into a smart plug and I simply open the plug's app on my ipad, turn on the pump, let it run a few minutes, then turn it off. As long as there's wifi both at my home and where ever I am on the planet I can water the garden remotely from anywhere
 
XxHammer

XxHammer

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That's awesome. That's probably what I am going to aim to do...

One issue/question that came up last night...

Pre-mixing my Watering Solution. I have been using a 5gal drum and been premixing 5 gallons at a time and it lasts 2 feeds... Is it okay to store water solution that has nutrients added? It seemed like it was almost starting to ferment....

Or do you mix up a fresh batch every time you get ready to water?
 
XxHammer

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If you want to stick to soil blumat’s are hard to beat.
Yeah I want to stick to soil for now.

I really really like thay BluMat video

Thank you! I definitely want to do something like this and combined with what the other guy was saying (with smart plug so I can control from my phone in event I am away from home)
 
Arkos

Arkos

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In the same boat...
My mates have recommended autopots, I'm liking the idea of gravity doing all the work but I'm just not sure about salt build up.

Anyone have experience with those ?

Ah soil yeah that don't work for autopots.

Put a pump in the res to keep the water moving and watch the temperature.
 
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growsince79

growsince79

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That's awesome. That's probably what I am going to aim to do...

One issue/question that came up last night...

Pre-mixing my Watering Solution. I have been using a 5gal drum and been premixing 5 gallons at a time and it lasts 2 feeds... Is it okay to store water solution that has nutrients added? It seemed like it was almost starting to ferment....

Or do you mix up a fresh batch every time you get ready to water?
5 gal should be 1 feed. I thought you were going to quit overwatering. Gl kid
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

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If you're in soil and this is for occasions when you're going to be away from home for a week or two at a stretch, Blumats are great. Easy to set up.

Play with them before you leave, and I'd go with the long ones rather than the shorter ones.
 
freezeland2

freezeland2

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If you're in soil and this is for occasions when you're going to be away from home for a week or two at a stretch, Blumats are great. Easy to set up.

Play with them before you leave, and I'd go with the long ones rather than the shorter ones.

I run both the 5” and 9” carrots in 5 gal pots. I could walk away for a couple weeks and my plants soil would still be perfect when I return. Can’t beat em in a soil grow if you don’t like hand watering and lifting of pots to check moisture content.
 
XxHammer

XxHammer

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5 gal should be 1 feed. I thought you were going to quit overwatering. Gl kid
Im not overwatering. Stop being a douchebag. Im 33 years old.

So 1.25 gallons of water for a 3.6gal pot?

I watered yesterday and each 3.6gal plant took almost 1 gallon.
 
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