Create Your Own Drip System with Mike Straumietis

 

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Mike Straumietis Offers Tips on Building a Drip System

The drip system is quite flexible. It can scale and fit quite well to the size and complexity of almost any setting. Today, Mike Straumietis of Advanced Nutrients talks about setting up a basic drip system for your home.

First things first – you have to gather the essential items listed below.

Drip Emitters: The number of emitters will depend on the number of plants you're growing. One emitter for each plant is ideal.

Thin and PVC Tubing: The tubing is available in the market. PVC tubing will be the main line that carries water and nutrients from the reservoir pump to the emitters. Remember that the length and number of tubes you need will vary with the size of your garden.

Water Pump: A regular submersible pump is ideal. For smaller gardens, capacities between 120-300 gallons per minute should be enough.

Tray: In smaller recirculating setups, you can have all pots drain into one tray. This option is better and less hassle than having separate run-off tubes from each pot to the reservoir.

Large Bucket or Bin: A bucket or bin will be your reservoir. Between 10 to 20 gallons should be enough, depending on the size of your garden.

Other items are also needed, such as small pots for your plants, a garden timer for the pump, a hydroponic growing medium like coco coir, a hacksaw or PVC cutter to cut the pipes, a power drill, and an aquarium-grade silicone sealant.

Below, Mike Straumietis enumerates the steps in creating a basic drip system.

1. Place the pump inside the reservoir before connecting it to the emitters using the PVC and spaghetti tubing.

2. Next, place individual drip emitters into the growing medium in each pot.

3. Put or drill adequate drainage holes in the pots. According to Mike Straumietis, you can also get the system to work without drip emitters by poking holes in the spaghetti tubing and applying it directly to the growing medium. By doing this, however, you won't have the emitters that provide additional control over the flow of water.

4. Place the pots in the tray.

5. Arrange the setup, so the run-off drains directly into the reservoir. It is recommended that you give it at least several inches of height over the reservoir. This is for gravity to have an effect. If the reservoir is situated in a higher location, you'll need a pump to get the water to return to the reservoir.

6. Lastly, attach the timer to the pump power source and set it to run on a daily interval. Five minutes thrice a day or a similar schedule should do. This varies depending on the plant's water requirements.

For more discussions on hydroponics, the global fertilizer industry, and other agricultural issues, bookmark this Mike Straumietis blog.

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