self watering siphon (forum)

yrt starts with ...
Has anyone tried to set up a reservoir full of water with a strip of cloth descending from the top of the reservoir to a plant?
If it works it could be a useful way to water when away for long periods.

Time: 2nd February 2014 5:18pm

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About the Author yrt
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sternus1 says...
That's a pretty bad design, really. A better one would be something like a large plastic bottle with the lid siliconed in place, and into this a small hole drilled and a small amount of very thin tube run into it ( the type that comes with a can of WD40).

This won't blow around or dry out, and should last quite some time. You'd get a better drip because a stronger meniscus would result due to the cohesion between the water and the plastic tubing. Most of the water involved in the system you mention would just be absorbed by the cloth and evaporate atmospherically.

Somewhere like JCAR would have tubing in small mm diameters, probably, Since they cater for sparkies and instrument techs.



Time: 2nd February 2014 6:06pm

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JohnMc1 says...
There is a smart valve under the "autopot" banner that closes when the water level reaches 30mm. The valve won't reopen until all the water has been used up, so there is no chance of waterlogging roots. It is a brilliant system, I have several of them controlling the water to,(all in pots) watermelons, passionfruit cuttings in fruit, ginger, sugar-apple and dwarf amberella so far.
When the large poly-tunnel is finished, everything growing in there will be in those smart-valve controlled pots.
The system is plant driven, only using the water the plant actually uses.
I'll take some pics if there is any interest.

Time: 2nd February 2014 6:36pm

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sternus1 says...
I wouldn't mind seeing some pics John, they sound like the goods.

Time: 2nd February 2014 6:42pm

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MaryT says...
Sounds brilliant, John Mc. I am desperate for a system that works as my garden suffers a set back every time I go away even when I pay someone to water everyday.

Time: 2nd February 2014 6:48pm

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Tommoz says...
Would be interesting to hear feedback about the sub-surface pressured irrigation system.

The product is called Aqua Jet. John Coleman has done some videos on it and he said it worked for him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEgCWQhhkx0

Time: 2nd February 2014 7:18pm

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JohnMc1 says...
There's a couple of pics of the smart valve itself. You can buy them individually or bundled with an array of pots, some are pic'd here.
There's no reason why you couldn't have them supplying large trays with many pots.
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2
Picture: 3
Picture: 4

Time: 2nd February 2014 7:29pm

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sternus1 says...
What are you plumbing these into John--some kind of drip line/reservoir or are you connecting them to a tank or mains water?

Nice Melons, I grow a few that you might like to try.

Time: 2nd February 2014 8:16pm

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About the Author sternus1
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JohnMc1 says...
The blue 200lit drum supplies the watermelons solely. There are six pots containing 12 watermelon vines in total and so far has used about 500lits of water. The white 25 lit drum supplies the passionfruit vine x 2. I have them feeding from reservoirs because I can control the amount of nutrient according to each plants individual requirements.
They can also be fed from any low pressure supply. If you don't have a low pressure supply, it's as simple as running a mains feed into a small reservoir with a float valve and feed from there. I manually fill the reservoirs with mains when they get low. I could have them on a float valve but I control the nutrient That's why I manually fill. If you were going away for any extended length of time, say more than two weeks, I'd have them on a float valve that's for sure.

Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2

Time: 2nd February 2014 8:46pm

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MaryT says...
Alas I don't have room for all that hardware and I'm a low tech person anyway. I like gadgets though and your set ups always look interesting to me, John.

Time: 2nd February 2014 9:02pm

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JohnMc1 says...
Mary, I might make it sound more complicated than it is. It's really only a drum supplying a controlled water supply to pots or trays. Very water and labour wise. Instead of watering daily, I check the drum levels once a week/fortnight.

Time: 2nd February 2014 9:13pm

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MaryT says...
I have been reading up on the system online. It sounds pretty good but perhaps it would be too difficult (and costly) to convert my existing set up to it. I have about a hundred pots and most of them are very big.

Time: 3rd February 2014 7:58am

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yrt says...
I read the autopot info. It seems to be only for potplants . Right?

Time: 3rd February 2014 9:20am

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Markmelb says...
Nope - I have an 8pot system basically just for vegies due to space limitations and have rockmelons sugarbabys potimarron pumpkins cucumbers (growing up strings) OUTSIDE and a cabbage too all going quite well - but ive seen at their shop at Gardenworld in Melboune Babacos in a 100lt pot and a similar Olive tree using their drip wick system(enclosed box)going quite well - I was toying doing an Avacado myself but nutrients are fairly expensive look at the Autopot site again for the wick system

Time: 3rd February 2014 11:11am

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Original Post was last edited: 3rd February 2014 11:10am

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