Help me design a s/h indoor automated watering system

[Rivka]

(yes this is posted in two forums, sorry)


ok since i have moved to a more extreme climate and my collection has slowly gotten bigger and my free time has gotten smaller, i think its time to tackle some sort of watering system that automates at least pats of the task.
I would really love folks' input and i design and build this.

here is my set up:

• 2 18"x48" wire metro racks, each with 2 shelves of chides about 50 plant currently but would love to add a 3rd rack once the watering thing gets figured out
• all plants are in s/h or on a holding area waiting to be switched over at the right time.
• this set up in in my living room in a large bay window like area with no access emediate to running water, but i do think i can drain the system out the window
• i am string up a vapor humidifier to increase the RH, so i also am thinking of a way to pump fresh water into that tank so it can run without me for a while.
• im considering a RO or other system to get cleaner water, mine seems to have to much resolved solids with now.

Goals:

• storage of enough water for at least one watering, but hopefully 3 or 4. need to do the math and see how much actually goes into each pot depending on final set up. my current pots need 15oz or just under 2 cups of water to fill them once.
• simple enough for a house sitter to run the system and refill it when I'm out of town.
• no water spilling everywhere on my hard wood floor
• pots get a real soak before draining, not to cumbersome physically or visually so i can still move pots around with out too much re hooking back up, some is fine.

open to all sorts of suggestions

[Rivka]

here is my current idea in the making:

using a drip irrigation (without the drip heads for a higher flow thru) like system to flow via a pump and fill all the pots, then a similar hose system coming out of custom hole on each pot (would require repotting, I'm ok with that.) that flows to a output that i can shut off while filling and soaking and then open up to drain[COLOR="Silver"]



a few questions that I'm pondering.

• how to attach the small drain hoses to the pots, some sort of disconnect fitting, otherwise i will have a real hassle when i want to rearrange the pots or take one to the club for showing.
• can a set up like this be effectively one direction of flow enough to avoid any contamination of one pot to another? I'm thinking that as long as each shelf is on a separate main drain line that it could, if shelves were daisy chained, i can see gravity pushing the water from above back up into the lower pots, yuck.
• could i get pumps running that would do this from a tank on the floor or would i be better to gravity feed this from above?
• if i have a branched irrigation system, does each pot get even close to the same amount? or would lines closer to the source get significantly more, there by overflowing before the end of the line filled up?
• probably need a overflow tray under each shelf, with a drain line too
• what to do about pots filling up to far and dumping the leca or flooding crowns of plants, might just be a air circulation issue i need to adress

thoughts?

[Ray]

Rivka, There is a guy in Salt Lake City that just emailed me photos of just such a setup. I believe he'll be starting a thread on my forum on it.

I can add this: if all of the pots are in nursery trays that have had drain tubes installed, the overflow can be easily collected. There is a piece on them on my free info page.

[kanikedude03]

I have been interested in building something like this or preferably buying something like this for a while now. Information about projects like this seem hard to find.

[Rivka]

there is units to be bought that water normal plants, mostly drip systems, they just are not ideal for orchids since orchids like to be watered so heavily. hence the making my own. i have gotten some really good feedback from the other orchid board I'm on. would love to hear from folks here too, or who knows are we all on both boards?

anyway, i will make sure to post whatever i end up coming up with.

i have just ordered the trays for under the shelves, i am going to suspend them under each wire shelf rather than place them on top and place my orchid pots in them, so that they are easier to wipe clean and dont grow slime under the pots. they are not nursery trays, but rather 1" deep trays that are from dog kennels, it is what i found that fit perfectly for my size shelf.

[Rivka]

Originally Posted by Ray

I can add this: if all of the pots are in nursery trays that have had drain tubes installed, the overflow can be easily collected. There is a piece on them on my free info page.

strange how you recommend the trays you sell for "for raising the local humidity" while simultaneously going on and on on these boards about how humidity trays dont work.

[Ray]

Yeah, you're right. I should probably change that, although if someone wants to buy trays for that purpose - despite my negative statements on the site and elsewhere - who am I to stop them?

[Rivka]

Originally Posted by Ray

Yeah, you're right. I should probably change that, although if someone wants to buy trays for that purpose - despite my negative statements on the site and elsewhere - who am I to stop them?

Who are you not to stop them, on your own site?
In the case of advertising a product in a way that perpetuates a myth and would be a waste of there time and money?
I think the term your looking for is either hypocritical or greedy.

Now if you really feel they don't work in an open air situation, then put that as a not on the same page that you're selling them on. Then if they want to waste their money they can. Or in my case they know the facts and would be buying them for a different use.

[Ray]

If you'll take another look at that page, I changed it right after agreeing with your original comment: "Folks use them for "humidity trays" too, but my article on evaporation and related ones explain the ineffectiveness of that concept."

[Rivka]

Adding "quotes" around the term and using terms like so-called only sounds like you are making fun of them, it does not inform folks, a *, explanation and link right in the decription would have done that in a more honest way with none of the attitude.

Sorry if i seem nitpicky on this, you present yourself as an expert around here, so it's fair to expect you to hold to a high standard to match.

[Ray]

I don't interpret quotes as indicating an insult, it is only a way of accentuating a commonly-used phrase.

Sorry if it rubs you wrong.

[bumpman]

OK, just brainstorming... Salt water aquarists have some tide and wave producing equipment that depend on filling reservoirs, which then empty. I wonder if their designs could be used or even if that equipment could be modified for your needs so that there is a periodic flush of solution through the SH.

[Rivka]

that interesting, when i have a day to dilly dally on the web, i will look that us, got any links to start with?