To water my plants.
End of article? Of course not, there is a bigger and better reason why I installed a drip system.
As you probably have guessed by now if you have visited this blog or the Mistkits store before, I root hundreds, maybe thousands of cuttings every year. I do this because I am a plant freak (just being honest!) and I also design and build misting systems for homeowners and folks starting a plant propagation nursery. I believe in testing and using my product everyday so I can answer any questions my customers may have. This means that I ALWAYS have tons of potted plants that need daily watering. Up until I decided to install the drip system, I watered them all with an overhead impact sprinkler. You know, the kind you would purchase to water a garden or lawn. I used a zone on my DIG propagation timer to control the solenoid used for supplying water to the sprinkler.
It worked great and did the job, but I wasn’t happy with the wasted water and the fact that the leaves would have water droplets sitting on them as the sun was beating down. Think of a magnifying glass; the sun’s rays would get concentrated through the drops and heat up the leaves.
One day as I was mowing the lawn near my rooting beds, I was constantly getting sprayed by the sprinkler. I thought to myself that a ton of water was being sprayed onto the lawn and getting wasted and I needed to do something about it.
I took a trip to the local greenhouse supply store and purchased the required parts I needed to build my drip system. I purchased a pressure reducer, black pipe, pressure compensated drip emitters, the drip tubing and stakes, various fittings to adapt my solenoid to the drip systems water piping, and assorted fittings like tees and valves for the black piping.
I won’t go into detail here about how I put it all together, but will write another article about it. I will say however that after the system was installed (only took an hour or two!) and running for a week or so, I noticed a vast improvement in my plants health. Everything looked great! The water being delivered right to the roots of the plants was doing wonders and not having water on the leaves was also something the plants appreciated.
Moral of the drip system story:
Install a drip system if you can. I know it costs a bit up front, but the water savings alone will make it worthwhile. If you hand water your plants (which I did before the impact sprinkler!), you will save water and a ton of time. As an added bonus, your plants will be much healthier because of the water going to their roots. So, adding up the cost of the water savings, the time savings, and the positive impact on the plants health, it just makes sense to install a drip emitter system.
Stay tuned for the article on the exact parts I used and how I assembled my drip system. I also have 2 or 3 videos I will be passing along, so stay tuned!
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Dwayne, I found you on Mike’s BYG site and really enjoy your articles. My question is kind of general re: your drip system. How flexible is it? For the past two years I have been moving and adjusting my growing beds as to how and where I plant. I know a drip system would be a real asset (right now I have an overhead sprinkler that does the job). If I moved beds around often, how hard would it be to move a drip system around to accomodate it?
Paula,
A drip system is not as portable as a misting system can be (especially mine!). Once the runs are built and the emitters installed, that is where they will be. Yes, you can move emitters by pulling them out and putting them in a new hole, then plug the old hole, but after awhile your tubing will be nothing but a big mess. You could just replace the tubing with new and that is actually what I would do if I needed to make multiple changes.
It isn’t impossible to reconfigure the drip system frequently, but isn’t really practical. New tubing costs money and your time is money too.
Typically, when a drip system is installed it is meant to be left alone, minor adjustments or additions, yes, but totally reconfiguring, not really.
So I was thinking that a mist system was strictly for a sand/rc bed. So I’m thinking that a mist system for my gardens would be the way to go. So please tell me what I’m not getting right?
Good morning,
It’s about time everyone realized how much water most of us were wasting. I built a grow room (4000 plants per grow cycle) in my garage for spring vegetable seedlings (for sale of course) and use my DIG timer to water them. I use 1020 trays with drip watering and wick water all the seedlings, so I needed an accurate water delivery system, no mess, no spills, no over filling trays, my DIG timer and pressure compensating drip emitters does the job. My one timer waters all my mist beds, container plants, raised beds, plus my winter grow room.
Just letting you know that your articles are read and used. Great advice.
Thanks for the comment Curt.
Saving water should be uppermost on everyone’s list. I know it costs a bit up front, and that is why I waited, but once it is done, the payoff is almost immediate.
Thanks for letting me know you enjoy the articles! I appreciate you letting me know.
Dwayne