Cheap auto drip system. Will it work?

[sdholic]

Hey guys so im going out of town for a week for thanksgiving and again for Christmas to see the family. I have two blue cheese fems going and need a cheap way to water while out of town.

Found this online.
Plant Care: Plant Sitter Automatic Watering Sensor 3 Pk

Anyone use something like it?
Will it work sufficiently?

Thanks folks.

 

[chevyrollin5deep]

sounds like it would work man it measures the soils dryness with a peice of ceramic ...id say if it dont work you should deffinantly burn their house down

 

[BCtrippin]

Get a little fish tank water pump and a timer. See how long it takes the pump to fill up a measuring cup

(lets say your feeding 500ml every 2 days)

So time how long it takes for the pump to fill up the measuring cup with 500ml

(lets say 3 minutes for 500ml)

Get a 7 day timer (not a 24hr timer) and set it to turn your pump on for 3 minutes every other day.

Then when you want to leave, mix up a little res, and set it up and your plants will get watered. The main restriction is going to be how long your gone for, because you wont want to use the same nute fix for several weeks, a week, week and a half max.

But if your going to be gone for a couple weeks your could set up a nute mix for the first week, and a separate res with plain water for the rest of the time (the plain water wont get algae) But this would require buying 2 pumps/timers.

 

[sdholic]

good deal. i was just being a lazy stoner and not wanting to set up a drip with timer and all that, but i guess i should. longest ill ever be gone for is 1 week so it should work fine.

for the 3 gal grow bags im using, what would be a good amount to set the drip system to water at for a week long period? is that too general a question?

thanks again

 

[sdholic]

sounds like it would work man it measures the soils dryness with a peice of ceramic ...id say if it dont work you should deffinantly burn their house down

well im going to try it out and see, cause this seems like a great low cost solution to short vacations. i like to water by hand when im not gone since it gives me the ability to decide if they look thirsty yet and what not...

if it doesnt work- then drip system with water pump it is...

 

[BCtrippin]

Well there are too many factors, humidity, soil ingredients, etc. The best thing to do if you got a couple feeding cycles before you leave is to just see how long it takes from a feeding till your soil feels dry. I dunno how much you feed now, Try 500ml, 2 days later stick your finger in the soil, if it feels moist to the touch wait another day, if its dry water another 500ml.

 

[sdholic]

Well there are too many factors, humidity, soil ingredients, etc. The best thing to do if you got a couple feeding cycles before you leave is to just see how long it takes from a feeding till your soil feels dry. I dunno how much you feed now, Try 500ml, 2 days later stick your finger in the soil, if it feels moist to the touch wait another day, if its dry water another 500ml.

sounds good. thanks for the info!!