Need help with diy drip system.

Hey all I'm a little over my head with the operation I got going on and the busy life of being a father... it has been hard for me to hand water my plants on a daily like they need...

right now I got 6 greenpoint purple crash and 6 purple cake a little over 6 weeks old in 2 gallon smart pots. I was going to transplant into the 5 gallon smart pots but the roots have grown out the bottom of the 2 gallon smart pots and has woven together with the fabric... so I plan on flowering in the 2 gallon pots and setting up a drip system to water 1-2 times a day. Probably 2 times a day...

Right now all I have is a 12 gallon reservoir... which ik is tiny... it's from my 2 pot autopot system... I'm going to have to upgrade that eventually...

So I have a few questions...

what size drip tubing would you use ? ¼ or ½ ? Or something different ?

How many drip stakes would you use per plant?

What size water pump would you use ? Or could I use gravity to water my plants ?

I plan on using a wifi timer like I do with my led quantum board lights. Set at probably 2 times water / day

Will I need an air pump in the 12 gallon reservoir or will I be fine since I'll have to fill up the reservoir every 2-3 days ?

Is there an easier way of doing this ? Am I over complicating things ? I've heard of blumats but not to sure of them... my autopots worked decent but are way too expensive for me right now... spent all my money on lights...

Btw I'm using sunshine mix #4 and megacrop nutrients.

Thank you all for the help.

I would take a bread knife and cut around the inside of the pots and transplant them. You will regret not transplanting them.

And yeah the easiest way to do it is drain to waste with pro-mix as your medium. Water them every 3 to 4 days. It would take me 30 minutes give or take to feed 12 plants this way every 3 to 4 days. Obviously I couldn't do that with 2 gallon pots, that would be a PITA.

DaFreak said:

I would take a bread knife and cut around the inside of the pots and transplant them. You will regret not transplanting them.

And yeah the easiest way to do it is drain to waste with pro-mix as your medium. Water them every 3 to 4 days. It would take me 30 minutes give or take to feed 12 plants this way every 3 to 4 days. Obviously I couldn't do that with 2 gallon pots, that would be a PITA.

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Hey thanks for the bread knive advice. Do you th9nk I'll have enough room to flower 12 plants in a 5x5 these are the plants now. In 2 gallon pots.

P.s I just watered that's why theres a puddle

I've defoliated about a week ago and also had the lights turned up a bit too much and burnt a couple of the plants.

I do 4 from clone in a 4x4 and that requires using a ScroG and being diligent about it. I think 12 is a little much and I wonder how you're going to reach the back unless you automate it. Long wand would do as well. Other than that you seem to have a pH problem but I won't get into that as my medium is different so I will let somebody with the same medium check in.

DaFreak said:

I do 4 from clone in a 4x4 and that requires using a ScroG and being diligent about it. I think 12 is a little much and I wonder how you're going to reach the back unless you automate it. Long wand would do as well. Other than that you seem to have a pH problem but I won't get into that as my medium is different so I will let somebody with the same medium check in.

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Yes I definitely had/have a ph issue. I ran out of ph down and was watering with a ph of 7.8.... now I'm back down to a 5.8ph and flushed each plant as best I could as you could see the pool of nutrient on the bottom of the tent.

Do I use ¼ or ½ inch tubing ?

You can see the drip system I run everywhere from this pic.

Submersible pump in a 55 gal res
1/2 hydrofarm black tubing
4 gph rain bird emitters
Drip hose to stakes. 2 per plant site.


I have been using this system for years and have never had a problem. I do maintain. It and when I setup a new room I check each emitter for flow.

If you have the pump then it’s less then $50

I would keep your system simple...much like Nurrgle has suggested. Remember the most important words of it all "I do maintain it..."

More importantly, I would research the proper pH needed to grow in Peat. I believe your 5.8 pH is going to cause you issues, which may be why they look short on Mg. Good luck.

I would recommend 6.2 for peat.

With the 4 gph emitters I see .75 liters per site in 10 minutes. So I typically run them for 10 minutes 1 per day in early to late veg then step it up from there as I proceed through flower. This is in 7 gallons. Things will be different in 2’s.

I like simple systems that have components that are cheap, easily replaced, and easy to identify where the issue is. So do plants in my experience.