bilbosaket
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Joined: Sat May 09, 2015 8:50 pm

watering in a greenhouse while away

I usually water with a hose I drag to the greenhouse. I need a simple way to keep the plants in the greenhouse watered (both in pots and in a bed on the ground) while I'm gone for a week. I'd appreciate all suggestions.

imafan26
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Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Drip system or sprinklers with a faucet timer. It depends on how many plants you have to water and how often and whether or not they will take overhead watering. A multifunction timer is better but you will need to have valves and electrical access so the lines have to be run to an existing outlet or and outlet has to be brought closer to the greenhouse. Most people just run the wires to an existing outlet. With a multifunction timer and valves you can set up watering zones.

With a faucet timer you have one zone, but you can set it to run more than one program.

I don't like pvc systems but you can install a pvc sprinkler system in a green house and T off the water faucet and attach an in line timer. That way you still have the faucet free at other times.

I have a drip system installed at my community garden using 1/2 inch tubing, in line shut off valves so I can work one section while watering the others if I want to , or be able to water one or two sections at a time if the water pressure is low. or if I only want to water just one section and not the others. I use sprinkler risers that I can fit with standard pop up sprinklers, micro sprinklers or multiheads which can service smaller feeder lines to individual rows or plants. It takes some planning, but drip systems can be installed by anyone and they do not have to run in straight lines.

bilbosaket
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Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 09, 2015 8:50 pm

Thanks. Maybe it's time to do it.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Yeah it would be lovely to have an automated system. :D

...but it will take time to test it and fiddle and adjust for all contingencies.

I suppose another option is to pay someone reliable to water according to how you show them. Do they need to be watered every day?

I watered my neighbors hanging plants and garden for her -- I was skeptical when she said the hanging plants needed to be watered *twice* a day, but it was true. I also ended up deadheading her roses and providing simple support for her husbands tomato plants because they needed it. LOL

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Actually, depending on what kind of system you are installing, a faucet timer and drip system can be installed in a couple of days. It is the planning and figuring all of the parts you need that takes all of the time.



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