Cheap watering system recommendations

[PrincessE]

If this is in the wrong forum please move.

I am going out of town for 3 weeks and my current water sprinkling system doesn't cover all of my plants and only dampens the soil instead of giving a deep watering. My question is, is there a fast and cheap way to make a sprinkler system that will cover all my plants? I have a container garden that sits a top two shelves so they are not directly on the ground (issues with ants and slugs). I was thinking of attaching the water hose to a timer and using PVC with holes to place over the containers. Has anyone used this way or have suggestions of other types of cheap and fast systems?

Many thanks!

[JayPoc]

IMO, for that period of time....if its important to you, pay a neighborhood kid a few bucks to stop by for 15 minutes every other day....I wouldn't trust or pay for any sort of "system" to water a few plants in containers...

[n8young]

I invested about $40 into a timer, and about $75 in soaker hoses for my whole garden. 50 foot hoses were about $15 a piece. The only time I worry about watering is if it is raining a lot, I need to shut off the timer.....that's it, going off on vacation for a week, set it to run for 30 mins a day. Day to day summertime weather, I run it for 60 mins each morning, and I am having/have had great success with it.

[PrincessE]

IMO, for that period of time....if its important to you, pay a neighborhood kid a few bucks to stop by for 15 minutes every other day....I wouldn't trust or pay for any sort of "system" to water a few plants in containers...

Thank you for your reply. I don't know any older kids in my neighborhood so I really need some type of system on a timer. I have asked my neighbor to come over once or twice a week and check for insects and ripe fruits and will ask her to keep an eye on the water levels for me.

[PrincessE]

I invested about $40 into a timer, and about $75 in soaker hoses for my whole garden. 50 foot hoses were about $15 a piece. The only time I worry about watering is if it is raining a lot, I need to shut off the timer.....that's it, going off on vacation for a week, set it to run for 30 mins a day. Day to day summertime weather, I run it for 60 mins each morning, and I am having/have had great success with it.

I do have a small watering system that my husband said he can expand so every container gets watered and increase the water amount. I really like the soaker hose idea. It's probably cheaper and a lot easier than purchasing the supplies to expand my current system. I think I may even have 1 or 2 in storage. Thanks for the help!

[Gary350]

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot, plumbing, irrigation section. Buy 1/4" hose $5, fittings bag of 10 for $2, sprinklers bag of 10 for $4, timer $30. Connect to garden hose, set timer for 30 minutes, put sprinkles on each plant.

Sprinklers come in all volumes 1/4 GPH, 1/2 GPH, 1 GPH, 2 GPH, 4 GPH. Set the 24 hour timer for 30 minutes each plant will get 1 guart of water using the 1/2 GPH sprinklers.

[imafan26]

Faucet timer and soaker hoses or sprinklers. the machine gun sprinkers can be joined in tandem if you have enough water pressure to run them. An osillating fan sprinkler works for overhead watering, but it does not water evenly and it will be watering overhead. If the plants are in pots, bring the ones that are farthest away in closer to the system. I actually use drip tubing and run standard irrigation heads on them with a faucet timer. Gear drive heads behave like a machine gun sprinkler. I actually cannot use a machine gun sprinkler because the minimum throw is 20 ft, that would reach my neighbor's yard. If the pressure is not that great the drip micro sprinklers will give a finer spray with a smaller radius but you can attach more sprinklers to the system for coverage.

[Northernfox]

I just installed irrigation hosing. if you use electrical tape you can get it so it only waters the areas you want. I found it at Lowes for cheap this spring.

I also braved 107F today to shoot the video because it is easier to install when hot!

[n8young]

You had 107degree F weather in Alberta? I know Canada has the stigma to most of us Americans as always being cold and snowy, but hot damn....that's hot.

[Northernfox]

we have some parts of Canada that are on the same latitude as California

it was stupid hot yesterday. that said it is not typical for us to hit triple digits.

[RogueRose]

I just got a timer and attached it to a sprinkler. I know that overhead watering isn't the best....but it's all I could do before going away on vacation. My neighbor whom I normally would ask to check on things has her family visiting and I don't want to bother her. My other friend is cat sitting and is far away and can't come regularly. I do believe the timer is working but it's raining so much right now that I can't quite tell yet. I should find out the next couple days when it's NOT raining. But this morning (I have it running at 6am) it was wet where it should be and wet nowhere else so I do believe it is working.

[Northernfox]

Ya I need a timer and a more extensive system lol. Hope it works out for you!!