how set dripper watering system

[Sarico]

hi i just bought a dripper watering system for my pots.... when i read the packet says that each dripper give you 2 litre per hour... so how much water does need one flower bucket from my tomatoes and courgette? does anyone can give me an idea? i'm only go in holiday for a week and i also will plant my tom and courgette outside few day before considered that i will go at the end of may (so after frost)... i guest the first few day wil not need a lot of water because the bucket will be full of moist compost that the roots will just start only grow in there... any tips will do...
thanks for helping me

[Two_Sheds]

2 litres an hour? I don't give my pots that much in a day ...

(someone more technical will be along in a minute)

[Sarico]

i thought that in fact i was thinkin to give all day maximum 1 litre of water... so that means that i have to set 1/2 hr watering a day and i also thought to do 3 watering a day of 10 min each... but you know u can prevent everything that could happen... infact if one of the days is heavy raining the timer will still watering the plant as schedule...my worries are if is better set for a bit of water to keep them alive and if is raining they get a good water or do like i said 1 litre a day and risk to overwater them?

[chris]

What system is it? Sounds like my hozelock one.

I just set it for 5 mins in thevmorning (mid summer) and again in the evening.

Spring time - as it was so warm in April last year I had mine set to 2 mins in the morning.

I just gauged it by lifting the pots, if they were light they needing a bit longer, if heavy and the compost was drenched I tuned it off until dry, then did half the amount and adjusted as necessary.

I did read somewhere in a GH a tomato plant on a hot day can draw up as much as a litre in the day.

Edit: mine were in a GH, so rain wasn't a problem. If there's adequate drainage then excess water will drain out of the pots...

[Farmer_Gyles]

i have used drip feeders for years - i use mine in the greenhouse, connected to a water butt

i have a 100 litre water butt - there will about 7 tomato / cucumber plants in 10" pots, 2 drippers to each pot, plus 12 6" pots with peppers / chillies, each with 1 dripper per pot
that makes 26 drippers

the water butt empties itself and needs refilling every day - so that means 100 litres divided by 26 drippers = almost 4 litres per dripper per day

the bottom of the pots never gets wet - the plants survive, but i don't think they get enough water - i think a lot of water is lost through evaporation as it's dripped onto the surface of the pots

so .... if you use a drip feeder, you might need to use a lot more water than by normal watering

[Sarico]

that what i was worry that because they are dripper the water will evaporate faster and not reaching the roots.. i wil then do as you said chris.... before i go in holiday i set the timere for 2 min and see if the pots are heavy if not i do another couple of mins and see... i forgot.. my watering system is like the hozelock one but is called raindrip....do you use a timer chris? i was looking for one but i read bad reviews about getting water in the battery compartment... if you have one ( i will buy one from hozelock ac plus)how do you set it? do you open the tap completely or half way to reduce the pressure ( i think that is the cause of water inside the battery..)