Holiday watering

[Vince G]

Evening all, anybody ever used a device like these waterspikes?

AQUADRIP Watering Spikes - Pack of 6 - Water spikes direct from manufacturer EcoCharlie Ltd

Am in the course of building my first polytunnel on the allotment and am thinking ahead to the summer as Mrs Vince and I are off to Sark for a week in July, so just thinking about watering options. I have a mate who might be interested in helping me out with watering, but he's probably not going to make it every day as he has a missus and 3 boys. (You'd think he'd love to get away to my lottie for half an hour every day....!!).

So was looking for viable long term watering solutions that didn't involved needing to be hooked up to the mains water on the lottie.

Would be grateful for any suggestions, or for any thoughts from people who might have used these spike things.

[donnakebab]

Who knows what the weather will be like in July?

I would have thought if you leave any ventilation options open and have mulched to retain moisture and nutrients you should be ok for a week unless we have a spell of really hot dry weather. Suppose it depends on your soil condition.

[Vince G]

Thanks Donna, I'm hope it's boiling in Sark and chucking it down in Ipswich!!

The lottie soil is very free draining and can take a lot of water. When digging in the door frames for the polytunnel, I went down about a foot and a half and I was in pure orange sand!

Might get some of these spike things anyway, see what they're like - can't hurt, can it.

[chris]

How about a solar powered/battery water system, fed from an IBC?

[briggsy2011]

Hi

i have bought some water spikes off ebay (pack of 6) but not used them yet. As i want to get a small polytunnel but cant really have a watering system. I thought they would be good for my toms and peppers that i want to grow in the tunnel.

fingers crossed they work

x

[Vince G]

Chris, where would I find such a beast on the interweb?

[chris]

A quick google has found a few - all around the same price: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

I have a hozelock battery operated watering system, fed from mains water - however, if you have a full enough IBC I'm sure the pressure of the water would be great enough to run that (or, probably better with a battery powered pump?)

[Bigmallly]

I know it's not what you are looking for but on the same subject, I have just finished making a half dozen of these for my greenhouse toms as I also plan to have a few weeks away. I have no idea if it's gonna work so only time will tell. I made a slight addition, in the filler pipe I placed a float with 2 markings (full & empty) so I can see at a glance if the reservoir needs filling.

how to make self watering garden planters for container gardening.mp4 - YouTube

[Vince G]

I've bought some spikes and filled up a 2L bottle with water and set the spike to its minimum drip. Just sitting it in the sink, the water came out of the one tiny hole on the side of the spike at a very fine spurt, sufficient to probably empty the 2L bottle in (I reckon) a day or two. However I would assume the pressure of soil around the hole would slow the flow down a bit, so I stuck one out in the earth in my garden and will monitor how long it takes the bottle to empty and post the results on here....if anyone is interested.

[Bigmallly]

I've tried several methods from spikes to drilling holes in bottle lids only to find that after time the holes get blocked with soil.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I made something last year from old 10ltr plastic bottles and air line tube and fittings as used in an aquarium. Delivered about 1/2ltr over a 24 hour period and cheap as chips.

Colin

[Vince G]

Just checked my watering spike and all that's happened is that the 2L bottle has crumpled a bit, very little water has come out after 4 days. I reckon it needs a little hole drilling in the skyward-pointing bottom of the bottle to relieve the vacuum. Experiment shall re-commence tomorrow!

[biggreenfingers]

I bought a micro irrigation kit from B&Q and a battery powered digital timer that is connected to my outside tap. I have the digital timer connected to my outdoor tap, a standard length of garden hose connected from the timer to the greenhouse and then the hose connects to the micro irrigation kit in the greenhouse. I set the mircro irrigation kit to have drippers coming of at regular intervals and I stick 2 drippers per pot for larger plants like tomatoes and peppers and one dripper for smaller plants. I have the digital timer set to come on once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. It works a treat for me when I am at work. The only downside is that there is no way of the system knowing that the plants require water but I haven't had any issues as of yet.