Setting up drip irrigation for coco

[BobOJ]

I'm trying to set up an irrigation system for my commercial grow. Below are the particulars:

I have 4 rows with 3 4x8 tables connected together in each row (on rolling tables). Each table has 6-8 plants in 5 gallon grow bags.

Currently I'm using a 100 gal reservoir and hand watering. I'm not sure about tubing size and what kind of pump I should use for this. Also, should I use emitters or just stake down 1/4" (or 1/8" tubing without emitters?

I'm new to this so, please bear with me. Currently I hand water with a wand and run this as a drain to waste system, watering once per day. How do I deal with salt build up if I want to do multiple smaller feedings per day? Or should I always have runoff with each and every watering? Also, not sure if it matters, but I have limited amounts o water to work with (cistern/rain catchment system) at times...so I don't really want a system that uses more water than I do now. Thanks.

 

[TurboBucket]

Wow that's a bunch of big plants to have to take care of. Cannabis irrigation supply is a sponsor I'm sure they'll design a system for you

 

[Lowrider72]

Hey Bob

Drip clean is a great product to prevent salt build up in coco , being an inert medium and also in drip lines.
You need run off in coco, 5-10% of what goes in must go out...to remove the salts, even with drip clean.

Irrigation can be done, you would want a spreader or main line to each row with dripper lines running to each plant off it.

You can recycle your nutes as long as you watch ppm for salt build up due to plants taking water and leaving salts and regularly check and adjust PH.

Only problem with this system is plant with problems can spread it to others in the recycled system.
Use left over run off watered down 50% around the gardens of house. Works awesome, no waste.

If I wasnt soo far away I would come help out.....looks like fun.

 

[BobOJ]

Yes, you had suggested DripClean in another thread and I'm now using it every feeding. I'd like to feed twice per day (some of the thirstier/larger plants are bone dry in the top inch or so by watering time. So if I want to feed multiple times per day, I need to have runoff each time? It seems like that would increase my water usage by another 10-20%...but I could probably cut it a lot closer with a timer than with hand watering so maybe its a wash.

Any ideas on how large a pump for such a system?

 

[Lowrider72]

Hey Bob, dont worry about a dry inch or so in the coco top, thats perfectly normal.
You are watering too much, costing yourself money in nutrients and water.

This is 2 gallon coco buckets, no enviromental control, handwatered once every 5 days, and only 4L each to get decent 10% run off. Only 630w of CMH.

Left of Tent Day3 of Wk9

• Lowrider72
• May 27, 2019

Right of Tent Day3 of Wk9

• Lowrider72
• May 27, 2019

Gelat Og Trichs Wk9

• Lowrider72
• May 27, 2019

WW trichs Wk9

• Lowrider72
• May 27, 2019

Trust me mate. I live coco, your making it harder than it has to be.
Weigh a pot full after run off, it can get to half that weight before it will even affect plant easy....dont be shy with them.
Post some pics of how your doung now.

 

[BobOJ]

Here are a few shots. The first is some slurricane, the rest are PB&J

 

[Metal Halide]

I have a semi-commercial, perpetual grow in my current journal that is coco DTW drip fed, It's very informative and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Almost always 13mm inlets into 4mm tubing and 19mm outlets. Some have two outlets to be safe in case of a blockage.
Good luck

 

[Metal Halide]

I use a Rio 26 pump per 8 plants with taps to each pot due to how powerful it is (9000 ltr per hour) so i only feed for about 20 sec. Some people have 1 smaller pump per row without taps.