1.5mm divided by 16 = ?

[woodfarmer]

before you run to your calculator and arrive at a little under 0.1mm let me tell you the context of this mathematical problem.

I am in the process of making a watering system for the greenhouse as the ginger and sweet potatoes need to be kept reasonably moist. So I have hose with 16 by 2mm holes to feed the plants, and infilled the connector and need to drill a hole through it that is big enough to supply a trickle of water at about 2 ish litres and hour, but can vary this by an order of magnitude. What I don't want is jets of water, but a steady trickle or flow.

My original holes were a 3.5mm in the supply and 16 by 1.5 mm for the out flows. this was wildly wrong. I re drilled the 16 1.5mm holes to 2mm but this was still far too small.

ATM I have a 1.5mm hole for the supply and still have the 16 by 2mm holes for the outflow. still too much water flowing .

 

[dm65]

do you get too much all the way along the length of pipe ?

personally, I would go high tech and tape over a few holes or maybe just turn the pressure down - I assume this simply connects to a tap ?

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Rather than using hose why not sink reservoirs close to the plants and water via capillary action wicks? - you could always use the hose to re-fill the reservoirs.

Regards Mick

 

[Phil Pascoe]

+1 - or use plastic drink bottles with holes drilled in them?

 

[woodfarmer]

do you get too much all the way along the length of pipe ?

personally, I would go high tech and tape over a few holes or maybe just turn the pressure down - I assume this simply connects to a tap ?

Yes, too much flow from all 16 x 2mm outlets all fed by a single 1.5 mm inlet ??

Think I will add another length of hose to double the number of outlets.

 

[XT500fred]

Fit an inline valve between the 1.5mm supply and mains tap to reduce flow and pressure, something like this:

You can always fit more than one, if one doesn't reduce the flow/pressure enough.
and they're usually quite cheap, about £4 - £5 each

 

[dm65]

+1 XT500fred - just sounds like too much pressure given the diameter of the inlet hole

Spindles idea is also good though and encourages root growth down - useful if you're growing to plant out later

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My post disappeared - I assume you've looked at buying a leaky hose?
Your flow rate would be more controllable if the hose were fed from a butt rather than on mains pressure.

 

[nanscombe]

How about using a small header tank fed by a ballcock valve? (Think lavatory)

You could then fit a water butt tap, or similar, on it to adjust the flow which would then just be gravity fed in terms of pressure.

 

[hanser]

following up phil.p's suggestion how about http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/13mm-Leaky-Pi ... 35d788c03a

 

[stevebuk]

sounds like a lot of trouble for sweet potatoes and ginger, are you smoking them tatties.. :wink:

 

[woodfarmer]

Hi

Rather than using hose why not sink reservoirs close to the plants and water via capillary action wicks? - you could always use the hose to re-fill the reservoirs.

Regards Mick

because then I would have to spend an hour filling the reservoirs in 37 degrees C. Would prefer to just turn on a tap for a while.

 

[woodfarmer]

Fit an inline valve between the 1.5mm supply and mains tap to reduce flow and pressure, something like this:

You can always fit more than one, if one doesn't reduce the flow/pressure enough.
and they're usually quite cheap, about £4 - £5 each

Thanks Fred, it is what I thought the feeder hole would do. I have restricted from 15mm diameter to 1.5mm which I expected to be more than enough

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Hi

Rather than using hose why not sink reservoirs close to the plants and water via capillary action wicks? - you could always use the hose to re-fill the reservoirs.

Regards Mick

because then I would have to spend an hour filling the reservoirs in 37 degrees C. Would prefer to just turn on a tap for a while.

So you're not just growing it, you're farming it?

 

[Spindle]

because then I would have to spend an hour filling the reservoirs in 37 degrees C. Would prefer to just turn on a tap for a while.

Hi

So you can't align the holes in the hose with the reservoirs and fill by turning on the tap?

Regards Mick

 

[woodfarmer]

because then I would have to spend an hour filling the reservoirs in 37 degrees C. Would prefer to just turn on a tap for a while.

Hi

So you can't align the holes in the hose with the reservoirs and fill by turning on the tap?

Regards Mick

It is surprisingly difficult to point the outlets in any particular direction, i am using bits of stone etc to stop the sqirting away from the plants. Thin g is a one litre bottle or such is just not big enough, expect to drop 4-5 litres per plant.

 

[nanscombe]

It is surprisingly difficult to point the outlets in any particular direction, i am using bits of stone etc to stop the sqirting away from the plants. Thin g is a one litre bottle or such is just not big enough, expect to drop 4-5 litres per plant.

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