DIY Drippers: Drip Irrigation for Hydroponics

[Music] hey look at that there's no nutrient Reservoir why because it's still on my to-do list that's why along with making a dripper system to automatically water my plants automated recirculating hydroponic irrigation systems are the way forward yes even for small hobby Growers mineral-based hydroponic nutrients work best as organic formulations are prone to clogging now we'll start with the reservoir she holds 30 gallons ideal for feeding a 2x4 grow sure you can get away with smaller reservoirs for dripper systems compared with E and flow but the bigger you go the less nutrient pH and ppms will drift now this hole right here will accommodate the tubing that you'll see in just a moment Slide the reservoir so it's positioned directly underneath the grow tray drill a hole for the runoff tube place the hole at the lowest point of the tray for maximum drainage I've located mine so that it sits directly above the hole in the reservoir lid to minimize the amount of extra tubing I'll need insert insert a drain filter into the hole you can find these in any flood and drain fittings kit direct the runoff back into your Reservoir and now for the drier system itself now all dripper systems work on the same general principle you need thicker Mainline tubing which acts like an interstate freeway transporting your nutrients in bulk to the general Zone where they're needed thinner normally 1/8 of an inch drip line tubing also known as spaghetti tubing is like the smaller Highway that you know takes you to your residential neighborhood and finally there's the dripper steak itself that gets you to your front door or rather delivers the nutrient solution directly to a plant's root Zone my Mainline design strategy is simple I always aim to create a ring in the center of the grow tray so that equal lengths of drip line tubing can feed each plant helping to ensure an even distribution of the nutrient solution per plant first though I need water pressure to create these drips in the first place I'm using an Eco 185 submersible pump this is about adequate for the job my pump siiz rule of thumb Tak take the area of your grow tray in square feet multiply it by 20 and choose a pump that has at least this many GPH ratings as an absolute minimum I always design my dripper configurations with two dripper Stakes per plant that way if one should become clogged or stop working for any reason I have a backup the pump goes in the bottom of the reservoir you can use its little suckers to keep it in place I've attached some flexible tubing to 625 of an inch Barbed Outlet go visit the wonderful people at your local hydroponic store and they'll fix you up with the right Pump tubing and all the bits and pieces you need you should always have plenty of flexible and rigid tubing on hand so buy more than you think you might need now cut the tubing so it's slightly higher than the rim on your grow tray attach an elbow and fix it in place with a cable tie add a little more flexible tubing to bring us into the grow tray itself next add a te piece this marks the beginning of my dripper ring I prefer circular Arrangements because the water pressure is equalized meaning meaning that every plant will receive the same amount of nutrient solution if for any reason you want some plants to receive more than others you can get adjustable dripper Stakes but I'll save that for another time now for the main dripper ring I prefer to use rigid plastic pipe sure it's a little harder to cut but I find that rigid pipe copes with more day-to-day wear and tear so cut two short lengths of rigid pipe and attach elbows at one end they sometimes need quite a bit of force so it's best to do this first then attach the other end of each pipe to the te piece and there we go wow just look at that I'm sure you'll agree that's some beautiful pipe you need to cut two lengths of rigid pipe that are slightly shorter than the length of your grow tray and attach those to the elbows now hopefully you can see how this is starting to shape up then all we need are two more elbows one final length of rigid pipe and we've completed our main ring there she is in all her glory we have our Mainline drip ring set up and now it's time for the drip line and drippers punch a hole in the rigid pipe your local grow store can supply you with a specialist tool for this so you make the perfect sized hole next insert the nipple it's the right hand side that we push into the rigid pipe leaving the double Barbed end on the left for the drip line take my advice use a pair of pliers instead of wearing out your fingers and thumb and a little dish soap so you can Lube that baby up cut equal lengths of drip line and squeeze them onto your nipples oh I enjoyed saying that okay and oh she goes nice now insert your drip Stakes onto the end of your drip lines once again hydroflow have got you covered here with adjustable and non-adjustable drip staks I'm using non-adjustable drip staks insert the drip steak into the center of each block or pot go deep so that they don't pop out easily irrigation frequency and duration depends on the type and volume of your your growing medium plant species and stage of development rock wool cocao and soiless mixes enjoy between two and 10 short drip cycles per day non-restrictive less absorbent media such as clay balls prefer constant or very regular dripping as they hold on to much less moisture now turn on your pump pull out a single drip steak and measure the amount of nutrient solution that comes out of it in 1 minute multiply that number by the number of drippers in your system and you have the total volume of water being delivered by your entire drip irrigation system in one minute time your first drip cycle for an hour after your lights come on measure your runoff making note of how much you've collected at different time intervals 30 seconds 1 minute 2 minutes Etc at the moment your runoff volume is between 10 and 20% of the total amount of nutrient solution delivered up into that point your pump should be shut off adequate runoff helps to mitigate the issue of salt build up at the root Zone use a digital timer like the Apollo 9 or Apollo 11 to time your drip times accurately you'll quick get a feel for your own dripper system if that runoff starts flowing too quickly you know you're dripping into wet growing media so decrease your frequency finally maintenance obviously perform regular visual checks to ensure your drippers are actually dripping I use Flor clean by General Hydroponics towards the end of each crop cycle to help rinse away salt buildup and minimize the risk of drippers clogging an inline nutrient filter is a wise and inexpensive investment too in between crops I recirculate a mild bleach solution through my drippers to keep them in tiptop condition and ready for reuse okay that about does it I've included a full parts list in the description comments and questions below as usual and remember I love each and every last one of you unconditionally of course but boy it sure helps if you subscribe to my channel it's free so why not drip a little love back my way until next time this is Everest dripping with success