On Sat, 7 May 2016 17:25:57 +0100, Bob Minchin
wrote:

MM wrote:
I'm trying to set up a home-brew drip feed irrigation kit for 6 tomato
plants. I've already got a lot of suitable tubing, the T-pieces,
connectors, drippers etc. The water feed is off a new 230 litre water
butt to which I have attached a brass tap instead of the black plastic
one. To the tap I've connected a Hozelock electronic water timer
(AC1), which Hozelock customer services confirmed will work with a
water butt, and it does.

So I placed the tomato plant pots close to each other and close also
to the water butt, then ran the tubing from one to the next. I then
switched the AC1 to "always on" for testing.

The problem is that even when the butt is brimful it seems to have
only enough head of water to feed three of the drippers. And even then
the third dripper furthest away from the butt dribbles rather than
drips. The water will just not flow around the circuit to all 6
drippers, and I can't understand why not! I even tried sucking on the
little pieces of tube as if to "bleed" them of air. No improvement.

The feed to the first 2 pots is excellent and the water drips really
nicely. So it would work for 2 plants, possibly 3. But where am I
going wrong? The water butt is mounted on the typical black plastic
stand, which is about a foot off the ground.

MM

My drippers are designed to be fed with one bar pressure and even then
take several minutes to propagate to the end of the line when first used
at the beginning of the season.
Could you stand the pots on a gravel bed in a water fed tray?

Ah, you mean, feed the outlet from the timer to the tray so that the
tray always fills up/is topped up, the rely on capilliary action for
the water to enter the pots from below?

I like it! Trouble is, I don't have a tray... Maybe I could use a
storage crate and make a tray out of that by cutting the sides down.
Mind you, cutting that type of plastic ain't fun!

But yes, it's a good idea, and I do have the gravel. How would you
arrange the pots? Put the gravel in the tray, then stand the pots on
top, or put the pots in first and add the gravel. Actually, what
purpose does the gravel serve? I assume that the water level must be
some way up the side of the pots, say an inch minimum?

MM