Automated Plant Care

Go plastic and silk...

AUTOMATED Plant Care

Been doing it since 2004/5 when we were planning a 5 week summer holiday in Western Canada.

How will the garden survive was the problem put to me.

I talked to a number of folk and we came up with a watering system for our hanging baskets and a different one for the Garden (yard in your parlance)

Mains water was the source. Whilst we have water butts I am not confident in their ability to provide a continuous supply of water and the butt water could easily provide materails which could easily clog the various drippers. Possibly next year's project!

An external tap existed. This was connected to a 4 way distribution point from Hozelock This came with 4 valves which allowed simple one knob access to each of the 4 ports. Two timers can be fitted to each 4 port device allowing the other two ports to function as watering can fillers - with a short hose and a Garden hose which can be as long as you need and your mains presssure and flow allow.

Timers were fitted to two ports, one for the baskets and one for the garden.

This system can readily be extended with a second 4 port device mounted in tandem with the first one. Either that or buy the Timer Distribution system from Spa Irrigation.

These timers can pick out any two or four opening times and the opening periods can be simply adjusted. ( You need to buy the right one for your intended operation) So we can have different opening times and opening periods for baskets and garden. The timers should be removed each winter, (this is climate dependent) cleaned, dryed and stored away for the winter. I carefully calibrate the batteries as they will often work through two/three summer periods. Timers came from Hozelock.

Now the downstream parts are the real key. A friend had tried the Hozelock parts and would NOT recommend them so we ended up with a UK company based near Cheltenham which will sell starter kits for Baskets, starter kits for gardens, stuff for lawns if you have those problems. And many other parts.

For baskets we run very tiny pipes ( about 5 to 6 mm) around the house terminate in a tap for each basket and carry the pipe on further. We currently have about 7 to10 baskets and a similar number of tubs running off of this system. Should be taken down in winter but we do not always bother. Each basket is served with 3 to 4 drippers which seems to be ideal.

For the garden I run a 13mm pipe arond the Garden and feed plant watering systems from places that we think need to be watered. these points feed a number of sprays and drippers which seem adequate most of the time. With our mains pressure and flow I believe that I need to run another 13 mm pipe or something larger to get adequate feed to each spray/dripper. That is this year's improvement project.

I tend to keep a set of spares for the system as I do not wish part of the garden to die on me whilst I wait for a replacement part.

This has worked well for us since 2004/5 and even in winter we have found that without the timers we can still go ut once or twice a day and turn the appropriate tap on for a few minutes which is all that it takes.

In the summer, the timers are generally set for two periods of 8 minutes each day, your periods would depend upon your climate!.

The people who sell the systems are very useful when you need advice.

Parts are available from Hozelock.com and Spa irrigation.

The latter are at

http://www.garden-irrigation.co.uk/default.asp

Withytree Farm, Broadway Road,
Near Winchcombe, Glos.

CR4 ADMIN - phone number removed

From the CR4 Rules: Do not post phone numbers or email addresses. The CR4 Admin will delete all phone numbers and email addresses posted in threads or comments. You can share this information via the CR4 internal messaging system.

They are generally very helpful but can be a little stretched during the summer season when most of the stafff are attending major shows.

Hope that this helps.

Sleepy