Looks cool man!

Question. How does it know when to water?

Dry soil, too wet...

Stoney

Stoney,
It has no idea when to water. This is why I added the timer - I can set the timer to run in 6/12/24 hour increments or weekly. I can then set the timer to run from 1-240min at a time. As well I can adjust the drip emitters to a flow rate of .5-10 gal/hr.

Seeing as how I had no idea how much flow was coming out of the emitters (there's no "click to ratio guide" I just put them on what looked good ), then I put the timer to run for 30min every 12hr. I noticed that at about the 8 min mark water was flowing out of the container bottoms. So I then switched the timer to run for 5 min every 6 hours. I'll see how the new setting works out...

Jay

Nice.

I have a digital timer hooked up to my faucet as well when I leave town for a few days (if going to be hot).
Drip hose set for 5 minutes a day.
Plants were crazy healthy when I got home!

Stoney

Nice job. If you've got a Home Depot near, you can buy spray emitters like the ones you have now, but they emit a finer spray. At that rate, I'd say five minutes every other day would be just right.
Additionally, you can regulate the pressure at the faucet to fine-tune how much water you need. Try putting one of those big plastic plant reservoirs under one of your plants, then measuring the amount that flows out so you can fine-tune the pressure and emitter setting.
Watch out for squirrels and rabbits. They like to get into the pots and chew the emitters. If you find that happening, just keep a couple containers on the ground filled with water that they can access.
Now you can drink a beer when you get home, instead of running around with a wand...

Stoney: which timer did I you buy? And five Min wouldn't be too sufficient for mine (I think), I was having to give these things about 1.5gal each a day just to keep them happy. I've still got a lot of tuning to do though :)

Tom: I'd be might ticked if some little varmint chewed up my new setup! Hoping this doesn't happen... And beer is waaaay better than hovering over pots with a wand like some sort of pepper wizard :D

Jay

Jay,

I am researching a similar setup right now since I will be out of town for 9 days in July.

Can you tell me the specific Orbit timer you are using?

I'm assuming Mister Landscaper is very similar to Orbit drip irrigation system? The Orbit systems is available to me in my local Fleet Farm, so I might go with that. Thanks.

Brian

Brian, here's the link for the timer:

http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-62061N-91213-Single-Dial-Water-Timer/dp/B004INGS8S/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1401378473&sr=1-1&keywords=orbit+water+timer

Jay

Brian,
The Orbit timers are generally available at Lowe's. Home Depot carries the DIG 1/2" line, 1/4" line, and all emitters, plus vacuum breakers.
1/2" poly hose varies in diameter. Go with the .700. This is the most universal size. Otherwise, your fittings will blow out at 25 PSI.
Here's a link to a place that sells fittings to marry different diameter 1/2" poly lines. http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_categories/104

Not sure the make Jay but I got it at HD and its digital black and yellow pad and buttons.

Stoney

Jay, I hope you are not going to make me fee bad, but are those pepper plants on season #2 or 3? If they are in their first year, how many months in?

I grow one season only here in Minnesota and cannot get my plants looking anything like that. Nice work.

Brian, I appreciate the kind words. And I hope it doesn't take a stab, but they are all fresh from seed this year. The seeds were sown on Jan 2nd, making all the plants just shy of 5 months old now. I do, however, have FL weather to help me along the way.

Jay

Stoney... From the description you said, I'm guessing the Melnor timer from HD. I'm interested in how it works out for ya, keep me updated. This is my first timer, so I really have nothing to compare it against - it just works great (but only time will tell)

Jay

Melnor timers are crap, IMHO. They only last one season down here in Texas, except for the hand actuated ones. Orbits got'em beat hands down. I've got some three-year old Orbits workin' on four years...

I was having to give these things about 1.5gal each a day just to keep them happy. I've still got a lot of tuning to do though :)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Wow, Jay, 1.5 gal each a day?
I would think it is way too much for a 5 gal. bucket container. I would do like 0.5 gal or even less than that.
I could be wrong.

Seysonn, with the roots already taking up every square inch of pot space - the FL heat - and the plants all averaging a bit over 4ft tall, the water loss from them is intense. My hose on the flood spray puts out a gallon in 20sec, and I was finding that the only way to keep the life in them was 30sec a day, per pot. When I tried to do the same, but every other day, the plants would nearly double over from a lack of turgur.

Jay

Looks very good!

Josh

Thank you Josh (and all) again for the kind words.

Jay

@Jay: I seeded in mid Feb and my plants just got moved into buckets. They are prob 12 to 15" at this point. I don't think mine will reach 4' unless I over winter them later this year.

@Tom: I purchased the same timer Jay has, but the dual zone version. $34.99 at Lowe's. Seems like a great deal since the single zone is $29 and the dual zone is $50 on Amazon.

With respect to the main poly drip line, does anyone know at what point 3/4" would be better than or required over 1/2"? I assume there is a psi threshold where fittings may blow in 1/2 , but not 3/4"?

Brian, if your using the dripper (as I did) there is a 25psi pressure regulator which attaches to the system - I have one on mine. As for the length, I have an entire 100ft roll of 1/2in hooked up right now with just the end of the roll crimped with no issues. (If you use the sprayers I believe the reccommend the 40-50psi regulator).

Jay

Brian,
A larger line doesn't give you more pressure, only more volume. Your faucet coming out of your house is probably a 1/2" line operating at 60 PSI which is pretty common.
Plastic pressure regulators aren't needed, IMHO, as you can effectively regulate the pressure with the faucet handle. Just another plastic part to degrade and fail in the hot sun.
If you're setting up sprayers, go ahead and crack the sprayer adjustment enough so when you blow through it, some air escapes, then hook everything up and crank the faucet half way open and see how they're covering. The only advantage to high pressure is that the line pressurizes completely sooner than later. As an example, on one run I have eight sprayers, and about two dozen 1-10 gal emitters, and I run full pressure on the faucet, which is coming through a 3/4" galvanized nipple from a 1" PVC water line. The only time you run out of pressure is when you have a lot of large sprayers operating at max output, then they'll drop the pressure downstream quite a bit.
Don't forget a vacuum breaker.