help with automatic watering system

[barrosinc]

first of all today I discovered internet based watering systems.

I think GreenIQ is my favorite. It can be controlled over the internet with 6 areas with sensors that can tell me if my trees need misting.

http://greeniq-systems.com/index.html

It may sound a bit lazy but I need this to keep my plants alive as I am not home all the time and will not be able to water the plants when needed in summer.

It attaches to flowerpower sensors for amounts of light and moisture in soil and temperature, basically for ground grown plants, but also for temperature sensor for bonsais in soilless sustrate. And also for my garden in general.

http://www.parrot.com/flowerpower

So here comes the question just for the bonsais and prebonsais in pots on benches I was thinking:

1 of these C-Frame downspray per pot (maybe two for big pots).
http://www.dripworks.com/product/3182/misters

one of these kits:

http://www.dripworks.com/product/KIP1

Includes 1 mister to spray in the air to get keep the plants cooler in summer.




Any thoughts?

 

[barrosinc]

help please!

 

[al345900]

I got my watering system also from dripworks.com

I got the heart of the garden drip irrigation kit and used mini jet black, these are fine sprayers.

I wrote an article last year about my setup, you can find it here http://milwaukeebonsai.org/Newsletters/MBS201305news.pdf

It has been through two winters in Wisconsin and works very well.

Regards

Jorge

 

[barrosinc]

Looks good, but I think the C-frame downspray would loose a lot less water on the benches.

 

[iant]

I water by hand except for a week or two in the summer when we're on vacation.
I've used flower power for the last 6 months (A friend gave it to me.) It's only in one of my plants (a seiju elm in an anderson flat.) I have to say that I don't really do much with the info from the flower power. It's there and it's recording data but I don't make any decisions based on it. It was neat to notice what the max temp was on the hot days. I also saw that max go down when I wrapped the pot in aluminum foil. You can't really go by the moisture meter in a bonsai soil. The particle size is too big... it does show nice graphs though and I suppose I might find it useful in the future. The fertilizer aspect doesn't work. The light aspect isn't that helpful as I can see when it's sunny and when it's not....
Here are some screenshots. You can tell whether it's water or sun or temp by the icon that's circled (watering can, thermometer, or sun.)
Kindof interesting how hot the pots get...
Also interesting what's really happening in that water curve. The spike is when I watered. Then I think it's getting rid of water between particles, then the curve starts to dip as it's using water within the particle (but who knows!)


Also I use a similar drip system as above. I have had to add channels as I have 75 plants or so and with all those emitters it was just dribbling out with 2 channels so now I have 3 valves, 3 filters. I'd also recommend getting the 30 gpm flow limiter and not the 15 or 20 as you'd rather have pressure than not.

Ian

 

[barrosinc]

I water by hand except for a week or two in the summer when we're on vacation.
I've used flower power for the last 6 months (A friend gave it to me.) It's only in one of my plants (a seiju elm in an anderson flat.) I have to say that I don't really do much with the info from the flower power. It's there and it's recording data but I don't make any decisions based on it. It was neat to notice what the max temp was on the hot days. I also saw that max go down when I wrapped the pot in aluminum foil. You can't really go by the moisture meter in a bonsai soil. The particle size is too big... it does show nice graphs though and I suppose I might find it useful in the future. The fertilizer aspect doesn't work. The light aspect isn't that helpful as I can see when it's sunny and when it's not....
Here are some screenshots. You can tell whether it's water or sun or temp by the icon that's circled (watering can, thermometer, or sun.)
Kindof interesting how hot the pots get...
Also interesting what's really happening in that water curve. The spike is when I watered. Then I think it's getting rid of water between particles, then the curve starts to dip as it's using water within the particle (but who knows!)


Also I use a similar drip system as above. I have had to add channels as I have 75 plants or so and with all those emitters it was just dribbling out with 2 channels so now I have 3 valves, 3 filters. I'd also recommend getting the 30 gpm flow limiter and not the 15 or 20 as you'd rather have pressure than not.

Ian

Thanks Ian! awesome info!
I want the info connected to the sprinkler system 24/7

 

[barrosinc]

So I ended up getting a cheaper one with more zones.
http://myblossom.com/

I just have to install this! Maybe do three zones for bonsais... for three amounts of water needed.
I already lost 2 azaleas and a butterfly maple because my mother forgot to water my plants while I was out on holiday.

Which nozzles are you guys using?

 

[Allen]

Why not you search on Amazon hope you get a nice deal there according to your requirements.

 

[DougB]

Look carefully at the specs for the soil moisture sensors. They are developed/calibrated for garden soil. You would have to experiment with bonsai soil to see if they would even work, let alone help determine when to water. Let us know.

 

[barrosinc]

anyone else using c-frame downspray sprinklers??
Mine seem to be clogging up all the time.

 

[ysrgrathe]

This is a problem with misters: the small orifices clog easily. (From scale even if you have a particulate filter) The industrial emitters are usually cheap though so it may be economical to just replace them if they work reliably for a year or so.

One thing I saw was using both lawn irrigation heads and spot emitters: the irrigation sprays are insurance if a spot spray fails.

Fwiw I am just using the irrigation heads, but I overlap them to avoid a single point of failure.

 

[mattspinniken]

In my opinion hand watering is best because it gives you the most control. The next best option is a standard irrigation controller that can be set for either once a day, twice a day, etc. etc. Sensor based systems leave too much to chance in my opinion. They don't work very well with grass or bonsai trees (I install irrigation to landscapes for a living). Sensor based system seems to always want to under water. With how much love and attention we give our trees I think an irrigation controller with more control from the user is best. Also I recommend using "spray heads" like the Rainbird 18oo series, this will produce a nice deep watering that is the most uniform. Detailed drip set ups are generally full of maintenance issues and do not have even coverage. Also you may not easily realize that you have a problem until it is too late.

For what it is worth I water by hand with a rain water system that I set up. When I am not able to be home I set up my back up automatic system to over water my trees. No sprinkler systems are 100% uniform so you need to over water in some areas to make up for weak spots.