#water timer

Jacksepticeye Stimboard

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The new self-watering polytunnel - a wonder of the modern age.

In a small case of mission creep, I’ve installed an automatic irrigation system into the polytunnel, doubling down on the original (modest) investment.

I bought a £20 water butt and stand from Wickes - 100-litre capacity. 250 might be more practical but it just looked too unwieldy. This size is slimline and 100 litres is still quite a lot of water.

We have a tap at the plot so filling it isn’t a problem. I’ve also bought some polycarbonate roof edging trim from B&Q - https://www.diy.com/departments/polycarbonate-roof-edging-trim-w-160mm-l-3m/1932773_BQ.prd - which is 3 metres long. I’m planning to attach to the outside of the polytunnel with waterproof gaffer tape. I’ll angle it down and it’ll run into a bespoke-sized hole near the top of the water butt to collect the water. Loads of rain predicted, but alas the polytunnel is perpetually wet from the rain so not ideal conditions to attach it.

As for the automatic watering, that required 2 things: A Hozelock Easy Drip Micro kit with hose and 15 drippers. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Easy-Micro-Watering-Containers/dp/B01AXKVWV2/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=easy+drip+micro+kit&qid=1570875584&s=outdoors&sr=1-2

And a timer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004HKV1EI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The latter has a valve that opens and closes at intervals and for periods you select, from 1 minute every week to 2 hours every hour - that doesn’t make sense but you get the idea. I have mine set to 60 minutes every 8 hours, so 3 waters a day. It’s battery operated and has a waterproof rubber seal to keep the rain out. I needed a new tap with a thread to attach to the water timer. I got a ½" brass one from Toolstation and using an adapter, screwed the timer onto the tap with not much leakage.

I had to be careful about what drippers I got because there will be no pressure driving the water through, just gravity. So I’ve set up a system of 15 drippers, all set to their most open setting. And it works! I’ve left it on for 3 days so it’ll be (mildly) interesting to see how much water in left in the butt. 60 minutes sounds like a long time, but these thing literally drip maybe one or two drops a second, so I’m hardly saturating the ground. And to make it worth actually watering, I’ve brought in another pepper plant, as the ones outside have had a nasty nip from a frost last week, as well as a celeriac plant. It’ll be interesting to see how well it survives transplanting and whether the warmer conditions encourage it to flesh out a little more. Amazing how the celeriac has remained impervious to the frost when it took out all the courgette plants around it. Planning to transplant more of each in the coming days.

I’ve put 9 onions sets in as an experiment to see if they get off to a better start inside the polytunnel. I’ll do the same with some broad beans before to long as well.

Looking for the best programmable water timer? We read some of the best-selling digital water timers on Amazon and chose the best water timer to control your watering.