Setting up an automatic watering system for your cannabis plants can be a big timesaver and ensure that your plants receive the right amount of water regularly, especially if you have a busy schedule or need to go out of town. Setting up an automatic drip irrigation system with a timer can give your plants the right amount of water at the right time and takes the guesswork and grunt work out of manual watering.
Supplies Needed for Automatic Cannabis Watering System
Setting up an automatic cannabis watering system in a grow tent provides added protection against leakage and damage to your floors or carpet if something goes awry. Here are the basic supplies needed for setting up your automatic watering system:
- Automatic watering kit – a watering kit from your local Hydro grow store should contain almost everything you need including the water pump, tubing, and a weight to hold the tubing down in your reservoir. Plastic connectors are needed to separate and direct water to each individual plant, which is pretty simple to do. It just takes a little time. *If your kit does not include a water pump, it could be a gravity-fed system that is controlled by the height placement of your water reservoir.
- Water reservoir – you need something to hold the water such as a 5-gallon water jug which is easy to purchase at any big-box store. You can use any type of container or bucket, although these can spill easily whereas a 5-gallon jug has a narrow neck and is easy to cover (throwing a cover over your water reservoir prevents light, heat, and air from affecting your water quality).
- Drip trays or saucers – you need something to catch extra water as pots such as fabric pots or plastic pots with holes allow water to come out of the bottom.
- Scissors – you will need to cut the tubing to the right length to meet your plant pots.
- Extra tubing and joint connectors – it is a good idea to have some extra parts, and joint connectors to help you water any additional plants as added. Tubing and connectors are quite inexpensive and it’s worth it to have some extra supplies.
How to Set up Your Automatic Watering System
- One of the first things you need to do is to set up your water reservoir. A good place is right outside the grow tent door, in a cool and dry place. Add nutrients and supplements to your water reservoir and protect it by covering it. A cold and dark area helps keep your water healthy.
- Connect a water pump to the reservoir with ports that are typically on the top or the side. Some kits come with a little air stone that helps keep the tubing weighted down in the bottom of your water reservoir.
- Set up the tubing to reach all your plants. This might be the most time-consuming part although it is still pretty simple. You want to measure the tubing to reach your plants, cut the tubing and add connectors to split your main tube into two or three, whichever best fits your grow system.
- Turn the pump on for a minute and test your tubing to make sure water is dispersed evenly before continuing to split the tubing. Stakes that connect to the end of the tube should be inserted into the soil to deliver water to the root system. You want to put a stake in every single plant.
- Now you can program the timer to water your plants on a schedule. You want to experiment with this over a few days before you plan on leaving an automatic system to care for your plants if you will be away. A typical starting point is to water your plants for about 60 seconds at a time once or twice a day. Adjust accordingly based on the number of plants you have and the type of pump.
Setting up an automatic watering system is a great idea to keep your cannabis plants healthy and frees up a lot of time in caring for your plants. Just be sure to check on it regularly, make sure you’re getting a little drainage but not too much as you don’t want plants to sit in stagnant water which can cause root problems. An automatic watering system for cannabis is one thing you can do to make your home growing experience more enjoyable and more convenient.
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