A Simple and Cost Effective Water Irrigation System for Flower Pots

 24 September 2019

 # Water irrigation,  flower pot, capillary,  dripping  https://tinyurl.com/yxc44fzg

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1. What’s needed?
2. Special Feature of System?
3. How System Work?
4. Preparation and Installation? 
5. The Previous Home Irrigation System

A Simple and Cost Effective Water Irrigation System for Flower Pots

This is another water irrigation system for flower pots.  It is  improved  from Home Irrigation System described here.   This  irrigation system  utilises the same working principle using water dripping method through capillary action;  only,  in this setup,  the preparation  is much simpler and water dripping rates can be controlled.

What are the Features?

a)  The system is simple;

b)  Cost effective;  mostly using waste and cheap materials;

c)  Wicks are covered and do not allow algae growth

d)  Easy to maintain and last longer without much attention.

What’s needed?

  

1.  1 roll of 4 mm diameter silicone aquarium air tube;  preferably black in color or painted black to prevent algae growth
2. Fish tank aquarium 3 way connector
3.  MS TP250 70cc Plastic water cup with lid for each plant as water receiver to keep water level constant for capillary flow
4. Dremel or similar with abrasive grinding Stone of 3.5 mm tip
5.  A few sheets of woven type fabric filter cloth
6   Few glue sticks & glue gun
7.  Mini float valve
8  MS 850 (800 cc)  Disposable PP plastic Food container
9  One length of 3mm thick 28mm PVC water pipe,  6” (150mm) long

How Water Will Drip?

Each flower pot will have one water cup,  inside which has one or two wicks made from woven fabric depending on the size of the flower pot.  During operation,  the wick will suck up the water by capillary action and drip the water through the stem of the cup.  This will wet the surrounding soil to achieve proper irrigation.

Preparation and Installation

Description	Action	Remark  doubleclick to enlarge pictures
1.  Arranging the Pots	Arrange the pots and group them according to heights	1. The water in the cup must maintain at almost the same level for each group of pot. 2.  One can raise the swallow pot by using styrofoam or wooden planks 3.  For taller flower pots,  make sure the earth is filled only to the same height as the other pots;  hole will need to be drilled at the soil level for the 4mm  tube to thread through.
2.  Preparing the wick	1.  Take 2 sheets of fabric sheet and use an electric iron or a plastic sealer to join the 2 pieces at the edges
	2.  Fold the sheet to ease cutting and cut the fabric sheet into  multiple of ¼” to 5/16” (6-8mm) strips as the wicks
3.  Preparing the cups	1.  Drill 2 holes;  the top one about 5 mm diameter and the lower one about 3 mm,  just smaller than the 4 mm air tube	The top one is for fabric wick to pass through and the lower one is for the aquarium air tube.  The lower hole should be just smaller than the air tube to maintain water tightness when air tube is inserted
	2.  Cut a short piece of aluminium foil of about  10 x60 mm,  fold it and hot glued to the plastic cup	To hide the fabric and prevent it from exposing to sun to prevent algae growth
	3.  Install the wick hangers onto the interior of the cup for  water dripping rate adjustment	Water dripping rate will depend on the length of the fabric. The longer the wick,  the lesser the water dripping rate.  The hangers will allow the wick to be  circled around the internal top of the cup
	4.  Painting the external of the cup to prevent sun exposure and connecting up the plastic cups with T shape air connector
3.  Preparing  the water reservoir	1.  Drill 2 holes on a 800 cc disposable container.  One on top for the mini float and the other at the bottom for the 3 way connector   as shown
	2.  Cut about 6”(150mm)  from a 3 mm thick 28mm PVC water pipe.  Split and heat flattened the pipe to make few  pieces of 15x150 mm PVC strips
	3.  Bend the PVC strip into shape using a lighter;  then rivets onto the reservoir  as shown
	4.  In the field,  using a lighter to further soften and bend the PVC strips so that it will attach onto the selected flower pot as shown.  Using bubble leveller if necessary to set the level.
4.  Field Setting up	1.  Daisy-chain the cups using 4mm aquarium tube and T joint and install the water reservoir	One 4mm hose should be able to daisy-chain more than 6 flower pot.
	2.  Water prime the system by filling up the water reservoir   and  lifting the reservoir;
	3.  After a few hours,  check the level in the cup and adjust the  water level to about ½ cup by lifting up or pressing down the cup	1. If the lifting the cup expose too much of the stem,  use  a larger open ended (top and bottom) disposable cup filled with earth to increase the soil  height  as shown One can  raise the height of the cup by as much as 6”(150 mm) or more using other containers like a small mineral water bottle. 2.  One can put Styrofoam under the flower pot to lift the pot
	4.  Check and readjust the height of the cup	a)  If there is a lot of water leakages from the pot  after lowering the water level to a very low level,  one can further reduce the water dripping rate by  Adjusting the length of the wick that  circulate inside the cup Cut and trim the width of the wick b)  If the flower pot is excessively big,  one can  install more water cup or add an additional wick into the existing water cup.
5,  Painting up	Paint the transparent or semi transparent aquarium hoses, containers, cups dark	So as not to allow algae growth

Source of Water Supply

The water source can be from a water tank like toilet cistern or overhead water tank.   Water mains can also be used provided permanent piping are used for connection from the water source to the water reservoir.     

According to specification,  the mini-float can withstand a maximum water pressure of about 0.6 MPA or 87 psi.

Video Clips for the above Article

Part 1 : How to Make the Water Cup for Flower Pots 

 

 Part 2 : How to Make the Water Reservoir for the Flower Pot Watering System