Boca Bob's Watering System

Gymgirl: I'm getting my 4 way manfolds for my front and back facets Tuesday, then I'll be ready to get the rest of what I'm short on. I'm buying my poly hose and poly tubing from Bob. I'm also getting the aqua turrets from him, all will be hooked up to 5 different 50 ft of his water tubing and then I will drill holes for the tubing, already got a good supply of goof plugs, I'm also hooking up the soaker hose system for my flowers around front. The system for my back garden will be watering my EBs, my ebuckets, GPs, square footers, topsy turvys and his grow bags along with some 18 gallon totes. My staking system should be done Monday and I will have the way clear for my watering system then. The only thing not hooked up to a watering system will be my smart pots of potatoes and that is because I don't want to overwater them. I'm not hooking up a timer to either right now, that will have to wait to a later date; but, all I will have to do is turn it on and time it myself until I can get the timers.
joy

Wow! What a set up you will have but it certainly will save you a lot of work and plenty of food. You know Bob has those adjustable sprinklers that you can adjust to just trickle for your potatoes and never overwater this way all you'll have to do is prop up your feet and watch them grow. LOL But seriously!

not sure if ya'll remember I was having trouble with my EB watering system last year...DH adjusted the length of the tube in the fill tube and voila it works great!

The EB watering system costs too much, the one I'm doing using Bob's equipment will be very affordable and I can expand it later on, can hardly wait til it gets here so I can hook it up.
joy

Joy,
Are you hooking your's up yourself? LMK how it goes. I've had mine since last June and still have hooked it up. But, now that all my eBuckets are finally organized in my planting area, I'm going to attempt to use it this season.

I might need your help if I run into a snafoo, ok?

Thanks!

Gymgirl: It should only take about 10 mins to hook it up and looks easy enough; but, I've hired someone to finish up my staking system and hook mine up for me, while I watch. I'll pay attention in case you need help though ok? I am aslo having soaker hoses buried in my canna lily beds at the same time. I am having two brass four-way manifolds delivered with y connectors, and from Bob I'm getting 4 more 50 foot poly hoses and a whole lot of poly tubing, that should do the job really well. Later on, as I can afford to, I will buy a timer or two; but, this should suffice for a while without the timer.
joy

Ok, Joy. Thanks!

What're the brass four-way manifolds with y connectors for?

GYMGIRL YOU CONNECT IT TO YOUR MAIN FAUCET AND HAVE TWO TO FOUR HOSES RUNNING FROM THE SAME FAUCET.Depending on what you buy. They have them at Lowes, etc.

I couldn't find my brass 4 way facets anywhere around here; but got pretty cheap at www.growerssupply.com for around $27 each, I got the Y connectors cheap too. With the Y connectors and the 4 way facet, I could have up to 12 hoses running from the same facet, which gives my garden room for expansion later on, they have shut off valves also, so if I'm not using one I can just switch that valve off.
joy

The 4 ways are 23.00 at walmart

What???? $23????? I looked and they don't have them here. My poly tubing and polyhose comes to me from Boca Bob today!!!! Pics I hope tomorrow folks.
joy

$17@ Home Depot...I priced them yesterday evening when I decided on one "Y" connector instead, for $9...

gymgirl: The Y connectors I get for around $3 each at the same place I bought the brass 4 way facets, and here they are wanting around $33 each, the reason I bought them online. Still waiting for poly hose and poly tubing, maybe tomorrow??? Gotta spray tonight, I saw these flies with bright green metalic bodies and flies that look like specks near my taters. What are they? Using spinosad and pyrethrin tonight; but, I'm not using no 1 gallon sprayer either. I'm mixing up a gallon or two and spraying the bottoms and tops of all the leaves on all plants in the garden making sure I miss all the blooms. I am mixing it up and then putting it in little spray bottles, easier for me to control the where the spray falls.

joy

Okay y'all ...
I'm going to be doing the watering system now.

Linda, the Ebuckets are the slickest thing I've seen in a while! Thank you, thank you thank you! For what I have in them, if they hold up for just a few years, they'll pay for themselves. I already had some of the buckets. I have to admit, the gal had a pretty strange look on her face when I purchased 17 colonders, though. LOL She wanted to know if we did a lot of cooking, and the DH just grinned and said "no ... we do a lot of gardening." You could see that through her for a loop! hahahaha

They've stopped asking me at my local "Nothing Over A Dollar" Store!

What're you putting in your eBuckets? I've found that almost anything OTHER than a huge tomato plant works VERY well in an eBucket. The water hogs do especially well (cabbages, cauliflowers, kohlrabis, and BELL PEPPERS). A cherry tomato would be ok.

LMK what you're up to and how it turns out. Just remember to add around 2/8" to your overflow hole placement to account for the fact that There's a little ridge on most buckets, and the inside bottom of the bucket does NOT sit flush with the outside -- it sits higher.

Your overflow hole will be too low by about 2/8" if you don't compensate for the raised bottom inside!

Ask me how I know this....

The design works perfectly ... :-)

I'm growing peppers in mine. All of my EBs are full of tomatoes. LOL

I broke down and planted 10 HUGE heirlooms in the EBs. I have 4 in 20-gallon tree containers. I'm not pleased with having to water each of the 4 every day, though, so I'm considering putting them in Twiggybuds' waterbeds. I re-read her original thread last night, and it does make sense to sit the containers in 4" of water and let them suck it up like they want it.

My ONLY hesitation is the number of mosquitoes we already deal with in our microclimate backyard, bordered by a plugged up bayou that doesn't flow very well. It's a breeding ground. I can only go outside if I'm almost smothered in Deep Woods Off, and I HATE the way the stuff smells. My other option is to slather on some Avon Skin So Soft, but it plugs up your pores and makes you sweat like a pig before the heat even reaches you!

Choices, huh?

I've considered having to buy some frogs to contain the mosquitoes (pun intended?) in the waterbeds. But, the froggies will draw the snakes which are content down in the bayou for now cause we don't have frogs (or mice or rats) for them to come up and munch on!

Choises, huh?

If I may suggest use a bottle of corn oil on the plugged up bayou as this will prevent breeding of mosquitoes and immedieately kill the new larvae. Also use the oil anywhere you have standing water as it won't hurt anything. If you can afford an mosquitoe deleteo machine for $259 , it works to claer an entire acre. We had one and it worked but no longer as the town sprays and the unit needed a replacement of a valve.

Paw,
Tell me more about the mosquito deleto machine, PLEASE!!!!!

Boca Bob's irrigation system, hooked up to water over 100 plants in about 5 mins; used one 100 ft water tube and 200 ft of 1//4" tubing, used about 22 bags of cypress mulch and 2 rolls of doubled up weed cloth. Need to touch up the staking system and will add some more tubing later on, but here are some pics.

another one:

Oh and I forgot about 100 garden staples to hold the weed cloth in place and to hold the water tubing in place; but hey, 100 plants in 5 mins, not bad, and the by cypress mulch bugs can't stand, so I made sure I put some around my buckets too. LOL

Wooooooooooooooooow !!!!

Joy, You have come a long way from "beginner status". Things are looking good.

Gymgirl -- Lowes has a similiar machine or you can try googleing it on the net. It runs off bottled gas and does and excellent job. It draws the mosquitoes to it and captures them in a mesh bag where they die. Should do the job for you!
Google www.colemans Mosquito deleto

This message was edited Apr 17, 2010 1:17 PM

Thanks.

Bob: Only takes 5 minutes for it to get to the last row of EBs from the first 5 gallon HEB! I used the clear temporarily til I get the black 1/4" that black stuff is thick and is holding great. I think I will use another 100 foot hose for the rest though, as I have the other stuff to water too. I pulled all the onions today, they are so sweet you can just bite into them without a kick. Everyone loves them. I had both the Texas Granex and the Georgia White, both sweet onions, they didn't get all that big as far as the bulb part goes but the tops did and they are tough so it was time for them to come up. Gave me some more medium to bury my potato plants with, almost up to the top of the smart pots now, then I can quit messing with them, I hope they get along well with medium that had onions growing in it?

I checked with the FL extension office and discovered that dwarf limes here are called Key limes and dwarf lemons are called Meyer or Persian, I found them all and bought a Key Lime and Meyer Lemon. I'm going to plant them in 15 gallon nursery pots so this fall/winter can get them in the house when it gets too cold for them outside. Haven't figured out whether to use vermulcite or perlite in the pots with the coconut coir yet? The pots are pretty deep. I have special citrust food for them. My dwarf banana should be in soon, along with my Brandywines and sweet bell peppers and my Black Krim. I lost one Mortgage lifter tomato; but still have one left. Gonna have to google caring for my dwarf banana and lemon and key limes though.
joy

Wow, really nice Joy! Your backyard is gonna be a tomato jungle soon.

Ray: Thanks, its' growing really nicely now that the irrigation system is put down. I've had a few containers that I've had to remove the plastic tubing I had protruding from the containers for the drain hole though, as they have gotten clogged; but, the self watering system saves me lots of time now. I still have to finish it; but that will happen shortly too, still don't have all my tomato plants nor pepper plants, still waiting on RH Shumway to send me my brandywines (16) and bell peppers (16). I like the way my onions turned out, even though they aren't real big, they are really sweet. Gotten a few strawberries too, and lots of flowers on the tomato plants.

Kmart has the brass 4 way for 10.00.. It is Craftsman so Sears may have it to since they own Kmart.I bought one for that price.Quality was same as for the one at walmart for 23.00.

Deanna: Walmart has them for around $13 here; but this goofball here, ended up buying them online and paying $26 each for two, and that was supposed to be on sale (groan). But, I'm happy with the result. Everyone is amazed at how quickly all the containers get watered and it's fun to watch it go all the way around.
joy

Joy,
Are you single-handedly trying to feed all of Florida?

No, just my family and friends. LOL
joy

Just got linked to this thread - trying to learn how to possibly raise some veggies without continually fighting the grass and weeds and this looks like a possibility......

What are EBs and WHY do you have your buckets in another bucket?

the irrigation system looks really nice.

Genna

Genna: My buckets are a five gallon bucket and a 3 1/2 gallon bucket construction that I have a pond basket in the bottom one (serves as a wicking device) a drain hole and a PVC pipe going through both upper and bottom bucket for a water fill tube, EBs are earthboxes, and they both have the drain holes and watering pipes, so the irrigation set-up works great for them. Thanks. I did double the weed cloth and then use 22 bags of cypress mulch around the buckets and down the aisles before putting the irrigation system down.
joy

Genna there's a whole thread on 5 gallon buckets complete with a schematic of EZ instructions on how to construct a One-bucket growing system.

The design incorporates using an overturned plastic colander to create a wick. It's catching on like wildfire around Dave's!

Linda

Thanks!
Genna

Genna,
Here's the link to the original discussion. Jump over where it picks up at the other thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1011889/

Here's the link to the continuation thread:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1056426/

Finally, Here're the instructions to the colander eBucket design we all worked on!

Thank you!

Here's an even more concise set of instructions from Gessieviolet, one of the originators of the colander eBucket design. Feel free to pass the link to Lane's (Gessieviolet's) blog.

I jumped all over Lane Cockerell yesterday for trying to plaguerize Gessie's design! Oops! We both had a good laugh when I found out they were one and the same!

http://mckarion.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/frugal-gardner-self-watering-bucket/