[Plantoid]

In a mad dash to get the greenhouse up and running before we went on hoiday I purched a misting set up and three sets of micro irrigation drip watering sets plus two time controllers .
 Having got it up and running as best as I could in two days we went on four weeks holidays.
Not having a header tank to supply the water I did the alternative recommendation and set up the watering lines off a partly turned on tap that gave about a drip every second whilst the timers were in operation... I thought this would have been would have been enough water but it appears I was wrong.

Each line did not perform as hoped ,the drippers closest to the supply gave the greatest amount of water, the most distant were almost dry.

 On return  I was dismayed to find the strawberries growbag almost bone dry ..oodles of dehydrated strawbs. The mini toms were barely damp but had we about two pounds of fruit.... some quite rotton .
The aubergenes & capsicums had fared a bit better as the drippers seem to have been more adequate.

 Do any of you have any experience of these dripper watering sets.?( mine came from Lidel )

Do any of you know if you can get adjustable micro flow drippers?...if so where from ?

[james-b]

we had reasonable success with drippers, key to success is to make sure they run flat or downhill otherwise will really struggle to feed the ones at the end.
you dont need a timer, should be on all the day
hozelock produce some good drippers but expensive

James

[Plantoid]

Thanks James I had been thinking along those lines  and was curious to see/hear what  the other members were using.

I've just  ordered a pile of adjustable flow drippers by  Gardina ( SP ) similar to the hose lock ones .. they can be screwed in as end of line off a " Tee "  or in line on a bigger feed pipe . They  will  now be running from a low pressure header tank that is time clocked to prevent over watering once each area has had about a litre of water in 24 hrs.
 I
The drippers set up I'd previously purchased were  " Garden Line " from Aldi and Lidel as well as off ebay , they  were supposed to work on mains drip or low header tank .
 I could not get the dam things to drop less than 1/2 a pint an hour by adjusting the tap flow so that at the end of a line of six drippers the last one supplied the grow bag of strawberries with some water  so decided on the timers to limit the feed during the night in the hope that  the heat of the day could handle any over watering ..how wrong I was .

[Blonde]

In a mad dash to get the greenhouse up and running before we went on hoiday I purched a misting set up and three sets of micro irrigation drip watering sets plus two time controllers .
 Having got it up and running as best as I could in two days we went on four weeks holidays.
Not having a header tank to supply the water I did the alternative recommendation and set up the watering lines off a partly turned on tap that gave about a drip every second whilst the timers were in operation... I thought this would have been would have been enough water but it appears I was wrong.

Each line did not perform as hoped ,the drippers closest to the supply gave the greatest amount of water, the most distant were almost dry.

 On return  I was dismayed to find the strawberries growbag almost bone dry ..oodles of dehydrated strawbs. The mini toms were barely damp but had we about two pounds of fruit.... some quite rotton .
The aubergenes & capsicums had fared a bit better as the drippers seem to have been more adequate.

 Do any of you have any experience of these dripper watering sets.?( mine came from Lidel )

Do any of you know if you can get adjustable micro flow drippers?...if so where from ?

A header tank above the house might be an idea, to give more pressure to the line and to the end of the line and the  drippers.

[Plantoid]

I found the website for gardina or whatever it was ( stroke induced memory losses , I'm affected daily ) and found that there is a pressure reducer available .
So I can run the drippers direct from the tap via the pressure reducer ., couple this with a timed two port clock switch from ALDI on the low pressure side &  I should be able to  get 15 min of far less than the 2 litres per minute  drippers can handle  .

 Istill want to buy the pressure reducers but at the minute at £17 or so each ( I'll need three )  they can wait  a wee while till funds grow back on the money tree .

 I've played a bit and ended up with the main water feed volume and found i can get two drippers per grow bag dropping just over a litre in the timed 15 minutes slot .

[suziequeue]

Thanks for sharing your experience Plantoid. I have just started with this dripper malarkey so I'll be forewarned!!!

I got all my stuff from Hozelock but by god it's fiddly 

My main concern is for the worms in the beds (our beds in the polytunnel are set in trenches of heavy inpenetrable clay  ) - as I invested some money in importing some big lobs and blue nosed worms to really turn the soil over and they don;t breed as fast as my little  wrigglers so I didn't want them drying out and seeking moister climes!!

[Plantoid]

You need lots of well rotted animal manure with straw if possible  ( not dogs or cats ) dug in down to around two feet deep and add lots of non sea side sharp sand . use a P H test kit to see if you need to add lime .

Adding lime will help crumb the clay but havin g it open to the frosts & weather as well is very helpful.

 When it comes time to move the tunnel due to disease build ups  think well ahead and deep prepare the area where you will be re errecting them using a mini digger and or  big rotorvator if possible . As it's far easier to do it to an area in that manner & without any overhead restrictions .