Update: I was happy with the test setup with the hanging water bucket and wanted to try the garden hose next. First thing I found out was that I need an adapter that I don't have.

If the system is going to be connected to the garden hose pressurized by an electric #pump, there needs to be an #adapter that not only reduces the diameter of the hose, but also reduces or regulates the #water pressure. With the elevated tank, the water pressure is given by the elevation, basically the potential energy stored by me hanging the bucket up there 😆, and it's not a lot and very stable. But the electrical water pump is stronger, and the #pressure fluctuates.

I looked around for a second hand adapter, but that's a very specific thing. Maybe if I wait a year or two I will see an offer. But our #holiday is this year, and I still need time to test before that. I searched for alternatives. There's a similar adapter by the competitor brand that I could get, #Gardena, but the hose diameter is different on that one, so I would need an adapter for the adapter.

I grudgingly decided to abandon the #dontBuyAnythingNew principle and ordered the blumat pressure adapter. A week later I got a notification that there will be a long delay in the delivery (aka they don't actually have it, it's just for sale on their online shop 😡), so I cancelled the order and ordered it somewhere else. (I also tried to buy it locally by actually going to a store, but it's not in stock anywhere near me.) It's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

But I learned something in the meantime. I had attached the small irrigation line that goes from the top of the ceramic cone to where you want the water to go
with a large piece of sticky tape to the side of the pot, to make it drip into the water reservoir at the bottom of the pot. After about ten days, it became loose. It started dripping a little bit to the side, then more and more. I re-attached it. Then it got completely loose, and I got to see how fast it can drip when the cone dries! 😆 That's why I want to test these things well in advance. 👍

The pepper plants in the test pot are fine and growing well. They had their first flowers and there will be tiny peppers soon🫑. The system so far does not use nearly as much water as a expected. I only refilled the bucket once.

#gardening #watering #blumat #dripIrrigation

Finally tracked down a 200L barrel and some pallets to complete my #Blumat Coco #hydroponic system. Will be interesting to see how the blumats handle coarse coir, may end up going drain-to-waste with timed drippers if issues crop up. #tomatoes and #chillies doing great in the grow bags with daily nutrient feeding for the time being though!
#hydroponics #gardeningNZ #gardening