Drip Irrigation

[atomic]

I am an indoor grower, growing under T5 fluorescent lights in a 4'x4'x5' growing case. The enclosure has humdity control, air circulation, and air exchanges - sort of a microgreenhouse. I have about 60 (mostly small) plants growing in that space.

I am toying with installing a drip irrigation system, in part because the wide range of potting media (moss, bark, mounted, expanded LECA, scoria) has made it quite difficult to fertilize regularly. Does anyone have experience with drip irrigation for orchids?

I have a variety of questions, but the main one right now is the emitter flow rate that you use. I can see that pot size would make a difference, but its not clear whether I should choose a slow drip rate (say, 0.125 to 0.25 gph) and water over a longer time to gradually water the plant, or whether a higher drip rate (say, 2-5 gph) for a shorter time would be better to flush out the pots. The higher flow rate is more like what I do when I water by hand, but its not as water-efficient as drip irrigation would be. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[raybark]

I believe the biggest problem you'll run into with drip irrigation is distribution of the solution throughout the medium,

When one waters with a hose - usually with some sort of "rain" head, it's pretty easy to soak the whole pot. A drip system typically waters a small spot, then relies on the wicking action of the medium (usually soil, which wicks well due to the small particle size). Wicking in most orchid media is not quite as good.

Can you explain your issue a bit more? It sounds like you're saying that you can water OK, but not feed, and I don't see how a drip system changes much in that regard.

[leosmith678]

Well i have experienced this.It really gives very good results and saves lot of water. I use this method in my garden and orchid. Also many drip irrigation kits are available which greatly performs well in irrigation and saving water.