Optimum times for Ebb & Flow system?

[GregoryJ]

Originally Posted by brbubba

Impressive! The industry specific minute timers I have seen are $$$ for what you are getting. You could potentially have a nice little side business if you could create a competitive and fully digital timer for this type of app. Good idea to integrate a light sensor so you don't have to adjust day/night cycles year round. I'm sure plenty of people would be willing to pay good money for this type of complex functionality.

brbubba - I know i could beat some of the $100 intermatic timers, and they would be much more customizable. I'll look into it and see if its feasable. If anyone is interested in knowing more about the timers, shoot me an email (posted above). I'd even consider some custom requests if people want soemthing out of the ordinary. Thanks

[JD4x4]

Hi all. I'm a total newb to both growing as well as hydro, but I'm a bit confused by some of the cycles everyone uses (or seems to).. I have read various places on the web that (a) 5 to 30 min of flood is 'usual' and you should avoid longer than 1 hour floods, and (b) 3 to 8 of these cycles per day (depends on the plant & local growing environment?), with no real need to water at night unless they totally dry out or wilt during this off cycle.

At first glance I thought the suggestions here were more wet than what I had read but after typing that and re-reading the thread I suppose I can see that the more frequent waterers are in somewhat hot and dry locales? Do I have the (a) and (b) guidelines about right though?

This is a GREAT site for info, by the way. And HUGE thanks to Ron for his build your own system plans. After messing with expensive fittings/grommets/containers/flex-hose and leaks/overflowing, the PVC pipe & bottle setup more than does the job, and is perfect for my budget!

[Otay1000]

Hi in my system I built about 10 myrs ago, I used a fish tank pump of about 18 watts and a normal timer with 15 minute settings. I set this to run between 3 times a day in winter and 5 times a day in summer. I have had some great crops with this set up, growing tomatoes, lettuce, cabbages, roses, chilli peppers, mint and parsley. I am using expanded clay balls for medium in 20 litre plastic oil tanks cleaned with the tops cut off. I often run a single pump cycle at night during summer to prevent drying out. In tauranga new Zealand temps range from light frosts in the morning in winter to about 28C in summer. My set up is on the back deck in the open.