Continuous drip on vertical system

[Anthony Leotta]

Has anyone tried a continuous drip on a vertical system using 1 gal pots filled with hydroton.  I would like to use the water coming off the vertical system to provide the water for a continuous flow gravel bed.

 

Thanks

 

[TCLynx]

I do continuous flow to my Zipgrow towers

I don't know about doing it with pots of hydroton though

When you say continuous drip though, I worry since spaghetti tubing or drippers will clog constantly in AP.  Even my spray with drilled 5/32" holes has to get unclogged on a regular basis (I check the flow to all towers once each day.  Out of about 90 towers I probably unclog about 2-5 towers daily.  Algae, snails, bio-slime and occasional leaves or other debris that manage to get through the pump will clog small drippers constantly.  I did once have a bunch of hanging pots that I was trying to feed with drippers then removed those and tried to just use the little drip irrigation valves, removed those and even just the small tubing would clog several times a day and it was hard to unclog.  At least with the 1/2" pipe and caps, I can easily pull them apart and clear a clog in seconds.  Anything finer than that and you will need good filtration before you pump the water to the drip section and that filtration will probably cost and require frequent maintenance and cleaning as well.

[Rodney Ortiz]

I would agree with TCLynx about the clogging issues.  I would place the towers almost last in line after the water has circulated through other grow beds to take advantage of the media filtration.  Then the water that gets to the towers will be considerably cleaner with less particles.Clogging is always going to be a concern but you can reduce the amount and frequency through your strategic arrangement of your beds.

[Anthony Leotta]

Thanks - Right now clogging doesn't seem to be much of an issue on my other system- I don't have them dripping I have them free flowing through an airline hose and an adjustible dripper from aquatic ecosystems.   I have a Rio 2100 pumping water 7 ft high through 1/2" PVC then to black flexible tubing.  The drippers are adjusted so that when they turn on every 3 hours they let the water flow at a slow rate through my top pots which flows into a pot below it and so on to my gutters. I have to clear them about once a month, but I just open the small valve up all the way and the clog flows through. The pots are screwed to non pressure treated 2x4's about every ft vertically. I just don't want to deal with separate pumps for the vertical system and the gravel system. 

What plants are you using for continuous vertical systems.  I was definately going to try basil, tomatoes, and lettuce.

 

Thanks 

[TCLynx]

The zipgrow towers are particularly well suited to growing all the smaller plants, greens, herbs and flowers. Here is a picture of the system currently set up at the market with the Zipgrow towers

[Anthony Leotta]

Thanks-  Those look good.  I went back and read some of your posts on them.  Here at our high school we making most of this stuff ourselves.  The information on your posts has been the driving force of most of our home made systems.  I'll give the continuous flow a shot on the new towers and let you know how it goes,

 

Thanks again

 

Tony