Thanks for the great description of your setup, Dave! I never would have thought this could be done for around $100. (now all you need is the music for "Singing in the Rain" to coordinate with misting, like it does in the veggie dept at the grocery store where I shop.)

Great job setting that up. In my shade house, I currently use an Orbit misting system that I hooked up to my hose. I bought it to replace the horribly expensive Mist King system that we bought that never worked properly.

I love the Orbit. It was so cheap and easy to set up, but it is limited to the number of cycles based on the timer that you buy. But for us it works well.

I wonder if you could put a toro timer between the water and your orbit system.

dave said:I wonder if you could put a toro timer between the water and your orbit system.

Hi Dave,

Probably, but we won't need it in the new greenhouse. We have a swamp cooler for the new GH.

Hi Dave!

I'm listening to your "Misting" podcast and bellowed in laughter. YOU know where!

Thank you very much! Very true.


>> “Of course ... his answer took about three pages ... as it usually does ... “

Dave - Thanks for directing me to this thread from this week's podcast thread.

I don't have a greenhouse, but I do use a partial shady area under my mini-pergola to root cuttings. It's always a challenge to keep them from drying out in the summer heat, but I have had some good success with most of the plants I am rooting. I have a DIG irrigation system that runs behind that area. Could I just tap into it with the timer and misters? Maybe I could use a Y connector to run some 1/2" from the main line and then add the timer and misters? I could hang it from the cattle panel trellis on the preferred side of the pergola. I don't know. But this sure has given me some ideas! I like those misters! Perfect for rooting cuttings!!!!

I think you're on the right track using a Y off the original line. You need to tap into a line that is always under pressure, though, keep that in mind!

I like converting the mainline into hose thread fittings, and then screwing a 2-valve garden hose Y onto that.

That gives you zone control and also, future changes require only unscrewing the garden hose thread, not taking apart irrigation fittings. And you can always slap a short section of garden hose anywhere you want as if you had spigots everywhere your irrigation mainline runs.



Actually, I like turning every Tee or branch into a four-way with valves, probably because I like gadgets.

Rick - I do use those Y attachments. My biggest problem is that I only have 1 outdoor facet that I can use. The other two have the water filtered through our salt water softener system. So I can not use that water on any plants. Why they even did that is beyond me! Grrrr ..... I need to figure out how to run some PVC piping from that facet to the southwest and the northwest corners of my house to hook up my irrigation systems. I have too much hooked up now and it leaks on my water pump (which will eventually rust it)!

Also another dilemma I have ....

I have a vertical herb garden and am trying to figure out how to water all the plants using the 1/2" or probably 1/4" irrigation system. Any ideas?

Here is what the vertical herb garden structure looks like. There are 3 sections and it is installed in an "L" shape. It is basically in the middle of my backyard. I could hook-up with 1/4" to the main 1/2" irrigation line. But how do I water the plants from there?

South facing side of the vertical herb garden:


East facing side of the vertical garden:

Snake the 1/2" water distribution line across the top of your structure there and then tap in 1/4" distribution lines here and there. Run those down into each container and terminate each one with a drip emitter.

Yes, I had thought of that, but ..... How should I attach the 1/2" line to the top of the structure without puncturing a hole in it?

I wonder if some of those "U" shaped nails used for cattle panel would work?

You could wire the 1/2" line to the structure. Electric fence wire is thin and strong, and galvanized so it won't rust.

Good idea! Thanks, Dave!!!

Dave's system will give you excellent control over how much to water each pot, but there will be quite a bit of 1/4" tubing behind the rack.

Where the containers are longish and have only small gaps between them, you might have fewer 1/4" tubes visible if you ran some 1/4" dripline with 6" emitter spacing the whole length of one 18 foot row. And you would only need one hole in the 1/2" line and one barb per row (instead of one per pot or 1/4" Tees).

http://www.dripworks.com/categ...

You might be able to scrunch the dripline into a serpentine shape with U-shaped staples going into pots, and prevent any emitters from winding up between pots. Or, run the dripline in the least conspicuous straight line you can, and plug any emitters that fall between pots using something like waterproof silicone glue. It might not stick to the polyethylene very well, but any that oozes into the emitter itself will surely plug it closed.

If you have any very, very thirsty pots, you could use some "Spot Spitter" spray stakes for a higher flow rate. But they are more for watering entire tree root-balls.
http://primerusproducts.com/
http://www.dripirrigation.com/...
http://www.growers-inc.com/wat...
http://www.dripworks.com/produ...

My first thought was to leave 2or 3 90-degree jet sprayers in front of the wall on tall stakes, and spray the whole wall somewhat indiscriminately (leaving water on the leaves and not reaching the soil very uniformly). Dave's way with drippers will be better for the plants and less visually intrusive and waste less water.

Rick - Interesting ideas! Thanks for those links, too!

I would need drip emitters for each of the plant boxes in the vertical herb garden. There are two boxes per row per shelf per section, so each section has 4 plant boxes. There are 3 sections, though the east section actually has 3 shelves for a total of 6 boxes. So the total number of plant boxes is 14. I could run a 1/2" line from the main line over across the mulch path to the vertical garden and then run a 1/4" line from the back of the structure, up each 4 x 4 post, that split off into a " T " connector to each box and then the top box would just have a corner connector.

I also have 2 raised beds and a ground bed running pretty much in a straight line along the mulch path that leads to the vertical herb garden which is near the far end of the path. I already have 2 switches for the 1/2" line, one for each zone of the backyard. I could add a 3rd switch which would be for the middle of the backyard zone and just run another long 1/2" line following the length of the path with 1/4" lines running off of it into the raised garden beds, the ground bed, and the vertical garden. I need to count up all my drip emitters. I don't think I have enough on hand. I may have to buy a few more. I use the drip emitters for pots, so they would work perfect for the planter boxes. Just need to buy a few more bags of them. I could just use 360 sprayers for the raised beds. And that would solve that watering problem for all those areas which I am currently having to water by hand.

Dave, I just joined this forum a week ago, and am just now exploring new pages and found this thread. I am too late to describe my setup, so at least at this point, I have one question, are your sprayers running at night? They shouldn't be of they are. You can get fungus by watering plants too much at night. Tom

They spray night and day and you're right that it is preferable to only run it in the daytime, but my timer doesn't have that option.