Rain Gutter System ?

[My Foot Smells]

I like it and plan on implementation for some peppers and other oddities (no full sized toms) for next year. I watched a video, and did some light reading, but had some questions.

I did not plan to use a float for continuous feed and was thinking a manual feed would be fine, primarily b/c I don't want hoses out in the maintenance area. Guess that would be o.k.?

Does everyone use a basket at the bottom of the bucket? I guess you fill that up with dirt and the dirt acts as a wick - or do you use something else?

I've got several HD 5 gallon buckets but they have holes in the bottom. Plug 'em up, or it is o.k. to have holes in bottom of bucket.

I see some ppl have big holes all along the bucket and then line w/ landscape fabric. Is this better.

I know some guys here use the RGGS, so experience is a good teacher. My plan is to make a section in the garden with weed retardant, and pea gravel for clean growing area. I'm going to plant corn where my pepper patch is now.

Any tips would be appreciated. tia

(I will be offline this afternoon, so unable to comment on any replies; but will log on this evening or tomm morning - just to let you that your comments are very much appreciated and my lack of response is being out of pocket).

[nancyruhl]

I can not imagine not putting in a float valve, since whole point is to have a continuous water supply to the gutters. The gutters are fairly shallow and would empty quite quickly in Arkansas. I have only one hose and that is to the supply reservoir. From there I have a manifold made from pvc pipe. Or if space permits, the gutters can connect end to end with pvc pipe and this is referred to daisy chaining.

I do use the net pots in the bottom of the buckets with no other holes. This system works well for supplying water to the planters and those plants are way ahead of the in ground plants.

I do not have any other holes in the bucket except for the net pot. Others make multiple holes for air circulation.

[luigiwu]

I agree with nancy, the whole brilliance of RGGS is THE FLOAT!
If you already have holes in the bottom of your containers I don't think its a problem provided your potting mix isn't falling out. Depending on where the holes are and how big, you might have some issues with drilling the hole for the net cup. I also highly recommend getting the 3-inch net cups.

Container gardening required potting mix - NO DIRT!

If you want to know how to fill your containers (he is using bags in this video) fast forward to the 12 min mark... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclTbusP7Ms

[G from NC]

Hi foot,

Cheers and best of luck. I built a 9 pot RGGS (actually mine is of the 4" drain pipe variety instead of rain gutter type). This is my second season with it. The system is a lot of fun and its easy to care for and harvest the plants that are elevated well above the ground. My setup is also heavy making it surprisingly stable in high winds and the water filled pipe and wood frame make it easy to attach a trellis system. Best of all, everything I have planted in it grows well. Chili peppers are indeed very well suited. My system uses 10 gal. Root Pouches with 3 inch net pots.

I'm in zone 8a - sandhills NC and from my experience, you will want a float valve. On a hot sunny day, a big healthy plant growing in good potting mix requires a surprising amount of water. If hoses are an issue, maybe consider a reservoir tank and float valve. A big elevated plastic food grade barrel comes to mind.

Would I build another or extend my RGGS?

Nope. For my situation I would look at redundant irrigation timers, root pouches and fertilizer injection systems.

Best of luck

[Gerardo]

You need the float valve for it to be more or less hands off.

You can hide the hose.

[My Foot Smells]

good point regarding the float value, reason for omission was tired and lazy of dragging in hoses and such before mowing (which i have done alot of this year), but if built will not omit.

also tired of watering my container peppers and plants during high heat, yes, i have done drip and have supplies on hand, but still think bottom watering is superior and constant unmanned supply sounds dreamy.

thanks for the video, did not watch that one.

just got through putting a 12# beef brisket on the smoker, baby sit that joker for 12 hours today.....

[WilburMartin]

I like the idea of the rain gutter system - I also like the baby pool/shopping bag system, too. What I am afraid of in both cases is the reliability of the floats. I wish the people that have constructed those systems would show a complete list of materials and where to source those.

My luck, I'd put a three row system together, my float valves would fail and I'd end up with a $1000 dollar bill because the float broke OR the spring would be too stiff, and the water would completely dry and my plants would die.

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm not very familiar with the RGS, but I'm sure you could hook up a pump and a timer instead of the float. It would then be flood & drain hydroponics.

[Worth1]

If you want you can just run some PVC out to the area and bury it a little this way you dont have to worry about hoses.
I hate hoses.

Worth

[nancyruhl]

Originally Posted by WilburMartin

I like the idea of the rain gutter system - I also like the baby pool/shopping bag system, too. What I am afraid of in both cases is the reliability of the floats. I wish the people that have constructed those systems would show a complete list of materials and where to source those.

My luck, I'd put a three row system together, my float valves would fail and I'd end up with a $1000 dollar bill because the float broke OR the spring would be too stiff, and the water would completely dry and my plants would die.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=30040

[JRinPA]

I tried pots for redbeets last year. 3.3 gal black buckets from tree transplants, 4 or so holes around the bottom rim. Worked well except I hated watering them in the heat, seemed like they needed twice a day, and was a pain to avoid wetting the leaves.

This year I took 10 the buckets and put them on 10 ft of rain gutter. I fill the gutter by watering can every couple days - easy and fast. My net cups are 16 oz sour cream cups with many holes drilled, probably 75% cup, 25% holes. Rain gutter is supported in a 2x6 frame, old decking material. Only thing I had to buy was two rain gutter end caps. Seems to work great. One of the buckets snuck in quite a large tomato plant by the time I saw it and pulled it. I haven't had to pay attention to the buckets until they are near ready to harvest, so I guess that was a by product of easy growing.

The only issue was a lot of mosquito larvae a couple or three weeks after I had it in. Some of that summit brand mosquito bits took care of that. It is supposed to be safe for rain barrel water - here's hoping.

[WilburMartin]

Originally Posted by nancyruhl

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=30040

that's awesome! Thanks!