Soil automated watering system

[SFBayArea]

Hey guys, I am setting up my first grow and would like to make it a little easier on the watering. I plan to grow in soil and want to automate watering as much as possible. I was thinking of setting up drip system using basic supplies available in Home Depot, but read a lot of cons against driplet set up.
What would you suggest?

Thanks.

 

[somebody1701]

Hand water your first grow. How can you adjust your drip system if you haven't grown before?

 

[SFBayArea]

Well, that is what I thought too - hand water it at first, but thought if there is a simple enough system that people use that I can set up right from the start.

 

[whitebb2727]

Soil will dry at different rates depending on several factors.
http://www.blumats.com/

Check that out. Look up SIP. Sub Irrigated Planters.

 

[SFBayArea]

Soil will dry at different rates depending on several factors.
http://www.blumats.com/

Check that out. Look up SIP. Sub Irrigated Planters.

Interesting system. Do you run it?

 

[whitebb2727]

Interesting system. Do you run it?

No but it has been mentioned and used by a lot by others here.

 

[zem]

the ability to automate is one of the main reasons why i went hydro. I think that you could get by with a very airy mixture of say 50/50 perlite/soil or maybe 30/30/40 perlite/growrock/soil and automate using a simple timer. I don't advocate using sophisticated soil sensors for personal indoor ops. Have you thought about doing a simple hydro setup? Flood and drain is easy to automate. RDWC as well