Automatic Guerrilla Watering Tank: How-To and Pics!

I like orange's irrigation better... doesnt look so much like a mudhole with contaminated water... cool idea orange... i am already gonna use a 55 gallon drum for my grow... but im burying it and using a hand pump to water ... or get one of those water guns where u suck water and squirt it... ill get some pics of it when its done.

hey this is agreat idea i was racking my brain trying to think of a way to cut down on trips to the plot this season and this is the answer to my problems and its pretty cheap to setup i just got one question for u orange shovel about how much does each plant need in its diffarant stages of growth

because i was gonna run multiple lines i was just tryin to figure out how often i would have to refill it and about how many plants i could water and how many times before i would have to refill based on how much a average plant would drink at the least to survive..

like say how much when in veg and then how much in flower if u could shed some light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated thanks

Newbie to the site here..... Last summer was the first time I had ever grown.... I set everything up myself without consulting any growers.... I basically did it the exact way that Orange describes, with a few differences.....

First off I only used a 30 gallon rubbermaid garbage can, same thing though with a spigit at the bottom. I then connected a 2 way splitter, two battery operated timers, and had two drip hoses running to 15 plants each. Now to fill the 30 gallon container I may have had an advantage. In the hills where I was doing it there was a spring that supplied a year round creek. Not alot of water but enough. I put a 5 gallon bucket to catch the water at a higher elevation that the 30 gallon container. Bottom of the 5 gallon also had a spigit with a hose running downhill to the top of the 30 gallon. So this creek would constantly feed into the 30 gallon. Couple of 1/2" holes dilled toward the top of the 30 gallon helped with the overflow. So basically I never had to visit the site for water from start to finish. I did visit it about twice a week though for the nutrients.

End story was an early rain came and I was unable to get out there for a week or so. Mold overtook most of everything and it was almost a complete loss.

Anybody grow in Sonoma County or Mendocino County close to the coast that could give me some pointers? This year I would like to do something that can be harvested a little early with a high yield.... any ideas?

widow87 said:

hey this is agreat idea i was racking my brain trying to think of a way to cut down on trips to the plot this season and this is the answer to my problems and its pretty cheap to setup i just got one question for u orange shovel about how much does each plant need in its diffarant stages of growth

because i was gonna run multiple lines i was just tryin to figure out how often i would have to refill it and about how many plants i could water and how many times before i would have to refill based on how much a average plant would drink at the least to survive..

like say how much when in veg and then how much in flower if u could shed some light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated thanks

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It should be the same amount at each stage.. but if it changes u can change the amount accordingly

i will be doing this but adding somthing to this...first off...burying the 55 gallon drum or using a larger 250 gallon colapable water tank...with a 4 stroke water pump that can pump 125 head height and up to 80 plus gallons a min....

i heard of a guy using this reservoir method, but instead of getting a water timer, he hooked up an eye dropper to the spiggot, so the water just dripped out slowly. he only had one plant. but it worked i believe. i think he got over a pound off it

yes drip irrigation is the best irrigation for most plants... shows the best results compared to other ways of irrigation (read that in a gardening book BTW)

naturalhigh said:

i will be doing this but adding somthing to this...first off...burying the 55 gallon drum or using a larger 250 gallon colapable water tank...with a 4 stroke water pump that can pump 125 head height and up to 80 plus gallons a min....

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better get a good muffler if u arent that far away from human ears

sorry about the the problems we had..

i plan on using 3 gallon pots with 1/2 inch holes drilled almost to the point of net pots.

In the channels Im digging out. I will bury the pots half way in the dirt..

All my pots will be filled with 3 different grades of coco loose on bottom cubes in the middle and fine on top...
but the channels will stay moist because of the gentle water flow... The ground is always moist there...

I plant to use time released nutes all organic..

The only reason I want this system.. Is because its almost like a wick..

The less I have to water the better for me...

And I am very lucky to have a wild weed here where I live that looks just like marijuana.. So will be almost impossible to see..

I also plan to start planting in the middle of summer.. I don't want trees.. just one main cola per plant

Gilfman said:

better get a good muffler if u arent that far away from human ears

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actaully tthat bad boy is 4stroke and is very quite....even it it was noisy...people would just think its a chain-saw or a dirtbike near by...but im sure if you really wanted to like it dead quiet use some fiberglass isolation and make a box around it...

naturalhigh said:

actaully tthat bad boy is 4stroke and is very quite....even it it was noisy...people would just think its a chain-saw or a dirtbike near by...but im sure if you really wanted to like it dead quiet use some fiberglass isolation and make a box around it...

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cause i know i have a water pump and that thing is noisy (also 4stroke)

just bumpin so people can read about this for 2009

very nice I wish I hade saw this befor I spent endless night thinking and surfing the net and coming up with the same thing.How lond did you have your timer run so that your plants got waterd the right amount with the drip set up.I was going to just run mine at the house to see what worked for you.

I am essentially doing the same thing. I just went to Home Depot and bought all the supplies. I am actually setting it up at the plot in two days. I am going to get a gallon jug and see how long it takes for it to dispense 1 gallon of water. This will be a good indicator. Its good to see other growers are doing this too!

Organge Shovel, thank you for postin this. haha
You jus made my summer soooooooo much easier

home depot 25 bucks for timer PRICE LESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was going to set mine up to fill a 1 gallon jug then shut of then It didnt mater how long it took for it to empty out 4 plants set to drip of one gallon jug each get 1 qrt, every 3-4 days the main tank will be 25 gallons I was thinking that would be a easy way to do it.becouse trying to time it ,what if the water preashure changes as the main tank goes down ,as it would.so the amount of water that makes it out of the tank threw the drip would be lower as the tank went down .Thats why I was thinking the first tank is for holding the second tank meashures out the right amount each time as the tank goes down.What do you think mister orange shovel.

Thats a great idea. I don't think that the pressure will change that much. If so, you can always make the watering time longer for the time the tank gets low. Your idea is great, except i cant imagine setting a water timer to a 1 gallon jug without it leaking. if you can, that would be awesome.

That is a great idea, allot of relaxing time. But helicopters can detect the water by inferred and if its in a dry area haha it will be too easy for helicopters to find your plants.

(Thats last thing im thinking is them finding a 30 gallon drum of worm water in the deep woods of maine come on.)And I have a way of filling the 1 gallon jug run a 1/4 inch line into the jug a little of center and put colking around it run it up to the top of the main tank and tie it of the water will stop filling the jug when the little tub fills up to the leavel of the drum the tub would only hold a pint of water.even if the water timer was open the water would stop.it would only take like 1 minet to fill.and the little line would let the air get out of the 1 gallon jug as it filled.after the timer shut of it would also alow the one gallon jug to empty out to the plants. YES SIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR it would work great I will be seting of 4 of them HEHEHEHEH

it would not leak at all.if you under stand let me know if you dont I will try righting it again