[Trillium]

Just heard back from a master gardener acquaintance in California who uses drip irrigation. For toms, he says that he lets the soil dry out a bit (just a bit, not a lot) before he runs the drip for about 1-2 hours, depending on how often the soil has dried out. He's in a 30% humidity area in Los Angeles with very little rainfall, and he runs the irrigation in the morning when plant growth is more active and can use water. He uses mains only water and has very successful crops.

The same goes for other crops - no overwatering, which is worse than underwatering, and as needed.

This does mean you need to go out regularly and check soil dryness, but you should be doing that anyway to look for any problems, etc.

Here's an interesting bit about him, though it doesn't talk about his irrigation, just a preview of his dvd:

 EE9EwFgDAww

[gardenermatt]

im looking at getting a drip feeder but i do not want one that is connected to the mains i would rather have the one thats in a bag but how many plants- seed trays and so on would that do could i just keep extending it to do like 50 60 pots with regular fill ups?

[Trillium]

That is very hard to determine since we don't know the size of your holding bag, the size of the drip points you'll buy, the size of the pots you'll use nor the conditions where your pots are located (outside? greenhouse? etc)

You might find it difficult to attach the main line hose to your bag for a start. If you manage that, you'd have to experiment for a while since location of the pots factors greatly with individual plant water needs, same with the size of the plant, time of year, etc.

[mikethetyke]

For the last 3 years have been using drip feed, I have a large water butt fitted with toilet cistern ball cock connected to tap. Can go away for 2 weeks at a time no prob.

[PIMBO]

Controlling sediment in water butts.
Throughout my long life, people in my area have used old nylon stockings as filters to prevent 'FOULING' from entering the barrel. The stocking is tied over the end of the downspout from your polytunnel or greenhouse gutter. The downspout must enter the barrel through a tightish hole drilled in the lid. The lid can be lifted occasionally to clean or renew the stocking suspended beneath.

[Rangerkris]

I have had a kits in my greenhouse in a tray under the potting bench for 18 months now i have the tunnel up i might get chance to use it hahahahah (if all the bits are there still)