Watering devices recommendations

There are lots of threads about watering GHs. Put "Drippa" in the search box at the top as a start.

I did that before and not really a lot of help, not a specific search, mostly old and about the Big Drippa. Couldn't find anything about Halos unless I trawl through lots of posts.
This is specific, all I need is good or bad on the three products or I'll order one and try it out.

I have halos around my tomato plants and find them effecetive

I tried squash bottles pierced with sewing needle. Some took 5 mins to empty, others over 6 months..... a couple worked ok
I wouldn’t recommend this unless you have tested your system before you go on holiday!

I've tried a lot of different "automatic" watering devices, robbra, generally they seem to vary from the inept to the unreliable. Anything that involves "automatic" drips, flows, sprays, valves, tubes, moving parts etc seems doomed to problems because of roots, insects, temperature change etc. The most effective one I use is "Quadgrow" which simply relies on drying compost wicking supplies from a water reservoir (which you occasionally need to refill and to which you can add nutrients as appropriate). The system also offers as an additional extra a refill tank but that begins to involve ball-cocks and floats etc at which point the problems multiply - but the basic principle of a "feeder mat" wicking water to drying compost (trying in effect to maintain a balance) is one that generally stands a chance of actually working. I guess it's very difficult to replace gran or grandad armed with a watering can sticking a finger in the compost and muttering "Ohhh that's a bit dry!"

I agree with the above - I have tried automatic drip feed from a tank with a timer and found that the timer didn't work properly or the tank emptied very quickly, flooding the plants. I basically had to turn it on when I was there and off before I left, completely ignoring the timer, and I had to fill the tank from time to time which was awkward as it was quite high and had to be filled with cans from the top. Watering the plants themselves was easier and less time consuming.

I haven't tried the drippas, but I did try burying a squash bottle with a hole in and filling it. I found it often got blocked and wouldn't drain, or it drained too quickly. The leaves of big plants got in the way making watering awkward, and I still had to water every day. The bottles got ignored after about a week as being too fiddly.

The quadgrow system and various variants on the theme works well. The bigger the plants the bigger the water reservoir you need (growing 3 tomato plants in a chiligrow planter doesn't work because the reservoir is too small). If you are good at DIY you can make your own system easily - all you need is a couple of strong stackable storage boxes, one of which must have a solid and fairly strong lid, preferably not clear otherwise your water will go green (recycling boxes work well, providing they don't have holes in the bottom - ours do), strips of capillary matting the depth of the stacked boxes, a piece of water pipe or similar for filling which must be at least the depth of the 2 boxes and a drill. Drill holes in the lid and corresponding holes in the bottom of the top box for the wicks. Drill another hole to fit the piece of water pipe - make this in a corner that will be easy to get to. Drill a small hole in one side of the bottom box about an inch or so below the top to prevent flooding. You can bury or part bury the bottom box if you like, to give yourself more height. Fill the top box with compost around the wicks and plant. Check water levels by sticking a bamboo cane down the filling pipe. If you have a hosepipe and use the right gauge water pipe you can fix a hosepipe attachment to make filling easy.

I have a couple of those plastic spikes with drip holes in to fit on plastic bottles. they work fine, but they clog up. I keep a piece of thin wire handy to clean them out if they drain slowly. good enough for a day or two away, but not for much more as they empty all in one (slow) go. also, the pitch on the thread on yhe bottles changes from time to time, so be prepared to try different bottles. I also avoid cutting the while bottom off the bottle to avoid evaporation loss. but if you make it top smal it can be a faff to fill.

I also have a drip system (can't remember mfger) with stiff tunes with three dripping points on each tube, and connecting flexy hose.

this works well with a timer, but it's actually quite difficult to see it working, but it does keep the soil moist if you adjust how long and how often it's on for. It's important to have the water source with enough (but not too much pressure). I have a 20l reservoir under my greenhouse bench (tap is about 30ish cm off the ground) this is just about ok, I'd like it a bit higher (as it struggles to get up any tall pots - ok for growbags which are low). when I run it off the tap when I'm away, I just crack the tap open as otherwise it sqirts out vigorously, which I think will damage the pinholes. oh yes, don't put it under the top of the growbag, or the roots will find it. DAMHIK...

when I get the time, I have a loo-type valve so I can use the reservoir off the mains and avoid the pressure

I've 8 tomato plant in two quadgrows.

The only problem was roots getting into the T feeding the troughs.

You can have any size reservoir as water level is controlled by a ball valve.

We use drippers for our patio plants at home and the one thing I’d say is the cheap drippers are a dead loss as others have said get blocked, can’t control well etc. If you buy the proper branded ones (though they are ridiculously expensive in my view) they work much better and thus are worth the money, as they whole thing is pointless if you can’t rely on it. I travel with work so it’s just not feasible to keep asking neightbours to come in and water and my family lives some distance away. We are currently putting in a low pressure system on our allotment to water polytunnel based on the same principle but gravity fed from ibc.

I've been thinking that quadgrows are the way for me to go away for a few days next year, and still grow tomatoes successfully. However I just got sent an email with an alternative, two pots fed from a 47 litre reservoir, rather than four pots from 30 litres with the quadgrow. This would surely last much longer before drying up. https://www.crocus.co.uk/product/_/e...id.2000007563/

On offer at the moment too.

My only thought is 8.5l pots seem quite small to me for tomatoes mine are growing in pots which are are about 25l and the roots have filled them. Plenty of people have success with quadgrow and those are 11l I believe. My chillies are in 12-15l pots and I’d class those pots as a bit small for tomatoes but its personal choice and I guess with this system you could probably get away with less soil as would be more reliable to feed as you wouldn’t lose any through run off. Sure someone who has this type of system could advise as to how they find the pot size.

That's the thing we've got. We've extended so we have 6 pots per tank, 2 tanks, fills the space in the greenhouse. Yes, the pots look small but we fill the tank with a liquid feed and they seem to be OK with the high level of nutrient in a restricted volume of growing medium. I guess it's moving closer to hydroponics. The cukes are currently running rampant and the toms and aubergines seem very happy.

Thanks very much for this Chippy. I think I'll give the Crocus ones a go, as my house sitters' (nephew and girlfriend) watering skills are limited, so as infrequent as possible is best.

That’s good to know Chippy, we are looking at having a watering system so interesting to know that smaller pots can work