Help me purchase a watering system for my greenhouse!

[hhilgen2]

You all were so helpful when I was purchasing my greenhouse. So helpful, in fact, that the orchid have gone a little nuts and I'm having problems keeping up with hand watering! I would really like to get an irrigation system that works off a reservoir. We have softened well water, so I can't hook it into our hose/spigot system.

I have several rain barrel reservoirs, just can't find an efficient way to get the water from the barrels and onto the orchids!

[WhiteRabbit]

If you don't get any replies, I can move this thread to the Greenhouse forum to see if that helps ... Let me know (send a pm)

[Orchid Whisperer]

How big is your greenhouse, how many plants do you have, and what is your water quality like before your well water enters a water softener?

Regarding water quality, there are many things that could be measured, but the most important is total dissolved solids (TDS). The cheap little TDS meters are less accurate than most people would think; you are better off submitting a water sample to your local "county agent", or you might be able to talk someone in the local water department into measuring "Electrical Conductivity" (EC), also known as specific conductance, or just conductivity, for no cost or very low cost. TDS can be estimated from an accurate EC number; make sure the lab reports the units of measurement (often micro Siemens per centimeter (µS/cm) or milli Siemens per centimeter (mS/cm). I can do the conversion easily if you get the lab number.

If your pre-water softener water quality is OK, you may be able to draw water from your well before it enters the softener (should be an easy plumbing job).

If the quality is not OK, a watering system may be possible to rig from your rain barrel. Possibly a fountain pump or light duty submersible. Some options are available at Pumps – Fountain Pumps & Water Pumps

[Ray]

A simple submersible pump connected to a garden hose with a valve on the delivery end may to the trick - just drop it in whichever drum you want (and remember to turn off the pump between uses).

It may be a bit of an investment, but I bought one of these about 20 years ago and it still works like a champ.

[Leucadian]

I have a similar setup as the OP, and I want a pump that will provide 50 psi at low flow rates. I'd like to be able to use a Dramm mister/fogger, or a wand for watering my plants. The pumps that are made for bulk transfer don't provide enough pressure at low flow rates. I have looked at shallow-well pumps (Harbor Freight) but I don't want to fill up a pressurized container with low concentration fertilizer solution. I'd like to find a 115V pump that I can connect to a proportioner and drive a handheld mister head.