Parts:
Switch Pump http://goo.gl/zC9nki
3 Ways Switch Pump http://goo.gl/MavxV7
LED Grow Light http://goo.gl/iWqjUJ
Oxygen Soft Hose Pipe http://goo.gl/6bwO2X
Bubble Airstone http://goo.gl/LFm7t5
Nylon Bolts: http://goo.gl/xM5wMI
Nylon Nuts: http://goo.gl/GoY20L
Ok the plants are still alive but I’ve decided to move on from this DIY watering spike system and build something else. Now I think I slightly over watered the spider plant, so I will have to add some more soil to that and leave that to dry out. I’ve got some things which came in the post. I’ve got a very random range of things here. And this is for the next stage of the watering system. In the previous video I made bolts, which I drilled through there valves. And I was having a bit of problems because obviously metal rusts. You can sorta see a little bit here at the end of this valve. And what I’ve decided to do is to start from scratch and make a watering system using the things that are on this table. So I’ve got some M8 nylon nuts and bolts, and rubber washers. I’ve also got a load of air stones, which I’m going to use in combination with the bottles and tubing and valves to produce a self regulating watering system. Although it’s not really self regulating… well basically I have the control over this, and it is regulated based on how much water I put in here and how often I decide to fill the bottles. And the three plants I have here need different amounts of water. I’ve got a few things from a few different places. The bottles are from the supermarket, I bought these on Ebay, and this stuff here got sent to me by my contact in banggood.
I tried to drill some M8 ones but I think it’s really fiddly so there M10 bolts would be a lot easier to do, and they still fit into the caps of the bottles.
So the pilot hole that went through the entire bolt is 3mm and now I am going to drill a 5mm holes about half way down, which will hold the valve.
I’m now drilling the hole in the cap so it’s 10mm. You can always put it in a vice if you don’t have a vice grip. Got the nylon bolt, a rubber washer, that slips though the hole. Another rubber washer and finally a nut. And it’s just a matter of tightening that up.
I’ve got three different type of valves. You can see in my hand here. There two are from BangGood and this one is from an aquarium supplier on Ebay. I kind a like this one a bit more because it comes straight down but I just wanted to show you that you can get similar things from other places. This one is at a right angle. The knurl on this is a bit bigger with a nicer grip to it.
So the next thing I’m doing is cutting down the plank to use as shelving on a twin slot upright bracket system, which I’m just installing to the left hand side of the plant window seat.
I’m now making the bracket or a rack to hold the bottle. I’m screwing a piece of 12mm ply towards the middle of the shelf. This will hold the ends of the bottle up, with the nozzles facing downwards into a collar. This is quite self explanatory so I’m not going to explain what I’m doing. You can just enjoy watching this at slightly higher speed than normal.
So the shelf just sits simple like this, and the bottles slot in place. So the next thing to do is connect the water reservoirs to the plants. And the way I’m going to do that is using air stones, surprisingly. So one end goes in like this.
This is starting to look like something someone would share on Pinterest.
Ok the final thing I want to do is add this UFO grow light to the area where the plants are going to be kept. Just because there’s not enough light coming in through the window. And I think this would help them maintain, but just to be safe and in the interest of reviewing this in a way that sincere as possible, I’m just going to open this up and double check the wiring there is safe. Coz it does have a little bit of a rattle to it. So a few things have dropped off where they are meant to be. I’m using brown hot glue which has a better or larger range of applications than the white one or clear.
I’m going to put the grow light across a zip cable. This is theatrical cable, and I’ve got a crimp here. It’s literally passes through like this, creating a loop and then I’m going to hold this in place and tighten it with a pair of mole grips. That going nowhere. In the opposite end I’m just going to use this use this wire rope grip or D-grip I think they are called. which I will tighten with a nut spinner and I’ll just hold this in place to make sure it is taught on the hook which I’ve already put into the wall. I’m going to leave this on for an hour while I go have my lunch and hopefully when I come back nothing would have set on fire or anything like that. It’s very noisy but it does have three fans in there, and the light is really intense. It’s almost hurting my eyes a little bit so I’m making sure that I don’t look in that direction at the moment. Anyway you can put these thing on a timer digital plug timer and have it turn on in the evening or night when you are not around.
Ok that’s been on for an hour and that’s not heated up at all, so that pretty good. Quite happy with that.
So clearly the only way to protect the environment is to bring it indoors and hide it behind a blind or curtain. The green corner is now set up in my workshop and it seems to be working ok. I have to confess that this workshop is damp and very cold so there plants don’t need a lot of watering, and I have to be very careful that I don’t kill them by drowning them. If you’d like to see the list of items I used for this video, there’ll be a link in the description and also in the article on my website. Anyway thanks for watching and I hope you found this interesting, and I’ll see you next time.