I got my system from Ebay and it was fairly expensive but it serves many applications. I can use the same system over and over and I find that the tubing that comes with it a little stiff so I have replaced it with flexible aquarium tubing. I had one incident where the stiff tubing broke and caused a bunch of outdoor plant to dry up completely while I was on vacation. If you can find the fittings and skip the tubing that would be my recommendation.
The system cost about $80 per set of fittings and there were probably around 10 drip heads, can't quite remember the numbers. The system is gravity fed so you can use a plastic bucket as a reservoir or even a large decorative clay pot if you have the plants placed out in the garden.
I am not sure how the system would work in pure CHC but it might be fine. I also used capillary matting to make self watering trays and that might be another option. These trays work best in sunny weather because the plants will be moist for the whole time, don't want to cause rot if it is cool and gloomy out.
If you are feeling really adventurous you can use a timer to run a pump that fills the drip irrigation reservoir and have that turn on every few days. It all needs a dry run to work out the bugs and it can still be stressful but I have had good luck with mine. Even if you ask the person who is caring for your pets to just fill the reservoir on a certain day etc. the plants will be happy. I use this method when I am gone for 2 week plus and it's very easy for the pet/plant sitter to handle.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mike

Ah, great! You gave me a starting point. I wasn't sure if you'd built the whole thing from scratch or not. I went and did a google search and found a set from Amazon (well, listed by Amazon, not actually from them) that may work out for me. I was wondering, though, did you have any trouble with adjusting the drip rate so that you didn't end up with soggy plants? I'm a bit concerned with that, personally. Although a lot of my hoyas prefer to be kept constantly moist, so it may not be quite as bad as I think. I'm interested in being able to keep this system in place on a regular basis too, so that I can just keep refilling the reservoir. I'd like to be able to pull out my plants now and then to enjoy them, not as a necessity to water them. Plus, while I enjoy the convenience of being able to water my plants without having to move them, via a chemical wash bottle, it actually ends up being pretty hard on my hands. It's using the same muscles as using a computer at home and work, and I am afraid of RSI or carpal tunnel syndrome, in the long run. I can also pull them all out now and again to flush the medium completely to get rid of excess salts, which I have to do anyway as it is.

What is the volume capacity of your reservoir? And for how many plants are you using this system? Also, how frequently did you have to refill the reservoir?

This has been a project I have been considering for a long time, so it's nice to get started on it. I have stretches of time where I suddenly get really busy and I've had my plants or my sleep schedule suffer for it; it will be great to not have that happen this holiday season. Well, the sleep schedule will probably still suffer somewhat :) but not having to water each plant by hand before going to bed will be really helpful!

One thing that is necessary is that you use a drip tray under your plants when they are on this system. Getting the settings right is a bit of work and the plants at the end of the drip line can either be way too wet or too dry. Sealing the last piece of tubing is also a pain in the butt but you can use a dripper there if you have one left of you can fold the tubing over and push it through a piece of plastic tubing. You can find some helpful things online at hydroponics sites, stuff like flow control and shut off valves but stay away from other fittings because those drippers and misting heads need a fairly powerful pump to run them.
I only use my system when I am going away on vacation so I don't have long term experience. I found that the drip trays would get stagnant and really gross so now I have an aquarium air pump and air stones to keep the water moving. Something that you might want to consider for every day watering is a pump sprayer, the kind commonly used to apply pesticides.

The bucket I used as a reservoir is about five gallons but I used a huge Rubbermaid garbage can for the one outside so that it can keep up with the amount of water the plants need when in full sun. You have to be very careful because the more water you use the higher the pressure and the tubing can break or leak and cause the entire volume of water to be discharged in a short time. The smaller reservoirs are enough to water a group of plants, probably ten or so and then you can pretty much ignore them for a week or so. You will definitely have to do a trial run and work out any problems but the main thing to watch for is the tubing, you want nice flexible tubing or there will be problems for sure.

Are you thinking of getting the Oasis 4 unit? I have not seen the one I got but the Oasis is about the same price and it comes with a everything, no buckets, drills or silicon to have to deal with.

Mike

No, I'm thinking of getting a drip irrigation kit designed for a gravity based system. It has the tubing, nozzles, etc, just not a reservoir. I'm looking into 5 gal reservoirs at a plastic supply company, and one that interests me is a rectangular shaped container with a nozzle at the bottom front. It's designed to dispense liquids.

Ah, that would be one thing I hadn't planned for yet, a drip tray. That would be a little tricky. I'll have to see what will fit my shelf space most effectively. I don't have standardized potting containers, plant trellis heights, or any of that. Plus the hanging plants will present a challenge. This will be interesting, to say the least :) I will have to count plants, measure the shelf space I have to set the reservoirs on, and see what I come up with. I might look into one of those drainable drip trays, so I can get rid of the excess water in some fashion, either by recycling it for other plants, or just dump it if it is too nasty.

The reason I'm not looking into the Oasis systems is because I will most likely have to do multiple setups, in the long run, due to volume of plants and where I have them placed. That, in my opinion, would make the Oasis system too cost prohibitive for me. I do like how it is all contained, though.

Apparently I like to build things. Nothing else can explain why I keep coming up with these kinds of projects for myself :)

The system I got came with the fittings to use to attach to the water reservoir, all you need is a drill and some aquarium silicon. I used a free food grade bucket that was from the cafateria in the building I work in, no need to buy anything expensive or special for a reservoir.

Recycling water is not a good idea with indoor plants because you can spread disease very easily. There really is not much water wasted with the drip system because the water drips so slowly that the portting mix stays moist but not wet. I use the trays so that I can flush the pots and water with a watering can if I want, then come vacation time I bring out the drip system and set it up again.

If you look at Walmart or some other place for plastic totes you can find the ones for under the bed. I used those totes for the drip trays and then used the plastic light diffuser grid and some 4" clay pots to build the trays. You can find spigot style fittings from hydroponics stores or bulb heads with gaskets that you can install as long as you have a hole saw bit for your drill. I can post a photo if you like when I get home just let me know.

Mike

The 5 gal containers with spouts run about $11-$15. I need something that isn't super tall, as my ceiling isn't high, and the top shelf is fairly close to the ceiling. Not too bad, I'm pretty sure I can find something that will work, but I think a 5 gal bucket will be a little too tall.

Um, I was going to be evil and recycle the water for some of my more expendable plants. Is that bad of me? I mean, I still like them but these were plants I got prior to getting serious about collecting other things, and they are commonly available. I use runoff water from watering my orchids on these plants. They actually seem happier for it, as it means I am watering them more often than I might otherwise. I am bad; this is part of the reason why I want some help watering my collection, so I don't end up neglecting these plants due to lack of time. I don't mean to, but the mounted orchids and hoyas come first, then the African violets (which are easy due to wick watering) and then I run out of time/water a lot.

I think I remember your wicking setup. My shelf setup is tight... it's about 21 or 22 inches wide and about 11 inches deep, and I don't have 4 inches of height to work with, so I will have to see what I can do. But all good ideas that help me along the way!

There are some really slim profile drip trays out there for a good price, I have seen them online but I did not want to spend the money to have the shipped from the US.
Try looking at hydroponics stores online or places like Charlies Greenhouse supply. The website Orchid House has a huge list of horticultural supply companys and you are sure to find something if you do some searching.

I have heard horror stories about entire orchid collections being wiped out due to reuseing water. Virus is the worst that could happen but once virus gets hold you can kiss goodbye to your plants. I used to use a common buckey to soak mounted plants but I don't even do that anymore. If you don't have a soft spot for the plants that are getting the reused water then you are OK but there are still risks involved.

Mike

If you do some searching for bulkheads you should be able to find some to fit your needs. Generally larger ones are easier to find but hydroponics shops might also carry some smaller ones if you look hard enough.

Check out the link for some other options.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Charlie's Greenhouse Supply

Alright, the tubing/drip set arrived today. The 5 gal containers arrived a cpl days ago. Work has been swamped and I have been having to stay late every day, so my brain is tired and looking at all these components is making my head swim. I can already see that I need some solution for connecting the tubing to the container. The spout is narrow enough that I believe I will need to seal it to the tubing to use it, and the place where I screw the spout in to the container is too wide for the tubing. So either I seal the tubing to the spout, or I cut a hole in the cap that covers the spot the spout screws into, and seal the tubing to that. I guess I'm leaning toward sealing the tubing to the spout, as that seems more efficient, gravity wise (the spout points down). Also, if I want, I can turn the spout off. But, this may make refilling the container a giant pain. Bah. I need to think about how I want to do this.

I got Perma Nest trays to use as the drip trays (due to arrive soon), and I will attempt to search for eggcrate grid to keep the pots from sitting in water. I was going to do this today, on my day off, but... I didn't get my day off :(

Hoping for a less frazzled state soon. So much to do, so little time. I'm aiming for a workable situation before I leave for Chicago on Tuesday. I'd hoped to be testing this out already, sigh. If it looks the slightest bit iffy, I will postpone. Would rather not come home to a flooded room or soggy plants. It's only 6 days, I'm thinking they'd be ok. A little surly, maybe, but not horrible.

Would a hose clamp work to compress the hose enough to seal the connection between it and the spout? That would be my first guess. If you use silicon make sure it is aquarium grade, the bathroom stuff does not cure and turns to slime if it stays wet for any period of time.

Mike

Ewww, thanks for the tip, because that is exactly what I was going to try, bathroom silicone. Although I'm starting to see a workaround. The tubing kit came with connectors that attach to a hose, which I was having a hard time figuring out how to use at first. But the spout fits almost snugly into the tip that is made to attach to the tubing. Since I have a version that connects to the end of a hose and caps it, and a version that connects to both a hose and the tubing, I find that both these parts attach to each other. So I can connect the spout to the end cap version, unscrew the cap, connect that to the hose/tube connector, and attach the tube. This probably doesn't make all that much sense without pics, though, huh? I'll try and put some up once my brain is less tired.

The thing that would make this perfect is if the spout could attach just a smidge more snugly without requiring silicone. This way, when it is time to refill, I can turn off the spout, detach the connector so that the whole assembly can remain in place, and just take the container down for refilling. Maybe I will take the spout and the connector to the hardware store to see if I can find a bit of tubing that can serve as an intermediary, as the connector is designed to lock over tubing to be secure. Right now the spout fits within the connector, not over the connector, and therefore cannot be locked into place. Or see if I still have a spare hose clamp around somewhere. I know I got some to repair a dishwasher leak, I just don't know if I got extras.

Thanks for the ideas. One of these is bound to work!

Rigged up the first drip system over the past cpl days. I've run into a minor snag, and a fairly big snag. The minor snag is that I found some eggcrate grid but I could not actually get any, because the sheets were about 2 ft x 4 ft, and I was walking home, not driving. The big snag is that the drip rate is too high. Much too high. At this rate, I will have both sodden plants, and a potentially sodden floor. Do you know a way to adjust the drip rate down, in a gravity fed system? I got some tubing clamps at the same time as my 5 gal containers, but it turns out the tubing is too wide for the clamps.

Even though it isn't working quite the way I want it to yet, there is still something exciting about rigging up the system, and seeing it function. I was pretty happy until I noticed that things were filling up awfully quickly...

I put flow regulators on my systems as well but I use them to turn the flow on or off. You can easily use the regulators to restrict the amount of water that can reach the drip heads. You will need to figure out what size of tubing you are using and then order the proper sized regulator.

The system I have allows each drip head to be adjusted on a scale of 1-10 so that each plant can get a specific amount of water. You will still end up with all plants getting the same amount of water but at least you can control it better than it is now.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: drip irrigation flow regulator

Well, ran into another snag. The way I am working around things (connector wise) has left me short of end caps. Sooo, I think this time, I will not water the hoyas over vacation with the drip irrigation system, but concentrate on the mounted orchids instead. The hoyas should be fine for 5 days, I believe. I have discovered that this drip system does work really well for watering multiple plants at once, as all I have to do is turn the spout on until I see drips coming out of every single dripper, then shut it off. They get thoroughly watered, and I only have to turn the spout on and off.

The eggcrate situation has also been worked around. All I did was invert the saucers so that they are sitting on top of them instead of in them. As far as the drippers go, I'm going to go ahead and order drip line shut off valves, which lets you adjust how much water flows through the line, and hopefully that slows the drip rate down to a nice slow drip that will work for the next time I decide to skip town for a while :)

Here are a couple pics:

And sp. Tanna Island, just to show how big it has gotten. Still absolutely no sign of peduncles, but it really loves to grow.

Wow your system looks more complicated than mine, looks good though. With mine I have to stick the drip heads into the potting mix, yours is more versatile. Anything that helps keep the plants happy while you're away is worth it.
Do you think you have most of the problems figured out?
My mounted orchids are the most difficult to take care of. I usually put them over a big plastic tote full of water with an aquarium air pump and air stone diffuser plus a smaller drip system. A few of them I just made a wick with capillary matting and let that hang down into the water so the mounts would stay moist.

Mike