Another problem with drip irrigation and pots is over-watering to the point you flush out a lot of the needed nutrients (leeching).
I have been putting seasoned wood in the bottom of my pots to retain some water. You just need to be careful as the wood will pull nitrogen the first year or two in the pots so bear that in mind and check for nitrogen deficiencies.
As kevin pointed out, The mix is important as well to help hold the water.
Monitor your pots when the irrigation is running to see if any is running out of the bottom, I had this problem with a few pots and needed to tweak by reducing emitters.
You will need to find the middle road... adding another emitter if you need more water, or if your pot is getting too much water, reduce watering time and add an emitter if needed, you can also get adjustable emitters.
for my big pots I have tried a loop of emitters (2-3 depending on the pot) using pressure compensating drip line.
I also put a valve on each pot and every section of the garden including a bunch of Hugelkultur beds, vertical towers and trellis, so I can turn off each individual area if needed.
It's just one of those thing that you have to find the sweet spot, balancing, time, emitters, soil etc...
I added another pot this year lined with wood and will have to monitor the watering and adjust if needed to be in sync with the rest of the garden... hope that makes sense?
|