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PureHarvest · February 23, 2017

I used a Shurflo diaphragm pump last year. I hooked a 1/2" black poly tubing to it sucked the solution out of a 275 gallon tank.
Its is a 3 GPM size. They cost around $100. You can get AC if you have an electric outlet/cord, or DC if you want to hook it to a marine battery (which is what I did).
That size pump could run half my plants/emitters, which for me was 46. I used the 3.2 GPH emitters. Basically 3.2 GPH is .05 gallons per minute. So 46 emitters x .05 = 2.3 gallons per minute needed from the pump (my pump being 3 GPM). I could have done 60 bags, but it was easier to split my plot into two zones of 46.
As far as usage, I have two plants/stems per bag, so I wanted to supply 50 ounces per plant per day. The .05 gallons per minute is 6.4 ounces per minute. So 100 ounces per bag/emitter per day divided by 6.4 =15.6 minutes per day.
I usually split this up into 5 minutes in the morning at 8am, 5 at 10am, 2 at noon, 2 at 2pm, and 2 at 4 pm.
I don't know that I'll do this again, because I don't feel the bag gets wet enough going into the heat of the day. That schedule is really for controlled environment where it is not 90+ degrees at noon and the plant can be trickled throughout the day.

February 23, 2017	#14
PureHarvest Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b Posts: 1,369	I used a Shurflo diaphragm pump last year. I hooked a 1/2" black poly tubing to it sucked the solution out of a 275 gallon tank. Its is a 3 GPM size. They cost around $100. You can get AC if you have an electric outlet/cord, or DC if you want to hook it to a marine battery (which is what I did). That size pump could run half my plants/emitters, which for me was 46. I used the 3.2 GPH emitters. Basically 3.2 GPH is .05 gallons per minute. So 46 emitters x .05 = 2.3 gallons per minute needed from the pump (my pump being 3 GPM). I could have done 60 bags, but it was easier to split my plot into two zones of 46. As far as usage, I have two plants/stems per bag, so I wanted to supply 50 ounces per plant per day. The .05 gallons per minute is 6.4 ounces per minute. So 100 ounces per bag/emitter per day divided by 6.4 =15.6 minutes per day. I usually split this up into 5 minutes in the morning at 8am, 5 at 10am, 2 at noon, 2 at 2pm, and 2 at 4 pm. I don't know that I'll do this again, because I don't feel the bag gets wet enough going into the heat of the day. That schedule is really for controlled environment where it is not 90+ degrees at noon and the plant can be trickled throughout the day. Last edited by PureHarvest; February 23, 2017 at 07:57 AM.