If you have a rain barrel in your garden, you have probably been using the collected water to water your plants for a long time. However, constantly skimming with the watering can is very laborious. Have you ever thought about drip irrigation in the greenhouse? Such a system not only saves a lot of time, but can also be built with little effort. This article will tell you how to do it.
How to build an irrigation system for a greenhouse with a rain barrel?
You can easily build an irrigation system for a greenhouse with a rain barrel yourself. Place the barrel elevated, lay a hose between the barrel and the greenhouse, poke holes for irrigation, close the end of the hose and control the water supply manually.
Build your own irrigation system
Required materials
- A rain barrel (€144.00 at Amazon)
- A garden hose
- Hammer and nail
- A stopper
Requirements
For the water to flow from the rain barrel into your greenhouse without a pump, a pressure of at least 0.5 bar is required. You can easily ensure this by placing your rain barrel on a platform. It should still be one meter high. Alternatively, place the bin on a table.
Construction instructions
- Lay the hose in the garden up to the greenhouse.
- One end should always be connected to the rain barrel.
- Now mark the hose at the points where the water will later come out for irrigation.
- Use a hammer and a small nail to prick the hose at the marked points.
- If the barrel is placed upright, the holes should be slightly larger.
- Detach the excess hose part.
- Close the end with a plug.
- Fill water into the hose.
- Hang one end over the edge into the rain barrel.
- Check whether the water comes out in the desired places.
- For a larger greenhouse, construction with several hoses is also possible.
- Fix the hose to the edge of the bin with some adhesive tape.
- If the greenhouse plants are sufficiently supplied with water, stop the water flow manually.
- Simply pull the hose out of the bin.
