Watering question

I like to top water

If you’re using a soil like Happy Frog and all the premixed soils (especially since it’s one of your first projects) water by hand. Pick up the pot before you water and learn the feel/weight of a fully watered and dry pot. Premixed soils really don’t need much help, but water, the first 30ish days. After that you’ll want to scratch in Nitrogen (low level, worm castings, bug exoskeleton, and lots of other choices. You will need to water from the top to let those nutrients trickle down. Make your first grows easy on yourself. Then complicate as you learn.😄

bottom feed is great for soil, but less than optimal for soilless... can make it work with an occassional top-down irrigation but the point of automating is to not have to do things by hand. One of the primary benefits of soilless growing is easily maintaining a consistent level of nutrients in the medium through the 10% or more runoff. Bottom irrigation removes that benefit. diy it.. avoid adjustable emitters and manifolds. It sounds like a good idea but only results in 10x more work getting things dialed in and then any small change to one requires adjustments to all. pressure compensating emitters are you best option and easy to use. e,g, when i start shutting off pots at harvest, i don't have to runn around like a chicken with its head cut off adjusting every manifold and every adjustable emitter. then repeating that process 2-3 times to balance it out, because again, changing one impacts all others.. if i get an emitter with a slight clog (even if not relevant to getting the job done), i don't have to adjust every manifold and emitter etc etc... "ajdustable" is the devil. simple pump with float switch can handle runoff. As far as irrigation pump, don't buy aquarium pumps. buy the type they use to boost RV shower pressure and such. You need the 45-60 psi not high flow rates. really only worth it if you have a larger garden. 1-2 plants is just a few minutes to water and easy to take any waste water away, but it quickly becomes a time-sink if you expand.

Many more systems than those, which are also not specific systems but and overall watering methods with many systems under each method, some of these systems don't have run-off e.g. Blumat (drip) and wicking (bottom feeding). Try looking at grow shop websites and browse equipment and look at peoples' grows to see different systems in action and find one that suits your situation.

I water by hand and place the pots on a Drainmaster saucer, which catches the excess water in a container underneath the saucer, and where you can also measure the pH/EC of the drain.

For a first grow I’d keep it simple: soil + hand watering. Water slowly from the top until you get a little runoff, then remove it from the saucer/tray, don’t let the pot sit in it. Go by pot weight rather than a fixed schedule. Bottom feeding can work in soil too, but automated drip/AutoPot-style systems really shine with coco once you know what the plants are asking for. Learn the basics manually first, automate later

You want be good in soil - only manual watering and manual liftinng of pots to determine when to water. Plus million of rules how to water soil right. Those automated things work good in coco, not in soil My personal view.