Valerie,

I purchased everything I needed from Lowes for a complete lawn, landscape
and bonsai bench irrigation system. I found the people at Lowes to be very
helpful in assisting in the design phase and they provided excellent
suggestions for the lawn and landscape...for the bonsai bench, however, they
didn't really know what I needed. I asked a few members of my local club,
and did a little research at Dripworks.com.

SOOoo.. based on my experience, I have some suggestions for when you get the
water to the bench. I assume you are not going to be putting in the lines
from the water main, the backflow device, the manifold, timer and valves,
but, instead, going with one of those pre-packaged deck watering kits that
attaches to your outdoor hose connection.

Buy a very good timer to put on your hose - battery powered and test it for
many days before you leave on vacation... then put fresh batteries in when
you go. It should have several cycles per day, programmable. Ask the lowes
guys - they will point them out to you, and don't be cheap - you'll pay for
it later if you are.

Buy a kit for your on-the-bench piping and hoses, then buy separate parts
bags for any other things you might need. Stock up on Barbed 1/4
connections, T's and such. Buy Extra 1/4 hose. Buy extra dribbler emitters.
They are all cheap and you will use a lot of everything. Buy the expensive
($10) tool for punching holes in the 1/2 piping - don't even try it with
that little hand-held awl.

Stick with either dribblers or the shrubbers (the 1 to 5 GPH emitters)
Don't bother with misters or with the cute little sprinklers - unless
creating humidity is important - In VA. I can't imagine that you need any
additional humidity in summer.

Wire your 1/4 piping to the trees (loosly) - you don't want the wind, or
critters knocking the emmiters off or loose while you are gone. Try putting
two per tree - your just going to get more trees anyway, and you'll
eventually find yourself adding on to your watering system for recreation...
of course, that could just be a guy thing.

Don't leave the system on all summer and assume that it will meet your
watering needs all summer. That's cheating, and you may over water
unnecessarily. You can over water while on vacation, but don't make a habit
of it.

Good luck.
Tony.


-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Valerie Perlowitz
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 7:19 PM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Requesting some assistance with automatic watering systems

I live in Northern Virginia (outside of Washington, DC) and I am looking
for recommendations for good automatic watering systems that I can use
when I go on vacation. I specifically need names of companies and the
types of devices I should get (misters, drip, etc.) The bonsai that I
have are small and relatively young. I just need something to keep them
watered as it gets hotter and drier here in Virginia when I am not home
to water.



Thank you for your assistance in advance.


************************************************** **************************
****
++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++
************************************************** **************************
****
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Kevin Bailey++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++