Fertilizer injector plumbing - Orchid Board

Mabris · #1 12-09-2020, 03:47 PM

I've got a few questions about potential irrigation plumbing possibilities

Currently I mix RO and nutrients in a tub and use an irrigation pump to hand water plants in a few distinct areas, 4 of which are SH and vary by light/temperature and currently for plants in traditional medias that require a bit more attention to moisture levels.

In the past I have run RO water from a pump to misters, that was in a single area before i split things out to more lighting and temperature zones. I've since expanded the areas and split into more culture zones and I am now tackling the irrigation.

I would like to set up a few zones controlled by irrigation valves and the pump on a relay. I would like to pump from my RO reservoir and inject my nutrients. I want to be able to:

Mist RO, perhaps in 2 different control zones

misting for general humidity

misting for mount moisture, also for some carnivorous plants (a subset of the humidity zone)

Drench RO or nutrient in 2 different watering zones

SH zone with frequent (3-4 times/week

potted traditional medias (1/week? I'd have to see)

I would like to use the single pump. I know how to set up a fertilizer injector bypass when I want to use just RO, but that would use an additional 3 irrigation valves.

Question 1: Could I simply just use a NC 24V solenoid on the injector's concentrate input tube that will energize when I want to program a fertilizer cycle, otherwise it's just RO?

Question 2: Though hardly requisite for my purposes (at least if I ditch the carnivorous plants from the plan), I'd like to understand typical practices for draining lines so for example that I don't have piping full of nutrient solution when i want to do an RO drench. Additionally the misting lines would only ever be scheduled for RO, but nutrient solution may be filling the line leading to the zone manifold . Could I open a "low point" valve between the injector/bypass and the zone manifold, as well as all the zone valves, in order to clear the line when I'm done fertilizing or misting each of the areas?

Question 3: does anyone have a schematic or description of something similar they've done, or feedback on this plan? Would I be better just dedicating a separate RO-only pump for misting?