Atomic Shrimp is the ONLY channel I would click a video about an auto watering system. I'll never buy one, never need one, but when Mike makes a video about one, I will watch it.
For people who aren't aware, there's an ex-nuclear bunker in the UK which is now a tourist attraction, resulting in road signs pointing to the way to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker". So there's precedent.
One notable exception to the hosepipe bans are if you are using them for watering crops. Therefore what you are doing is fine, even if there is a ban. Also, nice choice of sock colours, one Tory, one Labour, well done 😉
Not that anyone should care to report you but technically no, growing vegetables is only allowed if you are commercial in many areas. If you are a home gardener, you are not allowed to use a hose pipe to water vegetables during a drought.
@12:15: Morpheus Shrimp: "you take the blue sock, roll everthing up, go to sleep and your water supply stays the same. You take the red sock, connect all the tubes and see how far the irregation system flows..."
It was this or "good grief mr Shrimp, it seems you have a hot and cold foot 🤣". Anyhoe, enjoyed this one as always. Glad to make a smile there in Dorset from Holland.. was born and raised in Boscombe. Nice to see your both enjoying Dorset as much as I have. Byeeee
Even here in New York, lidl is the best store in terms of quality and price. I have purchased several Parkside tools/gadgets in the past and I have to say, they are very decent quality for fair prices. You can't beat lidl.
German quality as they say! I wish I had Lidl closer (I'm Polish), we have it in town but it's too far for a family of 2 with no car, while Biedronka is walking distance. Funny enough here is a huge feud between Lid and Biedronka going on who has the lowest prices lol
@@Jhud69 We have a Biedronka here in NYC too. Although it's pretty expensive since everything is imported, but I love the store because it reminds me of Mother Europe.
This is beyond spooky! I purchased that exact same water timer last week, AND what appears to be the exact same micro irrigation system from Amazon. I've got a bit area to cover so got a few more bits and bobs to add to it. Anyway, what makes this even more bizarre is that my use is to keep tomato plants going (1st time gardener - never grew anything edible before) whilst we're away visiting relative in Spain. Mazarrón to be precise, which, from your previous videos is VERY close to where you go! Truly made me chuckle seeing the exact same products bought for probably near identical reasons. You should visit the Minas De Mazarrón one day whilst over there, some very interesting sights to be seen (very old abandoned mineral mines, leaving quite a unique landscape) Keep up the vastly entertaining and varied videos👍🏼
"If I'm right, and I'm never wrong." Classic tongue-in-cheek. We know you get as much satisfaction from a failure, maybe even more if it means solving a challenge.
Very fitting choice for the outro music. Anyway, it's always great to see your thoughts on ways to do things without getting too complicated yet with enough forethought to prepare for the what-ifs.
Recently bought a house and have been trying to revive the lawn. These kind of videos are great! I could pair this kind of device with my sprinkler to get an extra watering in. One before work when I don’t have time and one after work when I do. Thanks for the video!
I use a similar sistem for two years. It saved me so much time. I would cover the screen somehow, if you don't want the screen to get bad in a few months. Apparently the sun damages it. I speak from experience. Battery life lasts at least a season.
I recently got some good information for a DIY version of this. Essentially you get an aquarium pump and a programmable time outlet. you can put the aquarium pump inside a large Rubbermaid container filled with water as the reservoir and then run tubing across the length of all of your plants, putting small holes in the tubing to add an emitter (cheap plastic thing only a few cents, or if you're clever, you can just stick a hole in the tube and stick it down real good and it will just pump water in there as frequently as you want. You don't need a hose in the wall and it's DIY.
I think a Colin Furze x Atomic Shrimp crossover would be the most surreal and fey thing ever. It would be amazing-I'm sure. As for timer units, I have one myself (local brand, Australian) and use it from right around when the days get warmer through to the last growing days of autumn. Here, we can have entire months of zero rainfall, and when you are growing something that likes water, you need to ensure it gets its daily dose at a time when it's not going to immediately evaporate. A good tip, though, is to use a two-way splitter (with stopcocks) before the timer. That way you can easily shut it off from water when you don't need it running or fill a bucket without disconnecting anything.
I may have already commented this under the video for the previous watering device, and it's at a completely different price point, but I've opted for the Blumat systems, of which there are two versions, and both are awesome. One for watering plants indoors from a container of water next to them and one for outdoors, which is connected to a tap or a raised container. Both are very simple, don't need electricity and keep a constant humidity of the soil, so they don't water if it is already soaking wet, e.g. during rain. That is really awesome and - surprise, suprise - my plants are much healthier than if forgetful me is watering them.
Hi Mike, I use a similar system to keep my raised bed veggy garden watered. The timer valve I use is much like that one. You are right, the batteries last forever (2 seasons). I had my first one conk out on me after a couple of years from what looked like water damage. I fashioned a cover from a plastic 1 gallon milk jug that I just pop over the timer to keep the rain off it. You might consider something like that or a flap over it if it is exposed to the rain.
So jealous of your garden... I live in Las Vegas, NV... This entire week has been around 118°F (47.7°C). The only things that stay alive outside are plants that live in arid conditions. Even being in direct sunlight is painful to do for long... And with the black top, it routinely feels like 120-125F. 😅 But that's why I love watching your videos. You live in such a beautiful area!!!
Now I have a generic outside tap. It's off when it's off, but leaks around the spindle when it's on, so it is not usable with a timer like that. Worse the tap seems to be sealed with no way in the repair the spindle stuffing, small job becomes big job. What you need is strictly a valve rather than a tap. I also bought an irrigation kit like yours, but the tubes blow off the barbs, particularly if they are sitting in hot sun.
Taps can absolutely be used for semi permanent and permanent installations, there are other contexts in which this is done routinely. To use something else Shrimp would need to have a much more custom setup or extra adaptors, the former being more expensive and the latter being more prone to leaking than a brand new tap that's been turned on once and then left
I have an IBC for rain water collection along with 10 other containers (water butts, Cold water tanks, plastic food grade barrels) and I'll be looking to get a second at some point.
I did actually buy 2x 1000L ex-cider manufacturer's IBCs, they live under my shed, and collect the rainwater off the shed roof. I have them because there's a 35m distance between my shed and my house. Cost effective, over time. I paid about 75 quid (Delivered) per IBC, and about another 50 quid in 25mm MDPE pipe to go from the IBCs to some water standpipes.
I like those watering computers, I have one with 2 solenoids (I think 30€ at the hardware store or so) so we could water everything in two steps. Helps with the low water pressure we have here. Best thing is that you can comfortably water everything after the sun went down, so it is not immediately evaporating or even burning the leaves. It's also great because you can do the watering in multiple short bursts to allow the water to go into the ground instead of the next drain.
Parkside, though being famously cheap, has never failed me. I have Parkside garden tools and powertools, some of which are over 40 years old and still work great.
Regarding the new kitchen: i’m looking forward to it and to be honest at least a little bit as I would be getting a new kitchen myself. Take care, keep up the fine work and continue being a nice and friendly man
If you want to use rain water to save money, maybe consider a cheap mock up of a toilet water cistern with floater activated tap fill up? I'm imaging a 20-40L container with floater activating at about 20% capacity, so when the water level in the container dips below 20% it fills to the 20% level with tap water, above that would be filled with rain water the next time it rains. Effectively it's a small rain water container that use tap water if the water level drops too low.
Have you ever lookied into ollas? They are terracotta pots that you bury in the ground with the idea to leech water slowly. It prevents evaporation and you use significantly less water.This spring I fabricated a gravity fed water system that is connected to several ollas on my balcony. It's helped reduce the amount of water I need and the plants have access to water all day and night.
is it polyvinylchloride tubing? I've bought similar for flowers with ceramic inserts and cable had really bad smell like any vinyl. Really good and safe tubing is hard to find, years ago on amazon selling a real medical pure clean silicone tubing (surgery grade, other silicone had additives) but after covid it vanished like many other medical supply, maybe they stopped to prevent unlicensed surgeries.
Good to know that the Middle of Iidl has some quality never-knew-I-needed-it products. Also, good call with the IBC water tanks, they are a thief's delight. We have had around 20 stolen from gardens or allotments around here in recent months.
Word of caution, we had a Aldi version with an analogue clock a few years ago. I put in a new pair Duracells, set it for and hour a day and went on holiday for a week. We came back to a flooded polytunnel and our pump was burnt out (our water comes from a well). The batteries were completely flat and it had just run the well dry. Never risked it again, it was a very expensive lesson.
Parkside stuff is amazing, there is very little bad I heard about it so far. For the few things a normal household is using these tools for, they are unbeatable for the price. I have a few of their tools, and it’s ridiculous how cheap they are for the quality you get. Can’t recommend it enough. And if you use it enough to break it you can always think about getting another one from a different manufacturer with higher quality.
I set up a system like that 20+ years ago to irrigate my vegetable garden, and only quit because the trees I planted eventually shaded the garden. Back then, all the drip irrigation hardware came from Israel, where it was invented by a fellow named Simcha Blass, who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and made his way to Israel after the war. Fascinating story. Today there are a lot of Chinese companies cloning it.
Worth checking with your local authority what is covered undr your hosepipes ban. Where I live (in years past anyway) the watering of vegetables intended for consumption was exempt from the hosepipe ban.
My employer has a system like yours for watering and it works well. Only thing is the weather is so variable that it's better to check things regularly for over or under watering.
I've got one with Bluetooth that I control with my Home Assistant installation that also reads the soil moisture from my weather station. Quite simple to have it turn on based on sunrise/sunset time and soil moisture.
Not sure if intentional or not but you're top blends so nicely with your tablecloth! Haven't seen the full video yet but I'm wondering if there would be a way to attach this to a rainwater butt to avoid the hosepipe ban? Love your videos and been here year and love the variety of videos too!
Curious - what were you snacking on at 18:03? (The tiny bowl with stuff next to the drink) My bet is on crunchy fried broad beans but I could be wrong.
@@AtomicShrimp Heck! It's the scenario of stepping backwards whilst being chased by a wasp that would worry me. However I think that I watch too many medical A&E reality shows so I've seen every way a person could damage themselves and now go through the house looking for trip hazards.
I had to look up what a tomato halo was - as I'm growing them for the first time in earnest this year I suddenly wondered if this was some part of the plant by the roots that I needed to pay extra attention to, but apparently it's an additional device for better directing water and suppressing weeds :)
My grandma had a deal with her neighbours to water each others plants while they were away. They lived in semi detached houses, so it was easy for them to get into each others gardens down the side. Perhaps this is simpler than using technology that might fail you.
Mike, I'm curious if you have thought about some way to ensure your watering system is definitely working whilst you're away. This seems like a good setup, but what if something breaks? Or the battery runs out faster than expected? Or a badger eats through the hose? It's probably complete overkill but I think it would be cool to have a raspberry pi with a water sensor set up so you can sleep easily on holiday knowing your tomoto plants are still getting a drink.
What would I do if, in the middle of my holiday, the system notifies me that it's stopped working? I think the best approach is just to use the thing when I am here so I can be reasonably confident that will continue for a week or two while I am away
I never understood how a tap can be turned on, blocked by the timer, and nothing explodes... Why doesn't water pressure build up ? How does the timer block the water so there is no water released ? I feel dumb.
@@AtomicShrimpThank you. I feel embarrassed not knowing this at 43, but I had many bad habits as a young adult, and am only now chemically independent, so there is much of life I missed out on. Including friends. Now I have a cat.
What's the flow rate on those nozzles? 3 minutes a day seems a bit crazy to me. I have deep soil that has probably more organic matter than I should but I water maybe 5L per plant once a week in SE UK, twice if it's really sunny. The flow rate on there looks like it would be 5+ L a minute.
You'll generally be better off doing a loop of 16 mm watering tube and then adding short 6mm (or 4mm) spurs off it. Less pressure drop / easier to adjust the nozzles.
Thanks for reviewing this. Also, does it lose the programming/time when you change the batteries? I'm assuming it'll have some sort of short-term capacitor in there.
1- Hiya Mike, do you have the Lidl App in the UK as well? I don't really know what to think of the German version, there are some insanely good deals on it but I dont like them "gatekeeping" price reductions... 2- Really nice of you to try out Parkside products, Lidl has been trying to get into home tools for some time and they are quite good ("how good can a drill for 15€ be"). But again, I don't know how much Lidl stock overlaps in Germany and Great Britain. Also, I dont know how Brexit/Inflation has affected that, but that will ease off hopefully... 3- I have tried a similar product for indoor watering with mixed results, maybe you could have a look at that segment too? :) 4- Thanks for the video :) Glad to see that the notification worked this time
That looks to be a well thought out and practical bit of kit. The safety warnings in that instructions manual - those things are a pain. I make model kits, and one manufacturer always includes a huge sheet of warnings, in even tiny kits. I can guarantee that nobody has ever read them - it's all common sense, after all, but a terrible waste of paper nonetheless. And yes - I do know that some people have no common sense, but they aren't the sort of people who would spend a couple of months building a model of a B-29 Superfortress.I have bought potentially lethal tools and knives that have had fewer dire warnings in the packaging. You couldn't make it up. 🤔🤔🤔😆😆😆
Does this have a solenoid valve (requires constant power to operate, but turns off automatically) or a rotary valve (only requires power to turn on and off, but can fail in the open position)? Also, it'd be interesting to measure the power consumption. It might be an easy mod to run it off a small solar panel like an electric fence unit.
3:37 It may also come within the definition of a sprinkler, which may necessitate a sprinkler license... not sure, certainly for Anglian Water it used to be that any unattended device connected to a hose was classed as a sprinkler.
![Twenty One Pilots - “The Line” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E2Rj2gQAyPA/mqdefault.jpg)
Atomic Shrimp is the ONLY channel I would click a video about an auto watering system. I'll never buy one, never need one, but when Mike makes a video about one, I will watch it.
“Even more secret even more underground bunker” 😂
Can't have enough underground bunkers.
@@PineappleDealer37 and they can never be too secret either
That's where he keeps all of the bodies. ;-)
@@SlartiMarvinbartfast Not the beer it used to be.
For people who aren't aware, there's an ex-nuclear bunker in the UK which is now a tourist attraction, resulting in road signs pointing to the way to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker". So there's precedent.
I have been using this kind of system for 3 years now. Saves so much time and dead plants. We have it front and back. Our plants are thriving.
One notable exception to the hosepipe bans are if you are using them for watering crops. Therefore what you are doing is fine, even if there is a ban.
Also, nice choice of sock colours, one Tory, one Labour, well done 😉
Not that anyone should care to report you but technically no, growing vegetables is only allowed if you are commercial in many areas. If you are a home gardener, you are not allowed to use a hose pipe to water vegetables during a drought.
You are however allowed to use automatic irrigation systems if they have flow limiters, which are easy to add
omg, the trick with the hot water to soften the tubing is so obvious, yet it never occurred to me. This will help me in the future! Thank you!
also helps to avoid breaking difficult to replace fiddly little plastic parts when stripping down flask lids for a deep clean
I shall remember this little trick, should I need it.
I use a hair dryer.
Also, wetting the connectors works fine, too. And is a bit easier to do when you're in the middle of the garden...
@12:15: Morpheus Shrimp: "you take the blue sock, roll everthing up, go to sleep and your water supply stays the same. You take the red sock, connect all the tubes and see how far the irregation system flows..."
It was this or "good grief mr Shrimp, it seems you have a hot and cold foot 🤣". Anyhoe, enjoyed this one as always. Glad to make a smile there in Dorset from Holland.. was born and raised in Boscombe. Nice to see your both enjoying Dorset as much as I have. Byeeee
"comment generator socks"
Loved the little joke of the added graphic of the liquorice pink sweet in the middle of the black piping. 😆
Even here in New York, lidl is the best store in terms of quality and price. I have purchased several Parkside tools/gadgets in the past and I have to say, they are very decent quality for fair prices.
You can't beat lidl.
Lidl bricks (Lego clones) are pretty decent for the price.
Middle Lidl. Exciting Thursdays here in the UK😆🙄
@@antiheldd.3081 tell me about it. Legos are so overpriced, they charge 20x their production value.
German quality as they say! I wish I had Lidl closer (I'm Polish), we have it in town but it's too far for a family of 2 with no car, while Biedronka is walking distance. Funny enough here is a huge feud between Lid and Biedronka going on who has the lowest prices lol
@@Jhud69 We have a Biedronka here in NYC too. Although it's pretty expensive since everything is imported, but I love the store because it reminds me of Mother Europe.
This is beyond spooky!
I purchased that exact same water timer last week, AND what appears to be the exact same micro irrigation system from Amazon. I've got a bit area to cover so got a few more bits and bobs to add to it.
Anyway, what makes this even more bizarre is that my use is to keep tomato plants going (1st time gardener - never grew anything edible before) whilst we're away visiting relative in Spain. Mazarrón to be precise, which, from your previous videos is VERY close to where you go! Truly made me chuckle seeing the exact same products bought for probably near identical reasons.
You should visit the Minas De Mazarrón one day whilst over there, some very interesting sights to be seen (very old abandoned mineral mines, leaving quite a unique landscape)
Keep up the vastly entertaining and varied videos👍🏼
daaang. thats quite the synchronicity
shrimpchronized
I passed by this product at Lidl and I immediately thought about your setup
"If I'm right, and I'm never wrong." Classic tongue-in-cheek. We know you get as much satisfaction from a failure, maybe even more if it means solving a challenge.
Love your mismatched socks!!
Just wanted to thank you, have to take blood pressure every day for a couple weeks. Your videos help me relax and keep that pressure low. Thank you!
i wanna see these bunkers
"Dungeon" 😳
Watch Colin Furz then?
They're secret 🤫
What's Mr Shrimp growing underground?
Very fitting choice for the outro music. Anyway, it's always great to see your thoughts on ways to do things without getting too complicated yet with enough forethought to prepare for the what-ifs.
Recently bought a house and have been trying to revive the lawn. These kind of videos are great! I could pair this kind of device with my sprinkler to get an extra watering in. One before work when I don’t have time and one after work when I do. Thanks for the video!
The saga of autowatering goes on! And I will watch it even though I don't need it really (YET)
I use a similar sistem for two years. It saved me so much time. I would cover the screen somehow, if you don't want the screen to get bad in a few months. Apparently the sun damages it. I speak from experience. Battery life lasts at least a season.
I recently got some good information for a DIY version of this. Essentially you get an aquarium pump and a programmable time outlet. you can put the aquarium pump inside a large Rubbermaid container filled with water as the reservoir and then run tubing across the length of all of your plants, putting small holes in the tubing to add an emitter (cheap plastic thing only a few cents, or if you're clever, you can just stick a hole in the tube and stick it down real good and it will just pump water in there as frequently as you want. You don't need a hose in the wall and it's DIY.
You could do the same with a simple peristaltic pump on 12V. That way it would be even viable as an off-grid solution with a solar panel
Nice idea however he said in another video he doesn't have an outdoor outlet nearby or on the outside of his house on the second floor.
I think a Colin Furze x Atomic Shrimp crossover would be the most surreal and fey thing ever. It would be amazing-I'm sure.
As for timer units, I have one myself (local brand, Australian) and use it from right around when the days get warmer through to the last growing days of autumn. Here, we can have entire months of zero rainfall, and when you are growing something that likes water, you need to ensure it gets its daily dose at a time when it's not going to immediately evaporate.
A good tip, though, is to use a two-way splitter (with stopcocks) before the timer. That way you can easily shut it off from water when you don't need it running or fill a bucket without disconnecting anything.
I hate sell out collabs.
@@tweezerjam Doesn't have to be a collab to sell out! A lot of people on RUclips collab with other creators because they find it fun.
Princess Bride reference! Even more secrete even more underground bunker diagram! My kind of humor!
You fool, now I know the location of your even more secret even more underground bunker!
I may have already commented this under the video for the previous watering device, and it's at a completely different price point, but I've opted for the Blumat systems, of which there are two versions, and both are awesome. One for watering plants indoors from a container of water next to them and one for outdoors, which is connected to a tap or a raised container. Both are very simple, don't need electricity and keep a constant humidity of the soil, so they don't water if it is already soaking wet, e.g. during rain. That is really awesome and - surprise, suprise - my plants are much healthier than if forgetful me is watering them.
Hi Mike,
I use a similar system to keep my raised bed veggy garden watered. The timer valve I use is much like that one. You are right, the batteries last forever (2 seasons). I had my first one conk out on me after a couple of years from what looked like water damage. I fashioned a cover from a plastic 1 gallon milk jug that I just pop over the timer to keep the rain off it. You might consider something like that or a flap over it if it is exposed to the rain.
13:14 of course we can count on a brit to install a water system like a ring main. :D
So jealous of your garden...
I live in Las Vegas, NV... This entire week has been around 118°F (47.7°C). The only things that stay alive outside are plants that live in arid conditions.
Even being in direct sunlight is painful to do for long... And with the black top, it routinely feels like 120-125F.
😅
But that's why I love watching your videos. You live in such a beautiful area!!!
Now I have a generic outside tap. It's off when it's off, but leaks around the spindle when it's on, so it is not usable with a timer like that. Worse the tap seems to be sealed with no way in the repair the spindle stuffing, small job becomes big job.
What you need is strictly a valve rather than a tap.
I also bought an irrigation kit like yours, but the tubes blow off the barbs, particularly if they are sitting in hot sun.
Cable ties are your friend. ;o)
Taps can absolutely be used for semi permanent and permanent installations, there are other contexts in which this is done routinely. To use something else Shrimp would need to have a much more custom setup or extra adaptors, the former being more expensive and the latter being more prone to leaking than a brand new tap that's been turned on once and then left
I have an IBC for rain water collection along with 10 other containers (water butts, Cold water tanks, plastic food grade barrels) and I'll be looking to get a second at some point.
I have a real craving for Liquorice now 😋Thanks for sharing Atomic shrimp 🦐🤗
I did actually buy 2x 1000L ex-cider manufacturer's IBCs, they live under my shed, and collect the rainwater off the shed roof. I have them because there's a 35m distance between my shed and my house. Cost effective, over time. I paid about 75 quid (Delivered) per IBC, and about another 50 quid in 25mm MDPE pipe to go from the IBCs to some water standpipes.
Funny, i saw this exact product at lidl a few weeks ago and it reminded me of your videos about those watering systems you bought.
Mr Shrimp gives a comprehensive review, in the dark. Quite a feat.
I liked the quick liquorice Catherine Wheel image, sneaky shrimp strikes again!
Another video on a subject I'm not interested in, yet I watched it all and learnt much and was entertained. Excellent channel.
I like those watering computers, I have one with 2 solenoids (I think 30€ at the hardware store or so) so we could water everything in two steps. Helps with the low water pressure we have here.
Best thing is that you can comfortably water everything after the sun went down, so it is not immediately evaporating or even burning the leaves.
It's also great because you can do the watering in multiple short bursts to allow the water to go into the ground instead of the next drain.
Loving the gardening crocs [12.51] mate 😊
Parkside, though being famously cheap, has never failed me. I have Parkside garden tools and powertools, some of which are over 40 years old and still work great.
Regarding the new kitchen: i’m looking forward to it and to be honest at least a little bit as I would be getting a new kitchen myself. Take care, keep up the fine work and continue being a nice and friendly man
The larger button makes a very statisfying sound when you press it
If you want to use rain water to save money, maybe consider a cheap mock up of a toilet water cistern with floater activated tap fill up? I'm imaging a 20-40L container with floater activating at about 20% capacity, so when the water level in the container dips below 20% it fills to the 20% level with tap water, above that would be filled with rain water the next time it rains. Effectively it's a small rain water container that use tap water if the water level drops too low.
Have you ever lookied into ollas? They are terracotta pots that you bury in the ground with the idea to leech water slowly. It prevents evaporation and you use significantly less water.This spring I fabricated a gravity fed water system that is connected to several ollas on my balcony. It's helped reduce the amount of water I need and the plants have access to water all day and night.
I liked that giant liquorice all-sort you had at 10:18.
I was going to purchase this for my "tomato" plant.. 😚💨
is it polyvinylchloride tubing? I've bought similar for flowers with ceramic inserts and cable had really bad smell like any vinyl. Really good and safe tubing is hard to find, years ago on amazon selling a real medical pure clean silicone tubing (surgery grade, other silicone had additives) but after covid it vanished like many other medical supply, maybe they stopped to prevent unlicensed surgeries.
Good to know that the Middle of Iidl has some quality never-knew-I-needed-it products. Also, good call with the IBC water tanks, they are a thief's delight. We have had around 20 stolen from gardens or allotments around here in recent months.
damn never caught a video this early, thanks for bringing entertainment to me this evening!
We have often watering bans in the US when conditions are drought like .
That licorice allsorts photoshop, love it.
I thought the same thing!
Word of caution, we had a Aldi version with an analogue clock a few years ago. I put in a new pair Duracells, set it for and hour a day and went on holiday for a week. We came back to a flooded polytunnel and our pump was burnt out (our water comes from a well). The batteries were completely flat and it had just run the well dry. Never risked it again, it was a very expensive lesson.
Oh perfectly timed! My dad is considering this for his tomatoes.
I want a secret video of the secret bunker, but not the more secret one, too secrety.
The even more spooky bunker made me laugh. Who knows what could be lurking;
even more cheap autowater things. we have been blessed, thank you mr. shrimp
You are very smart and patient!
We need a bunker tour by the way 👀
You can often get ICBs cheaper from the local farmer, I got mine for £40. Mind that was 4 years ago but I doubt they have more than doubled.
Shrimp - I think I'd watch you review socks. This is a cool gadget, but you make everything 10x more interesting. Thanks for the video!
Very interesting.. might get one of those gadgets x
Parkside stuff is amazing, there is very little bad I heard about it so far. For the few things a normal household is using these tools for, they are unbeatable for the price. I have a few of their tools, and it’s ridiculous how cheap they are for the quality you get. Can’t recommend it enough. And if you use it enough to break it you can always think about getting another one from a different manufacturer with higher quality.
Your tomato plants look great!
I did think of you when I saw this in Lidl recently Mike 😊
100years ago I put in pop up sprinkers at one house, so much better than drip systems and more fun for my cat.
I set up a system like that 20+ years ago to irrigate my vegetable garden, and only quit because the trees I planted eventually shaded the garden. Back then, all the drip irrigation hardware came from Israel, where it was invented by a fellow named Simcha Blass, who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto and made his way to Israel after the war. Fascinating story. Today there are a lot of Chinese companies cloning it.
Worth checking with your local authority what is covered undr your hosepipes ban. Where I live (in years past anyway) the watering of vegetables intended for consumption was exempt from the hosepipe ban.
My employer has a system like yours for watering and it works well. Only thing is the weather is so variable that it's better to check things regularly for over or under watering.
I've got one with Bluetooth that I control with my Home Assistant installation that also reads the soil moisture from my weather station. Quite simple to have it turn on based on sunrise/sunset time and soil moisture.
Neat, I actually needed one of these
Perfect; I was thinking about one of those, too! Thanks Shrimp! ;)
Missed this guy's content 😌👌
I think you sneaked in a little Princess Bride reference at 15:20.
Not sure if intentional or not but you're top blends so nicely with your tablecloth! Haven't seen the full video yet but I'm wondering if there would be a way to attach this to a rainwater butt to avoid the hosepipe ban? Love your videos and been here year and love the variety of videos too!
Calendula looks lovely.
So now I really want some liquorice. Thanks Mike!
Curious - what were you snacking on at 18:03? (The tiny bowl with stuff next to the drink) My bet is on crunchy fried broad beans but I could be wrong.
Yeah
@@AtomicShrimp Best snack!
MIke, what stops you falling down into the lower garden? At 14.15 it looked a bit scary.
Great careful care, mostly
@@AtomicShrimp Heck! It's the scenario of stepping backwards whilst being chased by a wasp that would worry me. However I think that I watch too many medical A&E reality shows so I've seen every way a person could damage themselves and now go through the house looking for trip hazards.
Yeah, it's just the thing with a terraced garden - any kind of fence or railing would have to be huge and unsightly in order to be any use
I love these irrigation videos
15:20 updoot for confidence alone xD
I had to look up what a tomato halo was - as I'm growing them for the first time in earnest this year I suddenly wondered if this was some part of the plant by the roots that I needed to pay extra attention to, but apparently it's an additional device for better directing water and suppressing weeds :)
My grandma had a deal with her neighbours to water each others plants while they were away. They lived in semi detached houses, so it was easy for them to get into each others gardens down the side. Perhaps this is simpler than using technology that might fail you.
Mike, I'm curious if you have thought about some way to ensure your watering system is definitely working whilst you're away. This seems like a good setup, but what if something breaks? Or the battery runs out faster than expected? Or a badger eats through the hose? It's probably complete overkill but I think it would be cool to have a raspberry pi with a water sensor set up so you can sleep easily on holiday knowing your tomoto plants are still getting a drink.
What would I do if, in the middle of my holiday, the system notifies me that it's stopped working? I think the best approach is just to use the thing when I am here so I can be reasonably confident that will continue for a week or two while I am away
The giant Licorice Allsort was very appealing 😂.
Secret bunker, extra secret bunker, odd socks, Atomic Shrimp. 🎉
I never understood how a tap can be turned on, blocked by the timer, and nothing explodes...
Why doesn't water pressure build up ?
How does the timer block the water so there is no water released ?
I feel dumb.
There's a valve in there - much like there is a valve inside the tap (the tap doesn't explode when you turn it off)
@@AtomicShrimpThank you. I feel embarrassed not knowing this at 43, but I had many bad habits as a young adult, and am only now chemically independent, so there is much of life I missed out on. Including friends.
Now I have a cat.
Oh hey, a new atomic shrimp video!
Evening watering can encourage snails. Better in the early morning, especially if you don't need to actually get up to do it.
I make an excuse every year to redo the garden irrigation, I love it. I think with the same kit you have (also Amazon)
What's the flow rate on those nozzles? 3 minutes a day seems a bit crazy to me. I have deep soil that has probably more organic matter than I should but I water maybe 5L per plant once a week in SE UK, twice if it's really sunny. The flow rate on there looks like it would be 5+ L a minute.
Yeah, a minute a day seems to do it. I have the nozzles stopped down to a trickle too
You'll generally be better off doing a loop of 16 mm watering tube and then adding short 6mm (or 4mm) spurs off it. Less pressure drop / easier to adjust the nozzles.
Comments have been telling you for years to just shop at Lidl :P seems like a good product
Thanks for reviewing this. Also, does it lose the programming/time when you change the batteries? I'm assuming it'll have some sort of short-term capacitor in there.
1- Hiya Mike, do you have the Lidl App in the UK as well? I don't really know what to think of the German version, there are some insanely good deals on it but I dont like them "gatekeeping" price reductions...
2- Really nice of you to try out Parkside products, Lidl has been trying to get into home tools for some time and they are quite good ("how good can a drill for 15€ be"). But again, I don't know how much Lidl stock overlaps in Germany and Great Britain. Also, I dont know how Brexit/Inflation has affected that, but that will ease off hopefully...
3- I have tried a similar product for indoor watering with mixed results, maybe you could have a look at that segment too? :)
4- Thanks for the video :) Glad to see that the notification worked this time
The app would be better if every store were not a Faraday cage
That looks to be a well thought out and practical bit of kit.
The safety warnings in that instructions manual - those things are a pain. I make model kits, and one manufacturer always includes a huge sheet of warnings, in even tiny kits. I can guarantee that nobody has ever read them - it's all common sense, after all, but a terrible waste of paper nonetheless. And yes - I do know that some people have no common sense, but they aren't the sort of people who would spend a couple of months building a model of a B-29 Superfortress.I have bought potentially lethal tools and knives that have had fewer dire warnings in the packaging. You couldn't make it up. 🤔🤔🤔😆😆😆
My dad has one of those big water containers that he got from a local farm for free. They used it for milk storage. He has the gutter run into it.
It would me an interesting project to rig up a small solar panel to this
Drought? I thought it rained every day in the UK.
You made a manifold Mike. Cover the display with some clear UV resistant tape to help prevent potential water ingress for it.
Does this have a solenoid valve (requires constant power to operate, but turns off automatically) or a rotary valve (only requires power to turn on and off, but can fail in the open position)? Also, it'd be interesting to measure the power consumption. It might be an easy mod to run it off a small solar panel like an electric fence unit.
I haven't opened it up but I believe it's a solenoid valve. There is a distinct click on start and stop
3:37 It may also come within the definition of a sprinkler, which may necessitate a sprinkler license... not sure, certainly for Anglian Water it used to be that any unattended device connected to a hose was classed as a sprinkler.
Pre watching I think Parkside make okay stuff, going to guess it will work well!
one thing to test with them is if it works with a water butt, the lower pressure causes issues
that irrigation kit looked like a giant Liquorice Allsorts catherine wheel when it came out of the box 😂