GOT ADVICE: Automating raised water bed (updated)

[Jay]

UPDATE: The secret to adapting John B.'s stock watering float valves for rain barrels is to add a solar powered (w/car battery backup) 12v demand pump. I've been working with a truly brilliant irrigation/landscaping guy for the past few weeks setting up the perfect (to me, anyway) system. I will post photos and a more detailed description shortly (should be finished this weekend). It will automatically fill my raised beds to a preset depth, and any overflow (when it rains, e.g.) will fall into large reservoirs created underneath (each is 256 gallons, and I will have two beds, effectively doubling my current 500+ gal supply of rainwater).

A second pump will move water from these reservoirs back into the rain barrels if needed, and a separate line now goes into my greenhouse allowing me the high pleasure of using a hose and trigger nozzle to water my CP with rainwater, under pressure :-).

Life is good, and will get great on Saturday, if all goes well .

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NOTE: Posted on this on Terra Forums, but without any response. Hoping I have better luck here :-).

I've seen some great examples of bogs -- raised, circulating, etc. I'm looking to build (or have built) something a little different:

I prefer to grow my outdoor (greenhouse in the winter) CP in pots, despite all of the advice to the contrary from experienced friends. I don't have a good reason except for preference. I live in USDA Zone 7A, so the plants could easily survive the winter in the ground, but I like them in pots, I like being able to baby them through the winter, I like the portability, and frankly, I like the look (shrug).

When I have been semi-permanent in a locale, I've built long raised rectangular water beds out of 4x4s, filled with topsoil (or whatever) to a reasonable depth, lined with landscape plastic and then topped with 2x4 caps. These have worked reasonably well, but filling and draining water have always been a manual process, and I'm sure I have lost plants because of the wildly varying water levels (e.g. too high for too long after a heavy rain when I'm traveling for work). The water also stagnates (and smells).

I'm hopefully permanent again (this time for good, or at least close to it), So this time I would like to do it right. I would like the same raised wooden water beds, at a comfortable height, with a mechanism to keep the water flowing and at a specific depth.

Tap water is not an option for me, so I collect rainwater in two 275-gallon plastic tote containers (can post pictures if anyone is interested in seeing). I would like to pump water from these containers to the water beds when more water is needed, and to pump (or drain) the water somewhere else when it's more than a few inches deep) -- either to drain away or to recycle.

I also realized that I don't need to fill the raised beds with topsoil (or whatever). I could build a false bottom and have a large reservoir underneath, either for equipment (pump, float valve, etc.) or an extra sun-protected reservoir for water (maybe even with a filter and/or UV setup), or both.

I'm not handy by nature, and I'm planning to hire somebody to build these for me, but I've had difficulty finding someone creative enough to concept what I'm looking for.

Any suggestions -- either for designs and operational details/materials, or even someone (hope against hope) in the Mid-Atlantic US (I live in Virginia near Washington DC) who gets what I'm talking about and can design and/or build it for me -- would be MUCH appreciated.

[John Brittnacher]

Jay --

If I understand this you want water trays and are concerned about how to keep them full but not waste water. There are ways to keep the water level constant in a water tray using stock tank water fillers. You can always overflow into a sunken rain barrel and pump the water out with a pond pump. If you have open water why do you want it to flow?

I use water trays outside year round in zone 7B. Of course that is left coast and 7B on the left coast is not 7B on the right coast. Fortunately I don't have to worry about tap water quality because if I did we don't get rain in the summer.

I've seen the photos of your garden on Carl's blog and wonder what is wrong with the in-ground bogs? You should be able to control water level in them.

[Jay]

John,

Thanks for the reply. I want the water to flow so that it can be filtered and aerated (ideally). The stagnant water in my manual water beds gets pretty nasty. Moving water should also keep down on mosquito larvae.

I will look into stock tank fillers, thanks. Can't rely on water pressure, however. Our tap water is awful. Would have to be pumped from the rain barrels (or filtered, which is something I'm not quite ready to undertake).

Not sure which photos you've seen. I've never had in-ground bogs. They've always been raised timber-constructed water beds.

And our Right Coast 7A regularly freezes in the winter, and got into the high teens a handful of nights this past winter, even with our record high temps for the season overall.

[John Brittnacher]

Oops. Wrong "Jay" on the photos.

The float valve I use is www.miller-mfg.com/page/1/Product-Detail.jsp?groupId=776&prodId=69806 and can get it at a local farm supply store. It is on one of the circuits on my irrigation system so it is only pressurized a few minutes a day during the summer. I would think it would work from a raised rain barrel or pond pump if there is a filter to keep out anything that could clog the valve. The anti-siphon might not work properly at very low pressures. I need it so it doesn't back-siphon into my irrigation system.

I use mosquito dunks in my trays. We have West Nile here.

When I lived in Davis I had my trays on concrete blocks to get them above the noses of raccoons. With more aggressive raccoons, squirrels, and two kinds of jays there is no hope where I live now so I have to net trays that contain small pots.

[Jay]

That's Jay Petura, Carl's other Jay friend :-).

I found the float valve you use at Tractor Supply Company for $20. Thanks for the recommendation!

Do you happen to have a diagram of your irrigation system? It would be very helpful to see how your entire setup works.

We have West Nile here, too (unfortunately). I use BT as well (dunks and granules) in my trays, and Gambusia (they overwinter quite nicely in my greenhouse) for anything deeper.

[John Brittnacher]

My trays look like



and I mount the float valve in a corner



I have 12 circuit drip irrigation system for my yard and the carnivores are on one of the circuits. I don't have rain water storage because we don't get rain during the summer when I would need the water. Besides the TDS of our tap water is 70.

[Jay]

Thanks, John ... very helpful.