Drip Systems

Why growers choose a drip system

A drip system separates the watering from you. The pump and timer feed every pot on the same schedule, so the plants drink evenly whether or not you are home. Nutriculture make that the point of the Wilma range: the reservoir stores the solution and removes the need for daily refills.

The runoff goes back, not on the floor

Whatever the medium does not hold drains back to the reservoir to be used again — the difference between a drip system and hand-watering to waste. Nutriculture cite that drain-back specifically as what stops roots sitting in standing water.

You keep your choice of medium

Unlike a water-culture system, a drip system does not dictate what the roots grow in. The Wilma systems are rated for coco, soil, clay pebbles or a mix, so an existing soil or coco grow can move onto automated watering without changing how you feed. Media is never included — budget for it from grow mediums.

Our range of drip systems

The Wilma size ladder

Six systems, quoted by footprint and capacity. The Wilma Mini 8 Set is the small-pot end — 90 x 45cm with eight 1.65L pots, useful for propagation, mothers or a bench of small plants. From there it steps up by pot size rather than pot count: the Large 4 Pot at 75 x 75cm and 50L, the XL 4 Pot at 90 x 90cm and 70L, then the XXL 5 Pot and XXL 8 Pot sharing a 115 x 115cm footprint at 150L. The Wide XL 8 Pot is the long one — 190 x 90cm and 180L, shaped for a rectangular grow tent rather than a square. All six are low-profile tray-and-reservoir designs built to sit inside a tent rather than fill a room.

Three of the six state the tent they suit on their own product page: the Large 4 Pot for a 1.2m x 1.2m, the XL 4 Pot for a 1.5m x 1.5m and the Wide XL 8 Pot for a 2.4m x 1.2m. For the rest, measure the quoted footprint against your tent.

Tubing, joiners and flow control

The fittings here are the parts a drip build consumes: 19mm supersoft non-kink polytube in a 30m roll, 19mm and 6mm barbed joiners, a 13mm four-way cross connector, and a 4mm Variflow inline valve for dialling individual drippers up or down. They suit any build, not just Wilma — the full range is in irrigation, pumps in water pumps.

How to choose a drip system

1. Start with the tent, not the plant count. The footprint is fixed and the system has to fit with room to lift a pot out. Measure before you read the dimensions.
2. Decide pot size against plant size. Eight 1.65L pots and four 50L-class pots are different grows. Big plants in small pots need feeding more often than the system was designed around.
3. Match the cycle to the medium. Clay pebbles hold almost nothing and want frequent short feeds; coco and soil hold water far longer and want fewer. The medium sets the timer.
4. Check what is in the box. The Wilma kits include the pump and the instructions. Media, nutrients and a timer are not included.
5. Leave room to service the reservoir. You will be topping it up and taking pH and EC readings, so the tank has to stay reachable once the tent is full.

Running a drip system

Fill the pots with your medium, space the plants evenly, then fill the reservoir and follow the instructions supplied — Nutriculture's guidance is to watch the level and refill as needed rather than to a fixed schedule. Because the same solution recirculates it drifts as the plants drink, so check pH and EC on the tank rather than assuming it holds. The store's guide to pH in a hydroponic system covers why that matters most in a recirculating build. Feeds are in hydroponic nutrients, schedules in nutrient kits.

Drip is one of three methods stocked. Roots held permanently in aerated solution is deep water culture; flooding a tray on a timer is flood and drain.