I know a commercial tomato grower who started using these. He heats and grows tomatoes in a 26 by 198 foot high tunnel and outside. He had very good luck with them.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenSoxx

microtubing would work best. you can just run a line to each pot. at the spacing you need. the t-tape doesn't have that flexibility.

My suggestion is to look up larry hall on youtube. he recently started a company called grow bag garden systems. his youtube channel has a wealth of info: rain gutter system, kiddie pool systems etc. The grow bags he sells are wonderful and cheap for the quality.

A quick follow up to my previous post. I used some of his ideas this past year. I found 3 dirt cheap kiddie pools and used the blue walmart bags in them. I had 5 plants growing in a 3' circle (mainly peppers and some tomatoes) I couldn't believe how they grew. I had to water daily but I got good results. this fall I grew some cabbage and brocilia in one gallon grow bags placed in a 22 quart clear plastic container like is used to take produce to market. I started seeds in the grow bag and had excellent results. I still have a couple plants in my hoop house. I had 5 cabbages in 220 square inches.
I am going to try out growing in a kiddie pool in the hoop house this spring early and see what happens. I am expanding my market farm and this is one technique that doesn't require good soil. these can be setup on gravel or concrete. For best results, follow Larry Hall's directions and procedures. He invented the wheel and it doesn't need reinvented.

Thanks for the advice. I figured tubing was probably the way to go for the pots. I may try a row of the garden socks. I have used those for mulch berms at work and they have held up along city sidewalks in full sun for 2 years now. FWIW, we used drain pipe sock which is the exact same thing as what gardensoxx sells, and you can get 100 feet of it for $30 from lowes vs. 50 feet for $50 from gardensoxx, it just doesn't come with the fancy cardboard ez filler you don't really need.

I've seen the self watering systems with the rain gutters, thats just a bit more engineering than I care to get into right now. Those systems are cool, but it seems to me that since they still require being hooked up to a waterline or hand watered to maintain the reservoir levels, they aren't much different than irrigation lines with timers. Factoring in the cost of gutters, lumber, fastners, float valves, and time putting all that together, I just can't swing it. I've got the free nursery containers so thats why I'm designing a sysetem around pot production...er...container production.

What disease problems? I'm in a similar climate, and we are far enough north to avoid most tomato disease, other than blight and those spread by soil fungal spores, which can be largely prevented with mulch.

You name it, I've had it, even with a foot of straw mulch around the plants. The one I'm most trying to overcome is bacterial wilt. I lost a few plants last season, then this season I lost even more. I think I'm more or less out of luck in that garden for a while, because I lost a number of squash and some raspberries to what I think is Phythopthora, and my only area I can rotate to is right next to a Black Walnut. The whole area is ringed with other trees and the tree roots have realy enjoyed all the amendments, mulches, and irrigation I've been giving them over the years. I can hardly dig out there now from all the roots. My long term plan is trenching the perimeter to sever the roots, spend a few seasons growing in containers, and amending and cultivating the heck out of the soil to see If I can get ahead of things.

Wow, sorry to hear that. I'm wondering if the tree roots are hosting the diseases for your plants.

The last time I planned a container garden, I had picked out Dramm dribble rings as what I wanted for irrigation, but I still have not tried them yet.

Irrigation Methods for Containers

Various methods are used for Irrigation of Containers from Handwatering, Micro Irrigation (drip,
Plastic Bottles, Wicks etc) , Capillary methods (Sub Irrigation, Controlled
Water Tables,Wick, Capillary Mat, Rain Gutter Wicking, Ollas, Methods based on
Ollas Plant Nanny etc). Misc Article
Links.

https://ucanr.edu/repositoryfiles/ca1905p2-59128.pdf

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/greenhouse/nursery/environ/wmprinc.html

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/three-easy-low-tech-ways-to-keep-container-gardens-watered.html

http://tipnut.com/garden-irrigation/

http://basicgreen.osu.edu/sites/default/files/BG-140.pdf