Drainage System?

Hi all,

I am trying to identify the drainage system that needs to be in place for the bot. Working with school district to put 2 bots in place on a concrete area and planning for costs to implement this next year. Any help is especially appreciated.

-Jenn

Hi MissCrane,

my current plan is to construct a 3 m by 1,5m and 40 cm tall Farmbot wodden raised bed. In the middle of the bed there will be a hole with a drainage tube, to route the water to the nearest drain hole of my terrace.
Tho whole “bed” will be filled out with foam in order to create a slope towards this hole. Could be simply formed by sawing off the foam into the desired shape.
On top of that layer I will put pond foil.
Another idea would be to fill the whole thing with 5-10cm of expanded clay to have some kind of water storage. Then the rest filled up with soil.

What do you think?
Cheers

I think your over thinking this :slight_smile:

Honestly, with precision watering, you should have zero water draining from your bed. If you are putting that much water into the bed you are doing something very wrong.

Here’s how I constructed my table’s bottom. I basically have a “lip” all around the bottom and across the center of my 1.5m x 3m table. I then placed hot dipped, expanded metal on the bottom of my table. Its otherwise completely open. On top of that expanded metal, I then placed 3 layers of landscape fabric. They kind that allows moisture to pass. Then I filled the bed with potting soil.

I don’t think that this is too much thought. If you don’t expose the bed to outside weather conditions you’re right.
But think of what happens when it rains the whole day. If the bed is closed on the bottom the soil will swim. If you don’t have any foil or thelike in the bed, it will alter with the year(s). If the bed is open at the bottom then my terrace will get dirty once it is raining…

It’s not shown in my photos, but I have several layers of landscape fabric in the bottom of my bed on top of the expanded metal. That allows moisture to flow through but will prevent dirt from going through. I used some fabric that has a guaranteed life of 30 years.

So when it rains your terrace will be flooded with the wash-out of the soil… wouldn’t be good in my case…