FloraFlex Drip System Builder

How the FloraFlex Drip System Builder works

Every build it produces is the same shape: a closed loop of 16–17mm LDPE pipe around the canopy, four corner elbows, a feed tee in the middle of one side and a flush tee directly opposite it. Water travels both ways around the ring and meets with equal pressure, which is what stops the far corner being fed worse than the near one. Off that ring hang the micro dripper assemblies, one lead per hole punched with the Flora hole puncher.

What changes between builds is the count. Give it a canopy size and a plant count and it works out the pipe length, the number of elbows and tees, the dripper assemblies, the pump that will hold pressure over that distance, the media, and — if you are collecting runoff — the PotPro platforms, links and drainage back to the tank. Then it puts the whole list in your basket in one go, with 10% off the FloraFlex parts applied at checkout. Untick anything you already own and the total follows.

How many drippers do I need per plant?

Two stakes a pot is the rule the builder works to. One stake wets a cone down one side of a root ball and leaves the rest dry; two stakes on opposite sides wet it through. How many assemblies that takes depends on which assembly you buy, because each one carries a different number of stakes:

• 1-way — one stake, so two assemblies per pot. Each carries a 1 GPH black emitter, so the pot gets 2 GPH across the two.
• 2-way — two stakes, so one assembly per pot. Its single 1 GPH emitter splits between the two stakes, 0.5 GPH each.
• 4-way — four stakes, so one assembly per pair of pots. Its 0.5 GPH green emitter splits four ways, 0.125 GPH a stake.
• Netbows — a ring rather than stakes, one per pot, fed by a single CNL emitter.

Note how far apart those are: a 1-way build puts eight times the water into a pot that a 4-way build does. That makes the dripper choice a bigger irrigation decision than it looks, and it is why the builder states the per-pot figure against each option rather than just the price.

What pressure do FloraFlex drippers need?

The emitters are pressure compensating, rated 15–50 PSI and happiest at 25–35. That word “compensating” matters: inside the band they hold their rated flow wherever they sit on the ring, so ring position stops mattering. Below the band they do not quietly under-deliver — the diaphragm stops regulating altogether and evenness collapses.

Flow is almost never the constraint. A hundred 1-way drippers is around 379 litres an hour, about 5% of what a small submersible moves, and friction down 60m of 16mm ring costs roughly a quarter of a PSI. Lift is the expensive part, at about 1.4 PSI for every metre the water has to climb out of the tank. So the pump is chosen on canopy size and how far the reservoir sits from the room, not on plant count. A small tent close to its tank runs happily on an 8m head pump; a big room, or a tank down a flight of stairs, needs the 3 bar Q800103, and that one arrives with a 40 PSI regulator because it pushes about 43 and the emitters should not sit above 40.

Collecting runoff

Turn runoff on and the build changes shape. Plants sit on PotPro platforms that drain into a shared line — an elbow at the head of each row, a tee under every pot after the first, and tees joining the rows together before the run leaves the tent. You can add an IWS Drain Brain to pump the collected runoff away automatically, which brings its own pipe and end stops with it.

Common questions