From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Commack, NY

okay can someone tell me how in the world this thing works? i cant get mine to work for beans. im guessing it has something to do with hose length, and what attachment is on the end. the only way i can get it to work, is with no attachments on the hose, just free flowing water......this can't possibly be the way this thing is supposed to work......HELP!!

scott

8/20/2002 6:54:17 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Farmer Scott,
Thought the Hozon siphon mixer would be my answer too this season...wwwrong ! Doesn't want to work with any restrictions, or long runs of hose ! Pretty much what it said on the package, whicjh was the last thing I read or did, naturally. I wanted to use it with my drip system, but the 20 psi regulator makes it inop. My next test was to attach it to the overhead oscillating sprinkler to see if that works...have you tried that yet ?
Duff

8/20/2002 8:21:47 PM

Commack, NY

i attached it to my whizzer head sprinker........no dice. i lost the package it came in, can you tell me what length of hose they say is the max you should use?
scott

8/20/2002 8:36:35 PM

Mastic Beach, New York

i think it's the last 25' of hose...i bought one didn't use it yet...go to home depot buy the othro dail sprayer..
it's diffrent then miralce sprayer... billy

8/20/2002 10:38:48 PM

Buffalo, NY

Scott, forget about the hose siphon injector & get yourself an EZ-GRO. It's about $45-$50 for a 3/4 gallon capacity. You simply add about 3 lbs of fert to it & it plumbs inline & works on a similar principle as the siphon. They come in various sizes, and have adjustable rate settings.

Mark

8/21/2002 11:44:34 AM

Long Island,New York

How about if someone wanted to run a daconil like product through the misters with a typical on/off schedule? MG/Schultz is for granulars, the ortho dial and spray seems like the right idea but there's no hose connection on outflow end...any suggestions???......G

8/21/2002 2:41:20 PM

Buffalo, NY

If you are really using misters, daconil would plug them. Even the Ortho sprayer says to dilute it to 4oz of mix & set it for 4oz for thick liquids instead of 1 TBS on the dial. (Assuming you are using Ortho's 29% Daconil instead of Dragon, etc with 12%?) An overhead sprinkler may work. Actually you can pull off the spray tip on the Ortho sprayer & try to adapt some kind of hose to the end like fuel injection hose & then adapt up to 3/4 hose thread. But you'd still have to depress the trigger. Being a Biomechanichemical physicist, I can probably figure out something. LOL!

Mark

8/21/2002 5:20:59 PM

Commack, NY

Mark.....i have one of those ezgrow mixers,,,........the only problem i find is that i have no idea what rate its coming out at......seems to me like the first mixture out of the container would be more powerful then the last couple of drops.....there has to be a way to get my siphon mixer to work.........shorter hose maybe? i was using 50'.....is that too much?

scott

8/21/2002 7:09:40 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

"Connect the siphon mixer to outdoor faucet. Connect a hose of no longer than 50'to the siphon. The siphon works best witha completely open nozzle and when no kinks or leaks are present in your hose....If the hose is partially clogged, crimped.or connected to a device that is too restrictive of water flow,the siphon may not draw up the concentrated solution. Remove the restriction to overcome the problem."
(from the back of the Hozon package)

8/21/2002 8:15:48 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Saw a dial and spray type mixer last weekend with a coupling for a hose on the outflow side...get back to you on that with details !

8/21/2002 8:21:04 PM

Buffalo, NY

Scott, I know what you mean by beginning & ending rates. You can try to set it at a higher setting near the end. Also, the Hozon type injectors may actually be working but at a very low rate. I believe I also read somewhere that they are not for drip systems. Can you take the siphon & bucket to the end of the hose instead of the beginning? Hose size will also make a difference--at 60PSI, using 50ft of hose, 5/8" hose flow rate is about 18gph and 3/4" hose is 31gph.

Below are the rates available for the EZ-GRO:
Setting Ratio Oz. Per Gal Result
Slow--2000:1 .064oz (1/3 teaspoon/gal) Low growth & color
1-----1000:1 .128oz (2/3 teaspoon/gal) Moderate growth & color
2------250:1 .500oz (1 tablespoon/gal) Vigorous growth & color
Fast----50:1 2.500oz (4 tablespoons/gal) High growth & color

Does the fertilizer get weaker as the system operates??
The fertilizer solution is heavier than the water coming into the tank as the system operates. This means the fertilizer solution settles to the bottom part of the tank and the water on the top. The fertilizer is pulled from the bottom of the tank as water is brought into the tank through the agitation tube. Which means it should be pretty consistent then stop completely.

Hope this helps.
Mark

8/21/2002 9:01:38 PM

Commack, NY

those rates should help, as i was attempting to use my siphon mixer yet again......and its not happening....i even cut the hose to like 15 feet, and it didnt work......the only way it will work is if there are no attachments on the end of the hose.....i was using one of those pistol grip sprayers, and even on the strongest setting the tube coming from the siphon mixer STILL was blowing out water.....i did notice a slight leak at the outgoing side of the valve, the hose apparantly has a leak, could that make it not work?

scott

8/21/2002 9:42:10 PM

Buffalo, NY

A leak probably affects it. Compare it to an example of a car engine with a vacuum leak. Under wide open throttle (WOT) the engine normally has very little or no vacuum but under part throttle or idle it should have high vacuum, but with a leak present it is less. The leak doesn't make much difference when the gas pedal is to the floor but is noticeable when idling & light throttle. Now, back to the injector-- with it at full water (no hose end sprayer) the leak isn't noticeable and it pulls fertilizer thru, but at part throttle (a restriction on the end) the leak causes a noticeable lag. So yes, the leak could be your problem, in addition to the design problem of a siphon-in-a-bucket injector.

Mark

8/22/2002 1:54:18 PM

Commack, NY

Mark......what's the design problem?

scott

8/22/2002 7:23:16 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Hey Scott,
I got my siphon mixer to work today. Had a 5 gal bucket next the faucet, sucked it thru at least 100 ft of hose if not more, to a regular back-and -forth type lawn sprinkler.
I've got 60 psi pressure working here. The siphon cuts the throw of the sprinkler by probably 10-20%, but it's better than toting a 2 gal pump sprayer around the patch !
Best of luck

8/22/2002 7:51:20 PM

Commack, NY

okay now you HAVE to tell me how you got it to work, because i cant mine to work for beans!.......i used a hose that was like 10 long and it still wounldnt work! what diameter hose are you using?

8/22/2002 7:54:41 PM

Buffalo, NY

Scott, what I meant about design problem is its simple suction design. It's a fixed rate but hose size, outlet restriction and water pressure can influence results, whereas the E-Z GRO uses a water-in/water-out balancing design, the system automatically adjusts the fertilizer ratio to the flow of the water going through the system. For mor info, pics, installation instructions & Q&A, see:
http://dripirrigation.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/dripstor/prodpages/fert/a051.htm?E+drip1

This is where I bought mine but you can find it cheaper at Morton's.

Mark

8/23/2002 12:07:22 PM

Commack, NY

okay well i sort of got it to work........it was the attachment i was using......i did some flow comparisons......basically i timed how many gallons the hose woudl put out per minute. i read that you need to have a flow of at least 3 gallons per minute. without the attachments it flows about 3.5 gallons a minute, with it, its about 2.5.....so, i hooked the hose and siphon mixer up to my sprinkler, which flows 3.8 gallons a minute......well, it works, BUT the mixer is suppoosed to draw up a gallon of mix in about 5 minutes.......well i got a half a gallon to draw up in about a half hour! LOL....this is so annoying already!!

8/23/2002 7:02:38 PM

Topsfield, Ma.

Farmer Scott, yeah, it's real slow. It dilutes your mix by 16x.

8/23/2002 9:27:02 PM

Kuna, Id.

So while your playing with your siphoner I hope you were forgetting to fert. the pkn.(Oops I mean not forgetting) I'll send ya mine works great...hehe.
Ken

8/23/2002 11:43:36 PM

Commack, NY

well, i have officially given up the siphon mixer idea.......HOWEVER, i ordered a submersible pump that puts out about 21 gallons a minute, that should be plenty of push to get my 50 gallons of fert to my plant!.......

Scott

8/24/2002 8:18:00 PM

Kuna, Id.

Make sure ya get a good filter so as not to plug her up.
Ken
P.S. 29" cir still behind ya any idea how Mike is doing?

8/25/2002 3:02:33 AM

Commack, NY

i havent heard from mike at all recently.........but im up to 41"........having a problem with a stem split at the stem/vine junction....not sure how this is gonna turn out, but we'll try.

scott

8/25/2002 4:22:34 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

had no problem with my siphon mixer, just hooked it up Aug 16th before i went on vacation came back from vacation yesterday to find that the siphon had completely drained the 55 gal drum of fish fertilizer and miracle grow.

Glenn

8/26/2002 1:03:27 PM