UK’s best automatic watering system for greenhouses, lawns, outdoors, and indoors: Hozelock, MIXC, Landrip

Hozelock pump out a ton of products, year after year, and while not all of them hit the mark, there are still enough quality items in their repertoire to keep them on my list of trusted brands. Before we go too far with this here is my video of this working and how I found the setup as well as a little extra bonus getting more from the kit than you should:

Their universal watering kit is our top pick for automatic watering systems, chosen for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it is one of the easiest systems to set up and operate. Unlike some cheaper drip irrigation kits that can be quite fiddly when it comes to the drippers, these clip on to the flexi hose in seconds as you can see from my testing section.

When it comes to the micro drippers, they are just as easy, simply requiring you to slip them onto the micro hoses. It only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish and you’ll have a system that’ll cover up to 10 square metres – but as you’ll see from my testing section you want to get this setup opened up and sussed out before diving straight in.

The drippers are easily adjusted by turning the nozzle, which is nothing new for this kind of product. However, this part of the kit did seem more durable than a lot of others that I tried out, as was the hose, and gave me a lot more confidence in the product overall. They are decent quality and work very well. The sprinklers adjusted 15cm to over half a metre for me – granted you’ll have to see what your water pressure can do.

I liked the fact the system is compatible with not only other Hozelock products, but can be connected to 3rd party irrigation setups too. This modular design also means that you can connect multiple kits for covering large areas, and it can be broken down quickly for winter storage. I’d personally just roll it all up into a sack and see where you’re at next season.

In the box, you get almost everything you need to set up an automatic watering system. I say almost because there isn’t a water timer and you’ll have to buy one separately – I would highly recommend the Hozelock Sensor Electronic water timer as it fits perfectly with this kit. The system still works when connected directly to the tap, it’s just that you’ll still have to turn the tap off yourself when the watering session is done, so it isn’t quite automatic without a timer, is it? But on the plus side the extra components meant I could extend this kit considerably with a bit of additional 1/2 inch hose pipe. A real bonus and only something you would know from hands on experience.

Again though, the compatibility of this kit will make it easy to find a well-priced timer if you don’t like my recommendation, like the king fisher product I review below, that’ll do the job just fine. Like I said, Hozelock doesn’t have a 100% record for great products, but the majority of them are up there with the best, and this kit is definitely in that majority – a super effort well done Hozelock, very impressed.

Pros

• Very easy to set up thanks to clip on emitters
• Compatible with most 3rd party irrigation systems
• Good quality throughout the kit
• Easy to adjust the emitters

Cons

• More expensive than some lesser-known brands and no water timer included. Hozelock do have a wide range of these to buy separately though.

Greenhouses are amazing things that give us green-fingered types the opportunity to keep on growing through the colder months. On top of that, they allow us to grow a wide range of plants and vegetables in a controlled environment.

With this variation comes specific needs for different types of plants, and so, having an irrigation system that you can adjust to suit these needs is a must. With this in mind, I chose the MIXC system as the best budget choice for these purposes.

Costing less than half of what you’ll pay for our best overall pick from Hozelock, this product gives you a lot for your money. There’s a 5.3 metre long ¼ inch drip tube, 20 drip tips and T-connectors, 20 mini sprayers, and all the connectors you need to run the system. The only thing that is missing is a water timer.

Quality-wise, the irrigation tube is decent and made of UV resistant ABS plastic. The smaller components don’t feel quite as robust as the ones in the Hozelock kit, but that’s to be expected for the lower price. I don’t know how they’d hold up to frost and freezing temperatures, but if they’re set up in a greenhouse with a good heater, this won’t be a problem anyway.

Installation isn’t as simple as the Hozelock drip irrigation system due to the drip tube being quite stiff and needing to be soaked in hot water to soften it up before you slip in the emitters and connectors. On the plus side, once the tube cools again, you do get a nice seal and less unwanted leaking.

The small spray nozzles can be adjusted by twisting them, and you can actually get a nice fine spray from them, which is great if you set them up hanging from the ceiling of your greenhouse. You might find that water pressure is reduced when setting up this way, but there are a few things you can do to rectify the situation, such as using ½” tubing from the tap that connects to the ¼”.

So, in summary, there are a couple of quirks that you have to deal with, but overall, it’s a great little set with an affordable price tag. Obviously, you have to factor in a water timer into the cost, but it’s still a good deal.

• Excellent value for money
• A great choice for greenhouse irrigation
• 5.3 -metre-long drip tube
• Made from UV resistant ABS plastic

Cons

• Tube has to be soaked in warm water to soften it

The problem with deciding upon an automatic watering system for the house isn’t that there aren’t enough products, it’s that the best of them are usually the same irrigation systems that are used for outdoors and greenhouses like the Hozelock and MIXC products I reviewed above.

Although these systems work really well, the idea of having thick, black, drip tubes running from the kitchen or bathroom tap to all the various rooms in the house where the pot plants are, turns a lot of people off. However, recently there have been smaller systems coming onto the market that work in a similar way to outdoor drip irrigation systems, but are better suited to indoor automatic watering.

The landrip indoor watering system is one of these, and the one I chose as the best out of the bunch. The kit contains a compact water timer and enough tubing and drippers to automatically water up to 10 pot plants.

The tubing that you get is clear in colour though, and this makes it less of an eyesore than the darker coloured tubing that you get with outdoor drip irrigation sets. The drippers, connectors, and barbed tees, are also all translucent and this helps to make things look more inconspicuous.

The main advantage of this system, when it comes to indoor automatic watering, is that you don’t need to connect it to a tap to run. Just fill up a bucket or other container with water, and the built in pump will send the water to your house plants. Obviously, there is less water pressure than you would get if connected to the mains, but for feeding a few drippers it’s perfectly fine, as long as you aren’t feeding the tube up too high and the pump is appropriately placed.

Setting up isn’t overly hard, but you will have to soak the tube in hot water to soften it, just like the MIXC product, and make sure that the timer has either AA batteries in it, or that you’re connected by USB. The timer itself is easy to program, is fairly intuitive, and the memory feature is very helpful.

I did find that with nearly all of these indoor automatic watering systems that there were leaks, and this one was no exception. Saying that, this product leaked less than most, and it was an easy fix with a bit of tape. Another downside to this design is that you can’t adjust the dosage of each dripper, so if you have a thirstier than usual plant, you’ll need to insert two spikes into the soil of that pot.

Pros

• Clear tubes and drippers make it less of an eyesore
• Can be powered by batteries or USB
• Pump allows you to use other water sources rather than the tap
• Simple water timer included

Cons

• A small leak here and there but was easily fixed

The timers that you get in these sets are really easy to set up, but dot just take our word for it, here’s clip showing just how easy it is:

Setting up an automatic watering system for your hanging baskets can be quite frustrating due to good old gravity. If your water pressure isn’t up to the task, getting those essential fluids and nutrients up to your suspended plants isn’t going to be easy.

On top of that, you either have to spend time securing the tubing that leads back to the water source, or have it dangling down which isn’t going to do much for the attractiveness of your garden and might be snagged, tripped, on. Etc.

A good alternative is to use self-watering baskets, and this offering from T4U is the best out there, with the right mix of style, build quality, and just doing what they are designed to do- keep your plants alive and healthy.

When it comes to comparing cost to drip irrigation systems like the one from MIXC, these self-watering baskets aren’t the cheapest option, especially if you need a few of them, but for keeping your garden or even your indoor hanging baskets tube free and looking their best, I think it’s a price a lot of people are prepared to pay.

Installation is about as easy as you’ll get, and you only need to fill up the water reservoir in the bottom of the pot, which is easily removed and reattached. After that, the plant will be fed at a steady rate.

A nice little design feature is that there are drainage holes in the bottom, so if there’s a patch of rain, the excess water will drain through and be stored to be used up later. Very simple, but nice and effective, and will also help tackle root rot.

The pots are very durable, being made from polypropylene, and won’t get damaged by extreme weather conditions. You won’t have to worry about freezing temperatures damaging these pots like you might with the Hozelock drip irrigation kit or similar products.

The only thing I have against these self-watering pots is that the water reservoir is quite small, and that means you will have to top it up 1-2 times per week. So, this means that they aren’t exactly fully automatic, but it only takes a minute to top up and will still save you time when compared to using a watering can or hose.

• Very neat and tidy compared to drip tubes
• Very easy installation
• Excellent quality PP plastic and durable pots
• A good drainage system and will store excess rain water

Cons

• Reservoir is on the small side

Search online for automatic sprinklers and most products that you’ll see are not actually what I would call ‘automatic’. You see, the part of the sprinkler that is advertised as automatic is usually just the part that makes it spin, using water pressure as opposed to a power source, and not actually turning the sprinkler on and off automatically.

For that to happen you need a water timer, sometimes called a watering computer, irrigation timer, and a few other names, but basically the same thing. The details of functions vary from product to product, but all of them will offer you some kind of programmable watering schedule. When combined with a decent sprinkler, it’s most of your lawn care taken care of.

The Kazeila water timer is one of the best deals out there when it comes to these products, and has all the same features that you’d find on more expensive, well-known branded water timers, but at a much lower cost.

For example, as well as being able to set watering duration from as little as 1 second, right up to 300 minutes, and intervals of 1 hour to 15 days, there are also very handy features like a rain sensor that’ll pause the programmed watering cycle, a child lock, and a sleep mode that’ll turn off the LCD screen when not in use to save battery power.

Talking of batteries, when the timer detects that the power is getting low, it will automatically shut itself off before the batteries die to avoid any related problems. Features like this and the ones I pre-mentioned are not that commonly found in water timers in this price range, and if they are, they tend not to work properly, but I was impressed with the Kazeila.

Build quality is comparable too, and things like the top connector being made of nylon fibre rather than lower quality plastic, and the fact that it has been tested for weatherproofing and earned a high IP65 rating, make it stand out amongst the other low-cost water timers out there.

One quick thing I need to mention here is that the valve in this timer requires a certain amount of water pressure in order to open. Now, for your standard garden tap it’ll be no problem, but if you’re planning on using a water butt as your source, you should probably look for something with a motor actuated valve instead.

Pros

• Inexpensive when compared to well-known brands
• An excellent list of features including rain sensor and child lock
• Solidly built from good materials
• IP65 weatherproof. If you’re not sure what this means, check out this informative video

Cons

• Can’t be used with water butts unless you boost pressure somehow

When it comes to watering borders and raised beds, a great alternative to drip irrigation systems are soaker hoses. These porous hoses slowly leak small amounts of water onto your soil, giving them a constant supply of H2O.

Some of the reasons that gardeners opt for soaker hoses over drip irrigation is that they are relatively inexpensive and incredibly easy to install. There’s no fixing of emitters into place or plugging t-sections in, you’re only required to lay the hose down where and as you want it and turn on the tap.

Because soaker hoses sit at ground level and only ever drip small amounts of water, there’s almost zero chance of getting your foliage soaked and this reduces the risk of fungi development and disease. This can be said of drip irrigation systems too, but not when the mini sprayers are used.

Gardena is a very well-known name in the gardening business, and because of this their products tend to be a bit more expensive than the really budget stuff. On the plus side, you usually get a better-quality product and this is true of their soaker hose.

With some of the cheaper soaker hoses I’ve spent time with, I noticed that the water dripping through wasn’t always uniform and that there were more than a few jets spraying out in places. With the Gardena hose, I only noticed one such jet. It was small and once I turned down the pressure using the tap, it all but turned into a drip itself.

For the price, Gardena gives you 15 metres of hose, but that can be cut to the size you like, or even combined with another hose if you buy one and the needed connectors. The hose is strong and yet also more flexible than many I tested, and the included fittings were about what I expected in terms of quality.

One of the best things about this soaker hose is that you don’t really need a water timer as there is little chance of over watering, but even if you really don’t have time to turn the tap on and off once a day, it is compatible with pretty much any timer.

So, what are the flaws? Well, with any type of hose you are going to have problems in the winter and they’ll need to be stored properly or be damaged, and this is true of the Gardena soaker hose too. Personally, I don’t take chances with the sun either, and tend to bury my soaker hoses under a thin layer of mulch to protect from UV. I’ve tried it with soil but the pores get clogged, however light mulch doesn’t seem to affect them negatively.

Pros

• Child’s play to set up and operate
• Reduces risk of fungi and disease on foliage
• Water timer isn’t completely necessary
• Strong and flexible hose with uniform dripping

Cons

• Susceptible to cold weather and will have to be stored appropriately