Using copper pipe

Hello all,
Background:-
My good lady has many of her plants in large pots which is fine, until you try and water them and even with liners, the water runs straight through. I have designed her a system that will take 2 lts. of water 6 hours to empty, working on a vacuum principle thus giving a very slow water feed, and it appears to work quite well.
Question:-
The system uses 10mm dia, copper pipe, will the leaching of the copper ions into the soil cause any problems to the plants? - (if they die I am in big trouble!!.) I cannot be specific as to the type of plants.
Kind Regards, Nitro.

 

as we all drink tap water every day, without visible harm, i think your plants will be just fine
ps .... could you post a piccy on the project forum please, some others may follow your example
pps have you tried water retaining gel, which is incorporated in special composts or can be purchased seperately

 

I agree LG. I unpotted a lot of shrubs brought from my previous house [finally! 2yrs later!] and I was really astonished and upset to find how dry some of them were round the roots, in spite of frequent watering. In future any containers will have water retaining gel and hopefully a gadget like Nitros. I was thinking of burying some seeping hose in the pots.

 

Last year I had two Acanthus in large pots, which were looking poorly. I mentioned this to the owner of a garden centre, who said that I should be watering them for 20 seconds each day with a hose, rather than 5 seconds. They responded well and grew magnificently.

Nitro, copper is totally safe. All the water from the hose has come through copper pipes in the house.

 

My reply may have been posted, but I think I may have pressed the wrong key !!!!!! but if not, then thank you all for your replies.
Kind Regards, Nitro

 

Lady Gardener,
I have not tried retaining gel, or any other system, I felt that a new approach was required, and had to be viewed from an engineering perspective - also it had to be inexpensive to produce, thus keeping the pension outlay to a minimum !!!!!!.
Kind Regards, Nitro

 

nitro
The copper tube is probably more at risk than the soil or plants as copper is readily attacked by ammonia.

If the pipes aren`t in contact with the soil and you don`t splash ammonia based plant food around it shouldn`t be a great problem though