Self watering planters........... [Archive]

Shamrock1121

02-17-2007, 08:20 AM

Here are several methods.

1. You can wick water out of a container...Fill a cup up with water and stick the end of a piece of string in it. Connect the other end of the string to a regular planter. Use more strings for bigger planters. You can often find something to use as a reservoir that you can hang on the outside edge of your planter.

2. Take a slender plastic water bottle, drill a couple holes in the cap, cut off the bottom of the bottle. Fill with water and stick the top (cap end) in the planter.

3. Fill a zip-lock plastic bag with water (whatever size works for you) with water and place in the planter and poke a couple pinholes in the bag to provide "drip irrigation". You can use this method around new trees and bushes. Fill several gallon-size bags and let them drip around the perimeter of the plant. If it's windy in your area, you may want to use a larger size bag and put a brick or river rock in the bag to anchor it. I have used a paper hole punch to poke a hole just above the zip-lock (where the plastic is thick), and add some twine and hooked the twine loop over several tent pegs I had around the tree.

4. You can place a pot in a pot. Inside the bottom of the first pot, make sure all holes are closed/blocked. Place some floral foam in the bottom of pot #1. Place pot #2 inside pot #1. Water pot #1 (where the floral foam is). The foam holds a lot of water, but needs to be replaced every now and again.

5. Link for Earth boxes: http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf

6. I also bury a couple plastic 1/2-gallon milk jugs, that have a some holes poked into them, close to my tomato plants. I fill them from the top and let them drip water around the roots of the tomatoes.

7. In hanging planters, put a plastic beverage cup (cut off if it's too tall) in the center of the planter and put the soil around the cup. Make sure you have 3 or 4 holes poked into the cup to release water. These will keep planters from drying out so quickly in the heat of the summer. Adding water crystals to the soil in hanging planters is also a good idea.

8. Take a 2 litre soda bottle and cut it in half. The bottom of the bottle will hold the water. Mash some floral foam (the kind for fresh flowers) into the screw-top opening of the bottle - this will wick the water to the plant/soil. Add soil and plant. You can sit the whole thing into a decorative pot. You can do the same thing using a plastic milk jug.

I'm sure there are a lot more ways to do this, but these were some I've either seen, used, or read about.

-Karen