Quote:
Originally Posted by the999bbq
hi guys,
Problem with all bottle-type watering devices is that the opening(s) is/are going to get stuck with dirt over some time (it's going to happen, you just don't know when and than we try to delay this moment by stuffing permeable things into the holes).
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I often plant a one-gallon plastic-milk (washed) / water-jugs along the sides of tomato plants. They stick out of the soil by just the top
"shoulders" if you can call it by that word; leaving enough room to place water into the top hole with a narrow tipped watering can or the hose. I put 3 holes with a pin-(turkey type, that is used for the turkeys during the Holidays) along the edge that faces the root system and let the water drip slowly into the roots.
For this use; make small pin holes.
If it's too hot out; and they need more watering... I just slash a pencil sized hole into the bottom of the jug, stick a thin bamboo stake through the opened top, into the slashed opening at the bottom going in the jug diagonally, and jam the stake into the ground near the plant. Fill as needed. Not good for looks, unless you feel like decorating them; but good for the plants' sake.
My Mother taught me to drill a hole into the cap of a 2 or 3 liter pop bottle, stick in an old shoe lace, a piece of old denim material or a candle wick through the drilled hole (backwards so it looks like a tail coming out of it, rather than into it.) Tie a knot with the material
inside of the pop bottle cap, screw the cap back on the bottle with the "tail" sticking out of the bottle and use it as a water-wicking device. You leave ten inches of cotton cloth sticking out to bury it into the soil or pot. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, then invert it into the bottle, then remove inverted bottom for easy filling. Plant this next plant in the soil. Water as necessary.