Soda Bottle Slow-Drip Irrigation

[SweetMissDaisy]

Have a wonderful evening!
Will look forward to hearing more about your current setup.

 

[rebbetzin]

Have a wonderful evening!
Will look forward to hearing more about your current setup.

OK... here goes.

This is the top of the Absolute bottle I was trying to explain.

It appears to help keep the dirt from clogging the opening.

This is the Sabra Bottle, it has a good neck for getting down to the roots of a plant. (The chickens are curious as to what I am doing)

Here are some photos around the garden with the bottles in place

First my mini rose bed by the back door. These are Sabra Bottles From the front you can't even see the bottles...

But here in the back you can see them.

This is my Honeysuckle that is just starting to leaf out again.

This is a Cleavlandi Sage plant with a Sabra Bottle.

This is a Stevia Plant with an Absolute bottle.

The goal is to have a bottle at the base of all plants that do better with a moister soil.

That means my husband has to drink a lot of Vodka!!

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Thank you so MUCH for taking time to post photos! This was incredibly helpful!
And I LOVED your comment about DH needing to drink lots of vodka... hahaa!!

I haven't decided what I'll do yet -- set the bottles on the surface w/ a partial burial like you've done, or bury them completely. I'm thinking I like the partial burial method, like you've done, which will allow more room in the raised beds for ROOTS to grow...

 

[vfem]

I have a couple of those aqua cones we use, I find I like them over long hot periods... but they are a pain any other time. :/

 

[Smiles Jr.]

During our dry season I simply use 1 gal. milk bottles. I use an ice pick to poke two or sometimes three holes in the flat bottom of the bottles and one hole in the little cap. I use the neck of the bottles to fill them and I replace the cap to keep debris and mosquitoes out. I simply set the bottle near the plant and allow it to slowly drain into the soil. This works very well for me. I have even used old 5 gal. drywall buckets with one hole in the bottom and one hole in the lid. The buckets are soooo much easier to fill and last much longer.

Tip: do not poke a hole in the lid. Poke a tiny hole in the side of the bucket near the top. This way you have not ruined the integrity of the lid for other uses.

I can see that there may be objections to the look of these bottles or buckets in a flower bed close to the house. This is where I would use the smaller clear plastic inverted bottles.

 

[hoodat]

The nice thing about the glass bottle is that they are sort of self regulating. When the soil is saturated they can't get air so they pull a vacuum and the water stays in them. When the soil dries out the air can get in so they let water out agin. Of couse that depends on your soil type. It probably wouldn't work that well in clay.