Are you on vacation for a few days and neither neighbors, friends nor family have time to water your plants on the balcony? No problem, because with this self-made irrigation system you can easily bridge a few days. All you need is a solid PET or glass bottle.
There are different ways to use PET bottles for irrigation
Proper watering with PET bottles - a guide
In many forums you can read complicated instructions for watering flower boxes with a plastic bottle: the bottom should be cut off, the neck of the bottle should be pierced and the lid must remain screwed on. Others advise leaving the bottom on the bottle (it's better too, because you can get the deposit back afterwards) and just puncture it instead. The system works wonderfully without any cutting or puncturing:
- First, water your plants as usual.
- Water them deeply so that the soil is thoroughly moistened.
- Unscrew the cap from a PET or glass bottle.
- Take a 1.5 liter solid wall bottle.
- You can also use two to three bottles for window boxes and large pots.
- Fill them completely with water.
- Insert the bottle upside down (neck down) deeply into the substrate.
- Be careful not to damage roots.
Wait a little first: If the substrate was not moist enough, the bottle often empties within a few minutes. In that case, just fill them up again and put them back in.
What am I doing wrong if the bottle empties too quickly?
If the bottle keeps emptying over a short period of time, you are probably using the wrong type: PET bottles with thin, soft walls are unsuitable for this purpose. They purr together too quickly and release the water unhindered into the planter. Instead, use PET bottles with thick, stable walls or even glass bottles. However, caution should be exercised with the latter: in very sunny and hot locations, glass acts like a magnifying glass and can cause fires. Therefore, always install such bottles where there is no direct sunlight.
Are bottle tops worth buying?
Various manufacturers offer so-called watering attachments made of plastic or clay that fit all common plastic bottles and are intended to perfect the water release. You can save yourself plastic attachments, as experience has shown that they do not work better than bottles without any attachment. Clay attachments, on the other hand, are highly recommended as they release the water reliably and continuously. However, you have to puncture the bottom of the bottle if you use such an attachment.
tips
Watering the plants also works very well with a bucket of water and a thick piece of string (preferably cotton). To do this, put one end of the string in the water bucket and one in the flower pot.