Like all living beings, plants depend on a regular and sufficient supply of water. This applies in particular to balcony and potted plants, since in an emergency they cannot take care of themselves via their root system. Watering in the morning and often in the evening during the hot summer months is therefore essential. Automatic irrigation can support you and relieve you of a lot of work - and also let you go on vacation without any neighbors or friends to help.

Bottles make a great watering system

DIY watering with bottles and other tools

The most cost-effective are simple systems in which you put the water reservoir directly into the substrate of the potted plants and these gradually release the precious water to the roots. For this you can use plain PET or glass bottles with solid walls (important! Bottles with flexible walls will not work!), which you fill with water and then simply stick upside down into the already pre-watered substrate. So that not too much water runs out at once, you can leave the cap on the bottle, but of course you have to perforate it. Instead, screw-on irrigation cones made of clay or plastic can also be used, which also reduce the water discharge. Irrigation balls, which are usually made of glass or clay, work according to a similar functional principle.

The bathtub principle

If you have a lot of smaller pots on your balcony that need to be taken care of during a short absence, you can put them in the bathtub, which is lined with thick towels and filled with water about five centimeters high, without a planter. If you don't have a bathtub, a paddling pool or other sufficiently large container will serve the same purpose. Instead of towels, you can also bed the pots in plant granules (e.g. Perlite) and moisten them with water. The granules store a lot of water and at the same time offer the advantage that the roots of the plants are not directly wet. However, be careful not to place the plants in direct sunlight. Instead, they should be shaded so that less water is used.

Make drip irrigation for the balcony yourself

A permanent solution, on the other hand, is a self-made drip irrigation system that works without an extra power or water connection. All you need is a sufficiently large water tank (at least 300 liters capacity), commercially available garden hoses that can be connected to one another and the appropriate irrigation cones (e.g. from Blumat). And this is how you build the system:

  • Install the water tank at a higher level than the plants to be watered
  • Ideally, it is about 50 to 100 centimeters higher than the planters.
  • If possible, use a water butt with a water connection at the bottom.
  • Connect the garden hose here.
  • Connect the individual hoses together so that each planter has its own.
  • Prepare the irrigation cones as described in the instructions.
  • Insert them into the substrate and connect the hoses.

If the system is running smoothly, all you have to do is refill the water reservoir regularly.

tips

Even submersible pumps do not only work with an external power connection. Instead, you can also use solar or battery-powered variants.

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Care tips