Vacation Watering

I'd like to find out how folks are watering their container plants while on vacation? I'm trying a wicking set-up with a gallon jug and that seems to be doing fine. I can't do that with all of the plants.

I bought some cones that attach to plastic bottles and are supposed to seep into the soil from the holes I drilled in the cone's stem. See picture below. However what happens is that the entire bottle drains into the plant at once. Should I have drilled a hole in only one side of the cone?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

It depends on how long you are going to be away and the number of containers. Kiddie pools are something I used in the past when I didn't have many plants but it's hard to beat a micro drip or mist system with a timer. Micro irrigation systems are fairly inexpensive, easy to set up, and very efficient. Timers aren't that expensive either but are confusing to set up the first time.

The bottle will drain in a day easily. I put cotton balls in the point to slow the water down.

I'm going to try the cotton balls and see if that slows it down enough. Thanks for the tip.

There is a similar product called Aqua Spikes. Their instructions say to stuff the cone with paper towels. I folded a paper towel in half diagonally, rolled it up along the long, folded side, and folded the roll in half. It filled most of the cone (I stuffed it tightly into the point) and once it was wet it let the water out drip by drip. I then tried the same thing with my older Gardeners Supply Aqua Cones (is that the name?) and it worked for them too. Liked it better than the sand the Gardeners Supply instructions said to use.

Paper towels were actually the second choice in the Aqua Spikes directions. The first choice they advised was their "Aqua Rocks," which I assume are water absorbing crystals. Of course, they want you to buy their product instead of using paper towels or cotton.

My question to all of you is: Did the cones successfully keep your plants' soil moist?

NisiNJ

This message was edited Jun 16, 2008 2:16 AM

Oh, dear, I've had a sneaking suspicion that I was a thread-killer. I'll try another question.

GailDelaware, in your original post you said you were trying a wicking system. What material do you use for the wick?

NisiNJ

Where did you buy your cones for the plastic bottles?

Aqua Cones:

http://www.gardeners.com/Aqua%20Cones/VegetableGardening_TerrificTomatoes,18034,default,cp.html


Aqua Spikes:

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=6326&cid=ppp000650

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 8:38 PM