this is a self watering kit that fits inside your containers.
go to www.gardeners.com and type in the following 34-507rs
check this out at gardeners supply corp
$16.95 seems like profiteering to me. You could make that yourself for ~$5 with a filter basket from an aquarium shop and some PVC.
But I guess if you really like clay pots instead of EarthBoxes, then that might be a good solution.
feldon - you are probably right but when you use a stapler as a hammer and you can carry all your tool in your back pocket then its easier to buy things. LOL. not that i bought it myself.
Has anyone actually tried these self watering concepts where the only means the water has of wicking upward is by evaporating? I find it hard to imagine it would be able to wick up via evaporation from the bottom of the pot than a plant can use it, particularly outside in the summer.
It's not evaporation. The roots grow down into the water.
Feldon,
The ad blurb for this product says ..."The soil will be moistened through evaporative action from the reservoir below."
If the only means the plant has of getting water is growing through dry potting mix and then sitting in water that would be incredibly unhealthy for the plant. I have seen other products calling themselves SWC and the rely upon evaporation as well.
I can't imagine it actually works. I would love to hear from someone that has tried such a container as to what their experience has been.
I think earth box and some knock off's are worthwhile. But I also think lots of the self-watering stuff is more sales gimmick than effective. An automated watering system of 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch tubing is probably cheaper and more effective in the long run. Or just sit a pot in a shallow pool of water and let it suck up the water it needs. Here is an interesting thread of a system: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/926516/
I have several self watering boxes bought at Gardener's Supply as well as another source. They are just barely "OK" They have no drainage and a few times when we had heavy rain storms, the boxes were flooded, the plants floating on the top.Trying to tip them over to drain them was a real back breaking mess. There is mold growing on the sides of some of them too. I also have about 7 Earth Boxes, no problems with them, they work perfectly, the plants do better and they are movable, since they have casters. It took me a season or two the really see the light, since the other boxes are larger, I thought I was getting a better deal, but I plan to phase out the GS boxes and stick with Earth Boxes.
Here is what I think is the best bargain in the gardening world for new gardeners........or even old gardeners wonting to experiment with coir grow mix. The price is right and the simple watering system and the whole garden can be expanded with very little more expense.
http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=9&productId=5
I have 20 container stacks (www.theezgro.com) with 320 plant sites with plants growing. I water them all at the same time by simply turning on a faucet. Water is delivered to the stacks by 1/4 inch tubing. I have an automatic timer to control the watering system but will not install it untill warmer weather becomes more consistent. Our erratic spring weather and rain doesn't call for a regular watering schedule at this time.
You can buy a gizmo to screw onto your faucet that is a combination pressure regulator, filter and adapter.......adapts from the faucet down to a 1/4 inch line. The gizmo cost about $8 at the big box stores and the 1/4 inch line and fittings are cheap. It can sure take a lot of the work out of gardening and in my humble opinion is much better (not to mention cheaper) than some of the out of the ballpark figures charged for "Self-watering" containers. Yourself is the self in all watering systems anyway. You can take your self out to the garden to pour water in the SW containers or take your self out to the garden to turn on a faucet. Or put in an automatic timed system and sit back and enjoy another mint julep.
In the attached photo, the little 1/4 inch line waters all 16 plants in a 4 pot stack of stacked containers.
Roseone,
I am not sure which Gardener Supply container you have that has no overflow, but I have some of their planters that are sold with their tomato success kit. Those do have overflows, but they are shipped 'sealed'. Possibly that is the case with yours, I am not sure. With the TSK planters they have, for lack of a better way to describe it, "spikes" on the inside bottom of the container. One has to take a pliers and twist the tip off to make holes in them. Then water above a certain level will spill into those and drain out the bottom of the container.
I suspect many folks who ordered these containers have no overflow as they didn't notice what had to be done. EBs, the overflow is much more sensible.
Justaguy, I could have easily missed the spikes, probably did. I have a good opinion of GSC, having bought many high quality products from them, and will continue to do so as needed. Guess I just got carried away with my less than stellar experience with their self watering grow boxes. That being said, the Earth Boxes are, in my opinion, a superior design. And I bought my grow boxes from Gardener's Supply the first time they were offered in their catalog; they may have since improved the design. And some gardeners may be interested in taking advantage of the different styles and colors they now offer. I'm just a basic gardener, not as interested in style as performance. My main growing is done in a field, the deck planters are extras that are easy and fun and great for cukes, a salad tomato, herbs etc. They also produce fast and early in the spring long before I can harvest anything out of the ground.
Apologies for my long winded comment and thanks for the heads up about the spikes.
Well, I absolutely love my Earthboxes. They are the best for tomato growing. It's impossible to overwater them, and the cover keeps evaporation down, also it keeps weeds and chipmunks out of the dirt.
I have one of those self-watering conversion kits from Gardener's Supply. However, I don't use the reservoir. I plugged the drain hole in the container I was converting with a rubber stopper and drilled an overflow drain hole in the side of the (plastic that looks like terra cotta) container. For way less than $16.95, I could have rigged up something with a piece of screen or fencing material and some PVC pipe. That is exactly what I did to convert another pot, but I need a better idea for the divider between water reservoir and potting soil. It needs enough, and large enough, holes to allow the water to wick up through the soil without letting the soil fall into the water reservoir and clog it. That will involve drilling a bunch of holes in a piece of plastic that is heavy enough to support wet potting soil and plant roots.