Monday, September 10, 2018

Automatic Watering System

Magic Love Crow reminded me about a picture she saw with a plastic soda bottle in one of the outdoor planters. She had wondered what it was used for.

Before leaving for our trip to visit the Eldest, I was looking for a way to keep plants watered since we would be gone for so long. In a catalog, I came across these plastic, orange plant minders.  They could be attached to any size soda bottle. Fill the bottle, attach the cone, insert into the soil, and your plant would draw the water as needed.  Sounded good in theory.


There were 3 holes in the cone. One at the tip and two on the sides about an inch from the bottom. Insert the tip into the plant and it would draw water as needed, but what actually happened was the water in the bottle drained instantly. Not ideal to keep plants watered while one is away. I duct taping the holes on the side of the cone, but the water still drained quickly from the bottom


So, it was good in theory and probably why the set of 6 cones was on sale at a really cheap price.

20 comments:

  1. I've seen these and wondered if they worked. Guess better to leave them on sale. Happy new week. Hugs-Erika

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, that was my thought. Good thing they were really cheap, too

      Delete
    2. Yeah most things like that are less than perfect! Pants can be very thirsty and drink too much!!bought a brunch of the glass balls with long thing neck which are supposed to do the same thing, however instead of running out to fast they get full of soil and never do their job! fortunately I got them cheap so I'll find something else for them to do as just decoration!!!!!! Vona

      Delete
  2. Pity it didn't work well. Have a great day, Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  3. what about those glass watering bulbs? have you ever tried those?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The glass bulbs are small meant for indoor plants. I wanted something that would take care of the plants outside.

      Delete
  4. Well....as the saying goes, "You get what you pay for"... :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh no! What a shame it does not actually work ... would have been pretty cool idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a really good idea just the application and materials needs to be improved

      Delete
  6. I've seen systems like this but never tried one. Thanks for testing it out to save us the pain... I hope your plants survived despite the Product Fail :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They did because Ihad my friend, Red, stop by to check the house and water the morning glories if needed

      Delete
    2. Good friends :) I'm glad you had a back-up plan.

      Delete
  7. I saw a different idea I had planned to use back in April for my 22 days of recycling. However, since NONE of my plants lived, I had no way of testing it. You simply take your plastic bottle, prick a SMALL hole on either side of the bottle near the top. Fill with water, add the lid then bury the bottle in the ground upside down slightly past those tiny pricks. No need to buy anything, because you have the bottle, and a nail will suffice for the prick. A low tech solution from your low tech friend, dear princess CJ. Sorry your solution didn't work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tried that too and the water drained too quickly. I punched a hole with a push pin from a bulletin board

      Delete
  8. Dang. That would have been great if it had worked.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for explaining CJ! That is too bad it didn't work. Sounded like a great idea!!

    ReplyDelete