Topic: Home Made Drip System

[shambasarfi]

My partner and I have just acquired a 5 pole allotment and have just planted our beans today.

I've been surfing the Net for automatic watering systems, which 1. are very expensive and 2. would not be a good idea on a public allotment.  I therefore want to experiment with those large soda bottles and a long piece of string going from a hole in the bottom of the bottle to make a drip system (which I have tried for balcony plants in Cyprus before), and wonder whether anybody else has tried this and had any success, or have another, better idea they can tell me about?

[shambasarfi]

I've been experimenting at home with various containers and have now settled on the plastic milk bottles as you can prick them easily with a needle or a pin.  All you need is a button or a washer, a length of strong cotton and the milk bottle (I am using a 2 pinter but hope to progress to a bigger one).

Since gravity always wins the only way a drip will go is downwards.  I tried making a hole on the side of a bottle, thinking I could train the drip to run down the slanted thread but it doesn't work.

• So make a tiny pin hole on the bottom of the bottle on the opposite side to the handle (as this is where you will tie it onto an upright).
• Thread a single thread through using a fine needle and a knitting needle or stick to tease it through. (I bought some extra strong cotton from a sewing shop), pull it up through the neck of the bottle so that you can tie the button or washer on to the end threaded through and then draw it back down again until the button is almost flush against the small hole.
• You'll need to determine how long to have the thread, depending on where you are going to tie it.
• After you've tied it up where you want it, you have to tie the other end of the thread on to a stick or wire and poke this into the ground so that the thread is taut.
• Fill the bottle with water and then train the drips to run down the thread by wetting it, as drips will only run down pre-dampened thread.

Don't be tempted, as I was, to use some thick thread as all that happens is the water literally pours out and runs out in about 10 minutes.  On our plot we have 3 metal uprights already erected to grow beans on.  Yesterday I tied 3 bottles up - one at either end and one in the middle.

I am hoping that this will enable us to only have to water every other day instead of every day but I think I might have to use 6 pint bottles instead of only 2 pints to achieve this.  Of course it only waters where it drips to, but I am hoping that the dampness will spread if the ground is dry.

If it doesn't work at all, well I've had a good laugh trying!!

[star]

I like the idea of what you have done with your system Sham, keep us posted as to how it has worked. Its all about trying things isnt it :D :D ;)

[STEVEB]

not sure about your typing skills but by the time id typed that i could have gone down and watered..LOL  :P
I tried the upended pop bottle but it just ran out in secs

[shambasarfi]

I didn't say I used a pop bottle!!