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  • #1

    Tomato watering devices

    Have been looking at those ringpot things that have a 4 pint capacity for liquid and wondering if I could make my own.

    I normally grow tomatoes in big pots filled from a growbag - so I was thinking of finding a container that I could drill lots of little tiny holes in to sink into the soil. I could then pour water into this and it'd slowly leak out...


    My OH thinks I'm slightly insane for considering this though.
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  • #2
    What about a plastic bottle or milk container? Cut the bottom off and upend it, without the cap of course!

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    • #3
      I have been looking into this myself as the allotments a little out of the way from where I am living now wiht the missus.

      I was looking at them "Big Drippa" things

      anyone got any recommendations ?

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      • #4
        I've never tried it, but isn't a tactic to get 2 litre bottle, put a tiny hole in the lid, chop the bottom off and place it lid-with-hole end first into the soil? This then slowly drips into the soil.
        Garden Grower
        Twitter: @JacobMHowe

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        • #5
          I have made a half dozen of these for the greenhouse.

          how to make self watering garden planters for container gardening.mp4 - YouTube
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          • #6
            Hi BM. I've looked at the first few minutes of your video so many times and then given up as the tools bit is too technical for me! BUT my main question is - "What do you use as a wicking cup?"

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            • #7
              Soaker pots for me every time. Very reliable! Iv'e tried the dripper thingys and the got blocked every time. The soaker pots are easy to make. A large unglazed terracotta pot with the drainage hole blocked sunk in the ground and covered, mine are 12inch pots and only need filling every 4-5 days.
              Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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              • #8
                Thanks Roitelet! Just within my range of skills I'll stick some in the greenhouse beds
                ready for tomato time.

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                • #9
                  I'll be using my homemade 'Single Grow' buckets for growing my toms in this year.

                  I've based the design on Greenhouse Sensations Quadgrow which I used last year. Basically the only problem I had with the normal quadgrow was that the pots were too close together for my tomato plants to grow without tangling with each other - especially in my small 4' * 4' greenhouse so I thought I'd build 'single' grows so I could space them out to fit the area better.

                  For each 'single' grow you need 2 stackable buckets with 1 lid (I used 10litre buckets). and a length of pipe.



                  One bucket will be the water tank - I've drilled a couple of holes at rim height that will allow water to overflow so I know when the bucket is full.



                  The lid goes on this bucket. 2 holes in the lid - the one in the middle is for the capillary wick and the one at the edge is for the watering pipe.



                  The 2nd bucket, which will hold the soil and the plant, needs a matching set of holes for the capillary wick and watering pipe as well as some small draining holes.



                  The 2nd bucket then sits on the lid of the 1st bucket.

                  (Continued in next post as I could only put 4 photos in one post!)

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                  • #10


                    The pipe needs to wide enough so you can water through it without too much problem, and longer than the height of the 2 stacked buckets. I've also cut the bottom end of the pipe at an angle to help the flow of the water as it comes out.



                    Pop the pipe through the holes in the buckets put a capillary matting wick through the middle hole, fill with soil and there you have it!

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by roitelet View Post
                      Soaker pots for me every time. Very reliable! Iv'e tried the dripper thingys and the got blocked every time. The soaker pots are easy to make. A large unglazed terracotta pot with the drainage hole blocked sunk in the ground and covered, mine are 12inch pots and only need filling every 4-5 days.
                      Just bought 3, 10" diameter, 9" high unglazed pots in Morrisons for £1 each and will set them up in the greenhouse tomorrow, with a cork in the hole.
                      Thought I'd put a plastic shower cap (the free ones from hotels) over the top to stop evaporation.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                        Just bought 3, 10" diameter, 9" high unglazed pots in Morrisons for £1 each and will set them up in the greenhouse tomorrow, with a cork in the hole.
                        Thought I'd put a plastic shower cap (the free ones from hotels) over the top to stop evaporation.
                        They sound cheap pots! I will have to look how much they are in ours!

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by alldigging View Post
                          They sound cheap pots! I will have to look how much they are in ours!
                          Check for cracks! Quite a few were damaged.

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                          • #14
                            If is raining would the tomato get waterlogged? I know terracotta pots are permeable but if is full of water how long the excess of water will go in the soil?

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Sarico View Post
                              If is raining would the tomato get waterlogged? I know terracotta pots are permeable but if is full of water how long the excess of water will go in the soil?
                              Never had a problem with waterlogging and I have been using them for several years. The water only seeps out very slowly.
                              Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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