Getting to grips with irrigation

[Shoot Five]

Ok, another newbie question from me.

I've been using the search feature (& googling blogs etc) for ideas of irrigation systems for my container veg garden (still in the planning stages).

I've seen a lot of sites and posts suggesting different types of sub-irrigation which I am interested in such as using two stacking pots and a "wicking" system and a little more simple, burying half an upturned plastic bottle as a watering funnel.

So my question is this! Instead of using a cut off bottle as a funnel to get water to the roots, would it be feasible to completely bury the bottle (punctured with a few drip-holes of course), with a pipe connected and fill it that way.

The advantages (as far as I can see) would be that:

> It looks nicer (a little hose poking out to be filled with a funnel, rather than the top of a coke-bottle funnel which may be 3-4" across)
> The water cannot evaporate in the heat and has to go to the soil and roots.

Would this be preferable over a funnel to the roots? It would be more fiddly, but less expensive and difficult than knocking up a dozen wicking-systems.

I'm thinking 10 or 15 litre "mop buckets" from poundland with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage as my containers, each with a 2pint milk bottle/small coke bottle in the bottom, filled by 18" of hose.

If I haven't explained I'll upload a sketch of some description to illustrate my question!

THANK YOU to everyone in advance.

[chris]

Potstubsdustbins has built a couple I believe...

I just went with an auto-watering system

[Shoot Five]

I'd like to keep it cheap and DIY ideally; though obviously I do want something that works well (which I may or may not be able to achieve on the cheap!)

[Potstubsdustbins]

I built one last year out of 10 ltr plastic containers (free) and aquarium air line tube, cheap as chips.

It took a while to get the balance right to obtain the correct flow of water but in the end it worked quite well.

A friend of mine is pondering doing something similar this year but using 45 gallon plastic barrels as his reservoir.

Colin

[Shoot Five]

I built one last year out of 10 ltr plastic containers (free) and aquarium air line tube, cheap as chips.

It took a while to get the balance right to obtain the correct flow of water but in the end it worked quite well.

A friend of mine is pondering doing something similar this year but using 45 gallon plastic barrels as his reservoir.

Colin

That's all the encouragement I need to have a go. I'm thinking reasonably small containers (10-15l, maybe for tomatoes etc), with possibly a 2 pint reservoir.

Hopefully I can source the materials free though I may need to buy the containers.

Thanks

[Potstubsdustbins]

The plastic containers I used were old 10 ltr detergent bottles from SWMBO's workplace. The only problem was finding out how high to have the container to get the correct flow of water. I did this by allowing the thing to drip in to a measured bottle over a given period. I tried mini valves to regulate the flow but the amount of water needed was so small that failed. Ended up which just a pinhole in the plastic and the bottle just a few inches above the outlet.

Colin

[Two_Sheds]

rather than the top of a coke-bottle funnel which may be 3-4" across

Once the foliage has grown a bit, you can't see the Coke bottles - and of course they're clear too, which helps with their camouflage