Watering Spikes

[bradlo]

I have been thinking ahead (!!!!) and wondering what you knowledgeable folk think about the old plastic pop bottles and watering spikes as an aid to watering in the greenhouse? The on line review range from "excellent" to "Waste of time" and all points in-between !!!!!!
So.... your thoughts/advice????
Cheers!!!!

[tamsin]

I use pop bottles (lid off, bottom cut off, inverted and half buried) but not with spikes. I put them in my hanging baskets and tomato buckets and next to other odds and ends in the border. It means you can direct all the water to the roots, rather than have it sitting on the surface to evaporate. Also holds more and empties that bit slower you don't have to refil saucers etc if the soil is very dry.

[Kleftiwallah]

I drill a few 1/8" holes in the cap, cut a 1 1/2" hole in the bottom (to maintain the bottle stiffness), stick it in the soil about half way down then withdraw about a third of that so there is a small void below the cap. Easy Peasy. Cheers, Tony.

[taff]

wouldnt bother with the spikes, put the lid on the bottle, drill a couple of tiny holes, it'll drip automatically out of the.
I suppose good if you can't water for a few days but not much good for long term no watering.

[Storming Norman]

I've done this in the past but am trying the spikes for the first time this year.

Maybe I'm a clumsy waterer but the bottle falls over and once it's done that its impossible to keep it upright again, I'm hoping the spikes will offer stability. Also it difficult to keep the flow rate slow enough.

When I bought them them garden centre staff suggested stuffing a bit of capillary matting in the spike to slow down the rate of flow to a drip. Not a bad idea.

[tamsin]

Maybe I'm a clumsy waterer but the bottle falls over and once it's done that its impossible to keep it upright again, I'm hoping the spikes will offer stability. Also it difficult to keep the flow rate slow enough.

You need to bury them a bit more About 1/3 - 1/2 of my bottles sits below the soil surface - no way for them to fall over. If you don't fancy burying them that deep, you can stick a stick/cane down through them to hold um upright.