I love houseplants. My husband and I love houseplants so much we built a special room to hold all of them when we designed our house. Ironically, we only love houseplants that don’t require lots of constant attention. To survive in our house, you have to be a fairly drought-tolerant plant! However, I do have an indoor blueberry bush and a dwarf lemon tree
that do better if they have a bit more water.
It was while dining at a local Mexican restaurant that I saw a great idea for providing water between our “once every one to two weeks” regular waterings. They had used wine bottles shoved into the dirt to provide a slow drip of water. My husband was skeptical, he said it would gush out and be gone in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, wanted to try it because it looked cool and I had a container of old wine bottles I had been saving for a reuse project at some point.
I used a regular-sized bottle in my blueberry bush and simply filled it with water and flipped it upside down quickly and shoved the bottle neck into the dirt. Then I timed how long it took for it to empty out. My timing told me it took somewhere between 6 and 8 hours for it to completely empty into fairly dry soil, which was a nice slow drip. So, now I fill a couple of attractive wine bottles with water when I think of it between waterings and let them drip into my two water-needy plants.
21 comments so far:
Good idea and if you didn’t like the label on the bottle, you could soak it overnight first to remove the label.
actually, then make a thing called the add a bottle nanny and you’re supposed to put that on the top of the wine bottle before putting it in the dirt and it should take a week or so depending on the plant before it drains (like aqua globes)
Jess, I think I found what you’re talking about. The Add-A-Bottle Plant Nanny Stakes
go into the dirt and hold a bottle. Thanks for sharing that with us!
or, drill a hole all the way through the cork that came with the bottle and stick it back in. should slow the drip considerably. i haven’t tried it yet, but i might, as soon as it is safe to put my plants back outside [it's freezing here]
Thanks so much for these great ideas! I have several very nice cobalt blue wine bottles I’ve saved and now I know exactly what I am going to use them for!!
I just stuck one in a planter a couple days ago and it’s only about half empty. No water nanny or anything.
You could put a drop or two of liquid fertizer in the bottle on occassion as well to give the plant a little boost. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
I wonder if a baloon with a few holes would slow down the process.
That’s a great idea, Pascual. I bet it would work.
I just shoved a wine bottle in my 30 gallon bucket of baby plants that I’ll be reorganizing into hanging containers this weekend.
after reading a super confusing self watering system involving a water bottle, straw, and a sponge – but no idea how to put it together and no desire to try and make a water tight lid-straw attachment (straws aren’t all that durable and i sense a lot of replacing there) I’m going to combine the two and test the distribution rate.
exp. 1 – happening now. rate of water with plain old wine bottle
exp 2 – after dinner tonight when I’ll have another wine bottle…lol. cut up a sponge and shove it in the neck with maybe an inch sticking out….shove in dirt.
potential experiment 3 – the drilling a hole in the cork and replacing it idea……but I’m going to need someone with better luck drilling through cork.
Sounds interesting, Kelly. Can’t wait to hear how your experiments come out!
Try shoving the bottle ‘straight’ down in the dirt and not on a slant. That will slow the water down–possibly for the week. I have been doing this for years in my outside garden when I leave for an extended number of days.
Thanks for the tip, Debbie!
Ok what am I doing wrong. I filled the wine bottle and placed it in at an angle and it was empty in less than 3 mins. I have a friend that did it and itbworked. Help please.
Maybe the bottle was at too much of an angle?
Melmw77, a couple things:
Your bottle needs a cap with a smaller hole
Very slight angle, nearly perpendicular to the ground
Your soil should be damp to begin with so the soil does not pull the water out right away. The soil pulls water like a paper towel does
also, don’t use this on plants that like to stay dry
Hope this helps!
Try filling the bottle partly with marbles from the Dollar Store – that’s what I do. The more marbles you put in, the slower the drip will be. Also, if you can’t find marbles, I’ve also used the very small glass “gems” from the Dollar Store that look like flat marbles. If it’ll fit in the neck of the bottle, you can use it!
Great idea, Julie. Thanks so much for sharing with everyone!
I work at a wine bar so I get tons of wine bottles. I used the wine bottles that have screw caps rather than the corked wine bottles. I punched two holes with a ice pick (or you could use a hammer and nail) on the top of the cap and screwed the cap back on. Just thought of it so I am not sure of the results yet. My goal is to have the water last for a week.
Also, if you are in need of wine bottles go to your local bar or restaurant and see if an employee is willing to save you some wine bottles. I have worked in restaurants for years and I have had people on many occassions ask for me to save them wine bottles. I am very happy to do so as I am very much into recycling and preferably reusing. Go green!!
Thanks for the tip about approaching a restaurant, Heidi. It’s great that you’re willing to save bottles for folks who want to recycle them. Let us know how the holes in the cap work out.
Another option I saw at a restaurant was to take a coffee filter and rubber band it to the top of the bottle, along with the glass beads mentioned earlier, that seemed to slow the water down a lot