[Aidy]

came across a youtube vid showing a drip system made from plastic pop bottles and thought, ermm theres a thought.
Photo 1 is the how they did it.
Photo 2 is the modded version, with this I have more control on where the drip is landing.

It work really well and simple to make.
1. put a hole or two into the bottle
2. cut a cross in the middle of the bottle, this is so can fill it when empty.
3. I have found wool drags the water really well, by taking a strand of the length this reduces the drip rate.
4. Glue a piece of wire tie to the bottle, wrap the wool around the top and fasten.
You can see how it is just from the photo.

[Growster...]

came across a youtube vid showing a drip system made from plastic pop bottles and thought, ermm theres a thought.
Photo 1 is the how they did it.
Photo 2 is the modded version, with this I have more control on where the drip is landing.

It work really well and simple to make.
1. put a hole or two into the bottle
2. cut a cross in the middle of the bottle, this is so can fill it when empty.
3. I have found wool drags the water really well, by taking a strand of the length this reduces the drip rate.
4. Glue a piece of wire tie to the bottle, wrap the wool around the top and fasten.
You can see how it is just from the photo.

Trickle irrigation at its best Aidy!

Excellent idea!

[Aidy]

Tried various different strings and wool and the wool appears to be the most consistant. I did a mark three version by hot glueing a piece of irrigation pipe to the bottle and used a drip feeder (see photo) this worked really well for about 4 hours but then the drip started to slow so I am thinking the water pressure only has to drop a tad for it not to work!

[Carlh80]

So will using wool mean it keeps working? Do you need to change the wool after a set time?

[Aidy]

Carlh80
No keep the wool in place.
So an update....
The mark1 (original you tube vid) version has performed the best. It carried on dripping roughly the same rate over the three days and the bottle still had some water left.
The wool (mk2) after a day started to slow down and by day 3 stoppped dripping
I have now set up other bottles using 4mm polypropylene rope roughly the same as the mk1 version.
I am using them on the sweet basil and italian parsley plants and you can now see the damp area around the base of the plants.

[Plot 1 Problems]

Keep us updated Aidy, I for one am really interested in this experiment.

[Aidy]

Keep us updated Aidy, I for one am really interested in this experiment.

Will do.
Just a further note as I am on the laptop and easier to type! I used some hot melt glue and glued a wire from the hole so I can control the rope end to position it where I want it to drip. The rope I bought from toolstation for under £4 for 30m so working out to be pretty cheap.

I have this morning made some smaller 1ltr bottle drippers for the pots with peppers, tomatillo and cape gooseberrys in. This again is very simple, you need the thin walled water bottles and all you do is put a hole in the lid, now the hole needs to be tiny so I stripped a piece of plastic twist wire tie and heated the wire to make the hole, create a hole to fit the bottle lid in the compost and put it a small piece of kitchen paper then plonk your bottle (lid first) onto the paper and back fill, they reckon this will last around three days also.

Another thought on these methods is to drip feed the plants so they get a small amount per day.

Edit: see photos for the pot dripper...

[Growster...]

Brilliant, Aidy!

I've placed an order for twenty-four 2 litre bottles of strong cider from the local, as I need those bottles like crazy!

Of course, I'll need to wake up first...!

That system you have designed is just perfect! Can I be your agent?

Growstaidy Ltd, or better still, Aidyster Inc, has a certain 'ring' to it...:0)

[Mr Dog]

Just something to keep an eye on with the pepper drippers is watch out for the roots building up around the dripper. Using something similar in the past I found I had to move it at regular intervals to prevent the roots forming a fairly solid mat around the dripper which eventually stopped the water flow - I used a regime of moving it at least once a week to prevent it happening. Other than that they worked pretty well and kept plants alive and happy if we were away for a few days.

[Aidy]

Just something to keep an eye on with the pepper drippers is watch out for the roots building up around the dripper. Using something similar in the past I found I had to move it at regular intervals to prevent the roots forming a fairly solid mat around the dripper which eventually stopped the water flow - I used a regime of moving it at least once a week to prevent it happening. Other than that they worked pretty well and kept plants alive and happy if we were away for a few days.

Cheers for that, great info.