ackeiyword wrote:
In my bid to promote self watering of my tomatoes I have filled a
couple of empty milk bottles, made a hole with a heated NEEDLE (so we
are talking about a tiny hole) underneath hoping that the water would
last at least a couple of days, and placed the bottle next to the
tomato plant...


The 6 pints bottle was empty after about three hours! What have I done
wrong? I did leave the lid on. Other suggestions?

You could try running a cotton string down from the bottle (down to the bottom)
to the soil (buryed a bit). Water would wick down the string. Increase the
string diameter to increase the water flow, and vice-versa.

Or, you could try using a commercial drip irrigation "dripper" and the
appropriate tube coming out of the bottom of the bottle (or, maybe even
siphoning from the top) and see how that works. You might have to raise the
bottle to get enough pressure.