I'm looking at two products for next year to put in my outdoor pots:

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=5

-- For large pots, and

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=6

-- For the smaller ones.

I have a pretty big container garden, several dozen containers. I
don't have a problem watering every day, my main concern is keeping
the moisture level of the soil balanced so it isn't over watered and
it doesn't go dry.

My concerns about these a

1) Flooding when it rains. I think this might be solved by putting
about an inch of volcanic pebbles on the bottoms of the pots, then
setting the reservoir on top of that.

More importantly,

2) Buildup and concentration of fertilizer and minerals in the soil. I
like to use a liquid fertilizer, and I'm concerned that over the
months of the summer the fertilizer might become too concentrated in
the soil. Top watering and draining through the bottom washes out
buildups and impurities, so it seems that bottom watering through
what's essentially a bucket of water under the soil takes away this
element.

3) Seeds. I plant most of my seeds directly in the containers. For
some of my larger pots, will the water make it to the surface to keep
the seeds moist as they germinate?

4) Disease. Won't a bunch of water under the soil in a bucket
accumulate fungus, algae, and bacteria over the summer months?

For anyone who has used anything like these outdoors (I am in zone 5)
I'd appreciate hearing your experiences.

Pelvis Popcan wrote:

I'm looking at two products for next year to put in my outdoor pots:

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=5

-- For large pots, and

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=6

-- For the smaller ones.


I'm using several of the selfwatering containers from gardeners.com.
The first looks like it has a water level indicator similar to the
their Fiore selfwatering. I can tell you this is very unreliable in
determining when the reservoir is full. I started prodding and
pulling them to try and see if they were stuck. Invariably I would be
watering away and suddenly it pops from near empty to over maximum in
one second. I think the floating styrofoam gets caught down below and
suddenly rises.

I have a pretty big container garden, several dozen containers. I
don't have a problem watering every day, my main concern is keeping
the moisture level of the soil balanced so it isn't over watered and
it doesn't go dry.

My concerns about these a

1) Flooding when it rains. I think this might be solved by putting
about an inch of volcanic pebbles on the bottoms of the pots, then
setting the reservoir on top of that.
This confuses me. The water resrvoir is a contained vessel and will
hold a few quarts of water in it. To raise the reservoir up with rocks
won't prevent roots from growing down into the reservoir. DO these
pots have no drainage holes of their own? If the reservoir is over
full it should drain excess through regular drainage holes.

One concern on all S.W. is the growth of roots through the plastic
mesh and into the reservoir--letting them sit in water. I won't know
how bad this is till end of season when I intend to empty the
containers and check out how the S.W. influenced root growth and see
how many made their way down. I was thinking, if it is a problem,
maybe a layer of cheesecloth could prevent it.

More importantly,

2) Buildup and concentration of fertilizer and minerals in the soil. I
like to use a liquid fertilizer, and I'm concerned that over the
months of the summer the fertilizer might become too concentrated in
the soil. Top watering and draining through the bottom washes out
buildups and impurities, so it seems that bottom watering through
what's essentially a bucket of water under the soil takes away this
element.

3) Seeds. I plant most of my seeds directly in the containers. For
some of my larger pots, will the water make it to the surface to keep
the seeds moist as they germinate?
I top watered seeds since they have no roots to start with.

However, if the soil is dry the capillary action might not bring it
up. WHen the soil was moist to start with and I used bottom watering
(10" deep dirt, 2" reservoir) the top dirt never dried out. It is
important for the moisture to exist already and have it wick up more.
I've added dry dirt on top of existing SW and found it does not wick
up sufficiently--or at least did it slowly. But with moistened soil it
works great.

4) Disease. Won't a bunch of water under the soil in a bucket
accumulate fungus, algae, and bacteria over the summer months?

Don't know yet.
I can say my biggest problem has been fungus/mold on the top. Two of
my planters didn't have proper drainage. Each developed a white fungus
across the top. All the plants were hurt by this. Others developed
green dirt and I let the reservoir dry out before adding any more.

If anything I'd say the reservoir may keep it too moist. Unfortunately
I'm in the NE where we had two months of rain so it is difficult to
figure out how much was caused by using SW and how much was just too
wet too cold spring.

For anyone who has used anything like these outdoors (I am in zone 5)
I'd appreciate hearing your experiences.

I am growing minature pumpkin, a small patch of corn, potato, lettuce,
four kinds of pepper, snap peas, a tomato plant, herbs and flowers in
the SW containers. I didn't buy the kit to retrofit any older pots. I
can tell you all my plants got through the weeklong heat wave we had
and the only ones that wilted were ones in small pots (chiefly clay
pots). Corn is five feet high, Pumpkin has stretched out for 4 ft from
the container, the tomato suffered from the fungus, but is over 2'
tall and has first fruit. Two of the peppers are almost 2' high. DIll
is 2.5', snap peas produced, lettuce was good and didn't bolt during
the heatwave. All my flowers are growing despite that I crowded them.

Since this is my first year, I wanted the SW as an insurance policy. I
think it worked cause I've got a nice looking little garden. The only
problem is, in fact, overwatering.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

Thanks for the input! Helpful info.

What I meant by stones in the bottom was to just slightly raise the SW
reservoir up over the container's drainage hole. (Yes my pots have one
drainage hole in the center of the bottom.) That way the bottom of the
reservoir won't cover and block drainage.

Still worried about fertilizer buildup and roots growing down into
moldy/bad water though. I can tell you cheesecloth won't stop the
roots... those things can go through just about anything!

I might not do it.

-PP



DigitalVinyl wrote:

Pelvis Popcan wrote:

I'm looking at two products for next year to put in my outdoor pots:

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=5

-- For large pots, and

http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?Pr...&RecGroupNum=6

-- For the smaller ones.


I'm using several of the selfwatering containers from gardeners.com.
The first looks like it has a water level indicator similar to the
their Fiore selfwatering. I can tell you this is very unreliable in
determining when the reservoir is full. I started prodding and
pulling them to try and see if they were stuck. Invariably I would be
watering away and suddenly it pops from near empty to over maximum in
one second. I think the floating styrofoam gets caught down below and
suddenly rises.

I have a pretty big container garden, several dozen containers. I
don't have a problem watering every day, my main concern is keeping
the moisture level of the soil balanced so it isn't over watered and
it doesn't go dry.

My concerns about these a

1) Flooding when it rains. I think this might be solved by putting
about an inch of volcanic pebbles on the bottoms of the pots, then
setting the reservoir on top of that.
This confuses me. The water resrvoir is a contained vessel and will
hold a few quarts of water in it. To raise the reservoir up with rocks
won't prevent roots from growing down into the reservoir. DO these
pots have no drainage holes of their own? If the reservoir is over
full it should drain excess through regular drainage holes.

One concern on all S.W. is the growth of roots through the plastic
mesh and into the reservoir--letting them sit in water. I won't know
how bad this is till end of season when I intend to empty the
containers and check out how the S.W. influenced root growth and see
how many made their way down. I was thinking, if it is a problem,
maybe a layer of cheesecloth could prevent it.

More importantly,

2) Buildup and concentration of fertilizer and minerals in the soil. I
like to use a liquid fertilizer, and I'm concerned that over the
months of the summer the fertilizer might become too concentrated in
the soil. Top watering and draining through the bottom washes out
buildups and impurities, so it seems that bottom watering through
what's essentially a bucket of water under the soil takes away this
element.

3) Seeds. I plant most of my seeds directly in the containers. For
some of my larger pots, will the water make it to the surface to keep
the seeds moist as they germinate?
I top watered seeds since they have no roots to start with.

However, if the soil is dry the capillary action might not bring it
up. WHen the soil was moist to start with and I used bottom watering
(10" deep dirt, 2" reservoir) the top dirt never dried out. It is
important for the moisture to exist already and have it wick up more.
I've added dry dirt on top of existing SW and found it does not wick
up sufficiently--or at least did it slowly. But with moistened soil it
works great.

4) Disease. Won't a bunch of water under the soil in a bucket
accumulate fungus, algae, and bacteria over the summer months?

Don't know yet.
I can say my biggest problem has been fungus/mold on the top. Two of
my planters didn't have proper drainage. Each developed a white fungus
across the top. All the plants were hurt by this. Others developed
green dirt and I let the reservoir dry out before adding any more.

If anything I'd say the reservoir may keep it too moist. Unfortunately
I'm in the NE where we had two months of rain so it is difficult to
figure out how much was caused by using SW and how much was just too
wet too cold spring.

For anyone who has used anything like these outdoors (I am in zone 5)
I'd appreciate hearing your experiences.

I am growing minature pumpkin, a small patch of corn, potato, lettuce,
four kinds of pepper, snap peas, a tomato plant, herbs and flowers in
the SW containers. I didn't buy the kit to retrofit any older pots. I
can tell you all my plants got through the weeklong heat wave we had
and the only ones that wilted were ones in small pots (chiefly clay
pots). Corn is five feet high, Pumpkin has stretched out for 4 ft from
the container, the tomato suffered from the fungus, but is over 2'
tall and has first fruit. Two of the peppers are almost 2' high. DIll
is 2.5', snap peas produced, lettuce was good and didn't bolt during
the heatwave. All my flowers are growing despite that I crowded them.

Since this is my first year, I wanted the SW as an insurance policy. I
think it worked cause I've got a nice looking little garden. The only
problem is, in fact, overwatering.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener

Pelvis Popcan wrote:

Thanks for the input! Helpful info.

What I meant by stones in the bottom was to just slightly raise the SW
reservoir up over the container's drainage hole. (Yes my pots have one
drainage hole in the center of the bottom.) That way the bottom of the
reservoir won't cover and block drainage.

Still worried about fertilizer buildup and roots growing down into
moldy/bad water though. I can tell you cheesecloth won't stop the
roots... those things can go through just about anything!
You may not need to fertilze as often because runoff is reduced.

There is a cap for the fill tube (at least on the first one you are
looking at). Mine all have caps. After 4 months none of mine show any
sign that something bad is going on in the water reservoir--no bad
smells or visible problems other that what I already explained.

I might not do it.
It might be worth experimenting with one and learning before going any
further.

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener