watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

Could someone please describe to me this method again? It has been described
on this newsgroup before, but I want to try to do it this year to see if I
can fend off blossom end rot by keeping the plants evenly moist. I have been
saving several of the large gallon sized plastic water bottles. I think what
I remember is that some tiny holes are pricked in the bottom of the jugs,
and then they are filled every other day or something. Is that correct?
Also, should the jugs, which have small lips, be capped or left open?
Thanks.

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 12:52:58 -0700, "gregpresley"
wrote:

Could someone please describe to me this method again? It has been described
on this newsgroup before, but I want to try to do it this year to see if I
can fend off blossom end rot by keeping the plants evenly moist. I have been
saving several of the large gallon sized plastic water bottles. I think what
I remember is that some tiny holes are pricked in the bottom of the jugs,
and then they are filled every other day or something. Is that correct?
Also, should the jugs, which have small lips, be capped or left open?
Thanks.


I never did it myself, but my uncle always watered his tomatoes that
way. He simply put one pin sized hole in one bottom corner of the
milk jug and buried the jug up to the neck. He then filled the jug up
and said it lasted all day and he filled it daily. You would need to
leave the top open or put an airhole in the top otherwise the vacuum
would keep the water from dripping out.

Hal

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

Thanks for your quick response, Hal. I will get to work on this tomorrow,
unless someone else chimes in with a first hand experience that contradicts
it.
wrote in message
...
On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 12:52:58 -0700, "gregpresley"
wrote:

Could someone please describe to me this method again? It has been
described
on this newsgroup before, but I want to try to do it this year to see if
I
can fend off blossom end rot by keeping the plants evenly moist. I have
been
saving several of the large gallon sized plastic water bottles. I think
what
I remember is that some tiny holes are pricked in the bottom of the jugs,
and then they are filled every other day or something. Is that correct?
Also, should the jugs, which have small lips, be capped or left open?
Thanks.


I never did it myself, but my uncle always watered his tomatoes that
way. He simply put one pin sized hole in one bottom corner of the
milk jug and buried the jug up to the neck. He then filled the jug up
and said it lasted all day and he filled it daily. You would need to
leave the top open or put an airhole in the top otherwise the vacuum
would keep the water from dripping out.

Hal

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 21:37:36 -0700, "gregpresley"
wrote:

Thanks for your quick response, Hal. I will get to work on this tomorrow,
unless someone else chimes in with a first hand experience that contradicts
it.

They have some new things they sell now. I haven't tried them yet, but they look
promising. They're little cone-shaped plastic things you screw on top of plastic
bottles. You put them on top of the bottles then stick them into the ground.
I've seen them advertised in several catalogs, but haven't gotten around to
trying them yet.
(snip)

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

I tried them. They are a plastic spike you push into the ground. You can punch
out holes at the depth you wish to water, and put an inverted two liter pop
bottle filled with water into them. It can take from a couple minutes to a
couple hours for the bottle to empty.
I bought them dirt cheap (pun intendend) from Harbor Freight Tools.

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

On 06 Aug 2004 11:54:15 GMT, c (TOM KAN PA) wrote:

I tried them. They are a plastic spike you push into the ground. You can punch
out holes at the depth you wish to water, and put an inverted two liter pop
bottle filled with water into them. It can take from a couple minutes to a
couple hours for the bottle to empty.
I bought them dirt cheap (pun intendend) from Harbor Freight Tools.

I plan to try them, but I might have to "assist" them a bit, since there's no
way I'll be able to shove anything plastic into the ground except where I've
cleared out the rocks(the beds I've worked). This Ozark soil is VERY rocky, and
the rocks are tough.

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

Thanks for your quick response, Hal. I will get to work on this tomorrow,
unless someone else chimes in with a first hand experience that contradicts
it.
wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 12:52:58 -0700, "gregpresley"
wrote:

Could someone please describe to me this method again? It has been
described
on this newsgroup before, but I want to try to do it this year to see if
I
can fend off blossom end rot by keeping the plants evenly moist. I have
been
saving several of the large gallon sized plastic water bottles. I think
what
I remember is that some tiny holes are pricked in the bottom of the jugs,
and then they are filled every other day or something. Is that correct?
Also, should the jugs, which have small lips, be capped or left open?
Thanks.


I never did it myself, but my uncle always watered his tomatoes that
way. He simply put one pin sized hole in one bottom corner of the
milk jug and buried the jug up to the neck. He then filled the jug up
and said it lasted all day and he filled it daily. You would need to
leave the top open or put an airhole in the top otherwise the vacuum
would keep the water from dripping out.

Hal
Thoughts on this:
1. In a really hot climate, the water evaporates as fast as it drips out.
2. Tomatoes seem to benefit more from a deep watering that promotes deep roots.
This provides mostly surface water and shallow roots.
3. If you're going out to the tomato plants to fill the plastic bottles, why
not just water the tomatoes while you're there instead of filling bottles?

Emilie
NorCal (hot)

watering tomatoes with plastic bottles
 

I've always put large coffee cans around my tomatoes as soon as I plant
them. The cans are buried in the ground a couple of inches. This not
only seems to prevent cutworms but makes watering simple - just fill the
cans. Had very little blossom end rot.

Yes this seems to be a good method. I have used the cans also.
Another good idea for keeping the soil moist is keeping a couple of inches of
mulch around the roots.

Emilie