DIY auto-watering
 

I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

DIY auto-watering
 

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?


--
Timothy Murphy


If you are going away for that length of time, who is looking after your
house and mail etc. can't they do your watering for you? We have wonderful
neighbours and when we go away cruising, we hand them the keys and they look
after watering, the mail, opening and closing windows etc. 5 weeks in our
case this year and the same next year is too long to leave a place empty.
Look at the junk mail!! You won't open the front door!!

--
Mike

The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rneba.org.uk
Luxury Self Catering on the Isle of Wight?
www.shanklinmanormews.co.uk

DIY auto-watering
 

On 24/07/2009 01:59, in article ,
"Timothy Murphy" wrote:

I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?


I managed to keep a polytunnel alive for 2.5 weeks earlier this month using
- 4 x 200l water butts, connected together as pairs
- 2 of these electronic timers
http://www.beddingplantsdirect.co.uk...ering-timer-p-
182.html
- 3 of these micro irrigation kits
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kingfisher-25M...t-Watering-Kit
_W0QQitemZ290326936536QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ2009062 6?IMSfp=TL090626168004r701
8

(Note I am not recommending either supplier. I paid £10 for each timer and
£5 for each irrigation kit - so you may be able to find cheaper.)

I would expect you can sort out something similar, but smaller scale, so
long as you can suspend a suitable quantity of water above the window boxes,
or have a tap you can leave on.

In terms of working out how much water you need - I guessed that 800L would
be enough for my purposes, based on how many 20L watering cans we generally
use during the course of a day/week. I then ran the system for a week at 30
minutes at day and from this estimated how long I could actually run the
water for each day and use up the entire amount in 2.5 weeks.

DIY auto-watering
 

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?


Well, a month from now means late August, they'll be pretty much gone over
anyway, especially with no dead-heading being done. Also, isn't Dublin
expecting a bit of rain in the next month?

Simplest, as has been mentioned, is to ask someone to water for you if it's
a particularly dry spell.

Steve

DIY auto-watering
 

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

There are commercial gizmos to do it. How well they work is a mute point eg.
http://www.travena.co.uk/watering.htm

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?

It would be capilliary action that does it. As you describe it would
lose too much by evaporation, but you might be able to get it to work by
sleeving the wick with cling film.

There is a moderately cute way to do it with a small amount of metal
work and a bit of ingenuity. Based on expansion of air when the sun
shines. You need some soft brass or copper capiliary pipe and bend it
carefully to form a J shape. Then drill a matching tight fit hole
through the centre of the drinks bottle cap. The long leg of the pipe
goes down into the water and the J drips onto the plant. You may need to
attach some black PVC tape to the part above the air space to get the
right amount of water to come out. It is the air expanding that make sit
work. At night when it is cool air is sucked back into the bottle and
the cycle starts again. The amount of water delivered depends on how
warm it is during the daytime. More water delivered as the air space
increases.

You need a gas tight seal on the hole for it to work - a spot of impact
adhesive or bath sealant will do. You can buy gizmoes to do it too but
they are expensive for what they are and fail fairly quickly.

Make sure there is a diffuser around the bottle. The sun through a clear
cylindrical lens at this time of year can start fires!

It always pays to test irrigation systems for a few weeks before you go
away. I came back once to find a bunch of rare desert plants in my
greenhouse under 2" of water - amazingly they tolerated it.

Regards,
Martin Brown

DIY auto-watering
 

'Mike' wrote:

I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.

If you are going away for that length of time, who is looking after your
house and mail etc. can't they do your watering for you?

I do indeed have a very good neighbour who is looking after our cat.
I could indeed ask her to water the window-boxes,
but would prefer to do something myself if possible.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

DIY auto-watering
 

Piers Finlayson wrote:

In terms of working out how much water you need - I guessed that 800L
would be enough for my purposes, based on how many 20L watering cans we
generally
use during the course of a day/week. I then ran the system for a week at
30 minutes at day and from this estimated how long I could actually run
the water for each day and use up the entire amount in 2.5 weeks.

Thanks for the info.
I'm hoping a very small amount of water will keep the plants alive,
much less than they normally get.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

DIY auto-watering
 

On 2009-07-24 12:27:02 +0100, Martin said:

On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:03:46 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote:

'Mike' wrote:

I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.

If you are going away for that length of time, who is looking after your
house and mail etc. can't they do your watering for you?

I do indeed have a very good neighbour who is looking after our cat.
I could indeed ask her to water the window-boxes,
but would prefer to do something myself if possible.

We took down our flower baskets and left them on the ground out in the open,
when we went on holiday for two weeks. Mother nature did the rest.

I have access to a very expensive and therefore hopefully good meteo
forecast system which says with confidence that we are due to get a
fortnight's heatwave from the beginning of August (35 degrees!). That
being so, Mother Nature may not get the job done on her own.

Being paranoid about floods and/or under-watering, I only use
commercial micro irrigation systems connected to a tap timer. The
Hozelock AC Pro has a rain sensor accessory which turns the watering
program off if/when it detects sufficient rainfall. You can't get that
kind of eco-sensible control from a home-made system.
http://www.garden4less.co.uk/hozeloc...ain-sensor.asp

DIY auto-watering
 

Timothy Murphy wrote:

... osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?

Capillary attraction, not osmosis.

--
Which of the seven heavens / Was responsible her smile /
Wouldn't be sure but attested / That, whoever it was, a god /
Worth kneeling-to for a while / Had tabernacled and rested.

DIY auto-watering
 

"Piers Finlayson" wrote in message
...



On 24/07/2009 01:59, in article ,
"Timothy Murphy" wrote:

I'm going away for a month,
and am wondering if there is a simple way
of watering window-boxes while I am away.
I have a number of 500ml empty sparkling water bottles.
I tried making a hole in the top of one,
but it is very difficult to control the amount of water
that comes out.

I'm wondering if one could use a piece of string
with one end in the bottle and one in the soil,
with osmosis slowly taking the water from the bottle?


I managed to keep a polytunnel alive for 2.5 weeks earlier this month
using
- 4 x 200l water butts, connected together as pairs
- 2 of these electronic timers
http://www.beddingplantsdirect.co.uk...ering-timer-p-

Went there but could not find a price for the timer!

Alan