I posted this in rec.gardening, but in view of the use of demi-johns I thought this forum would be more appropriate....

I plan to be away from home for 3-4 weeks, and had bought citrus plants for my lean-to. So I created a very low cost waterer (about £8. including demi-john). It consists of a demi-john part filled with water, inlet and outlet pipes through a non-porous bung. The outlet and inlet are controlled by non-return valves (pet fish anti-syphon valves). As the days temperature increases water is pumped by air expansion from the demi-john towards the plant. As the day cools in the evening water is sucked from a reservoir by the air contracting. I've a number now, with delivery from 50 to 300ml per day.
A nice feature is that on cool days less is pumped and the night gives time for drainage to occur. By altering the volume of air trapped in the demi-john, you alter the volume delivered per day.
I use it indoors and outdoors

I noticed a few postings about absent watering and so for me, this is my solution.

'Mike' wrote:
Are we the only ones in the world with wonderful neighbours?
Neighbours who will water the plants?
Neighbours who will clear the mail from the letter box?
Neighbours who will come in and open windows and close windows to show the
place is 'lived in'?

We have neighbours on one side who are lovely, and will water for us and
feed the chickens in exchange for eggs, etc.

And we have neighbours on the other side who, as soon as our backs are
turned are calling out environmental health and the rspca and complaining
because our hop-wires are above regulation height whilst his fence is 9'
tall and cuts into our garden.

Unfortunately, the 'nice' neighbours are old and ill, and we can't ask them
to do much any more. :-(

On Sat, 14 May 2011 14:58:19 +0000, dimsey
wrote:


I posted this in rec.gardening, but in view of the use of demi-johns I
thought this forum would be more appropriate....

I plan to be away from home for 3-4 weeks, and had bought citrus plants
for my lean-to. So I created a very low cost waterer (about £8.
including demi-john). It consists of a demi-john part filled with water,
inlet and outlet pipes through a non-porous bung. The outlet and inlet
are controlled by non-return valves (pet fish anti-syphon valves). As
the days temperature increases water is pumped by air expansion from the
demi-john towards the plant. As the day cools in the evening water is
sucked from a reservoir by the air contracting. I've a number now, with
delivery from 50 to 300ml per day.
A nice feature is that on cool days less is pumped and the night gives
time for drainage to occur. By altering the volume of air trapped in the
demi-john, you alter the volume delivered per day.
I use it indoors and outdoors

I noticed a few postings about absent watering and so for me, this is my
solution.


What a splendid idea.

rbel

On Sat, 14 May 2011 16:56:54 +0100, "'Mike'"
wrote:



Are we the only ones in the world with wonderful neighbours?

snipped

Definitely, most definitely and absolutely not.

However, some people are conscious of possible one-way assistance. I
have a largish garden and, depending on the time of year, may have
anything up to 2000 young bedding plants needing watering or, later,
loads of wall planters, tubs, beds and borders. My neighbours have
much smaller gardens. I know they would help but I would not dream of
imposing on them, particularly if I was going off on a 13 week world
cruise.

I accept though that others may have neighbours who really fall head
over heels to offer their services when there is a prospect of a 13
week absence.

I fit holidays around gardening. To do anything else is pure
selfishness.