Water Spikes

This is my first year gardening, i have most things in pots, especially in the greenhouse. I would like to go away but we don't know the neighbours well enough to get them to water for us and local relations tend to get distracted.

Ideally i would like to be able to get away for up to a week, often it will be less but a week would be a good target.

So i am looking for an economic way to water the greenhouse and came across waterspikes which intrigued me at about 6 spikes for around £5.00 i would need quite a few packs for my overexcited garden.

Anyone used these? With a 2 litre bottle would i get a week?

Are there better ways to do the watering that don't involve another person?

thanks
adam

 

I have used these and found them a godsend, I would imagine a 2 litre bottle should last you fine.

One important thing I have learned is to water the pots thoroughly just before placing the water spikes in, this will stop the soil from immediately draining the bottle of water and makes the water last a lot longer.

 

This bloke has really gone to town on watering,

http://www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Plant-Watering-Device-simple-version/

 

thanks HampshireNovice, think it may be worth buying a pack and having a go then before buying enough for the garden.

 

Hi Adam,

I use the Aquidrip water spikes which have a kind of adjustable tap thing on the bottom that allows you to regulate the water flow. The amount of water and size of bottle is obviously dependent on the pots and plants that you have but a 2-litre bottle will comfortably cover all but the very largest things for a week. If you have a trial run over 24 hours or so you can then figure out the flow rate that will best suit each plant for the period that you need. They really do work well, I must say.

The next step up from that would be a reservoir-fed automatic watering system which will supply half a dozen or more plants at a time via a drip-tube which is fed from a bag that you fill up. There's a good one made (or at least sold) by Ecocharlie:

http://www.ecocharlie.co.uk/big-drippa-watering-kit.html

Beyond that there are an array of more complex tap-fed irrigation systems which you can self-assemble to any size/length/number of pots that you require. The big down side though is that you have to leave the tap on to feed the system, which is probably not ideal if you're away for a week or so....