watering system as seen on Gardening Aust

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by teela, Apr 16, 2007.

  1. teela

    teela Junior Member

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    Did anyone see Gardening Aust on the 24.3.07?

    There was an episode about using rainwater seepage type of idea to water a small vegi garden. The system worked by gravity, is a series of porous ceramic/terracotta pots which are attached to the tubing and are buried in the ground –These just fill up and seep into the soil.
    They arn't just ordinary garden pots (for anyone who didn't see the episode) they were a roundish shape and fill up with water that slowly leaches out into the soil. I'm assuming one pot per plant.
    I think it looks like a good idea and I want to give it a try.
    I managed to find the fact sheet but it doesn't say where to buy the ceramic pots. Does anyone know where to buy them?

    Teela
     
  2. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day teela,

    here is the link to the product they sort of mentioned:

    https://wateringsystems.net/

    if you do buy let them know who told you though i doubt it will mean much aussie online businesses just take what comes like it's a right, but so long as you are happy.

    it is an adaption of a system that the subsistance farmers in india use they use unglazed earthneware pots with a large round but squat sort of sahpe an a longish enouhg neck, they bury the thing in their gardens at certain distances (don't ask - don't know, maybe you need trial and error because soil types could make a difference?), then all they need do is fill the pot up and put a lid on so no critters fall in.

    anyhow hope that helps

    recycle all you own water then look to water collection and uses other than just garden micro irrigation, the target is to use water more than once.

    len
     
  3. teela

    teela Junior Member

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    watering systems

    Those be the ones!
    Thanks Len.
     
  4. digging

    digging Junior Member

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    Those look really great!

    So are they saying this is the best way to water in hot areas? is it better than drip and such?
    Could a person just use earthen ware pots and put lids on them and block the hole in the bottom?


    Digging
     
  5. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    digging,

    i reckon if you use the method the way the originators use it, it will be better than any system inluding the wet pot one. as you add the water to the pots as you need to that is total management.

    the way they work it is they plant high moisture plants nearer the pots and low water users at the furtherest point, all you gotta do is find out how many pots you need the size they use in your garden space.

    len
     
  6. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Just be careful if you're going to liquid fertilise - apparently some of the oilier liquid fertilisers (fish based for example) can reduce or cut out altogether the porosity of the pots.

    Wouldn't be a great thing to discover part way through a crop. :wink:
     
  7. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    agreed jez,

    me i wouldn't add anything just clear clean water through these systems. that's probably the only downside using grey water through them is probably also going to be out of the question unless it is highly filtered, plus it would get smelly without the introduction of oxygen into the pots.

    so maybe look at 2 systems one to deliver you grey water as fresh as soon as it is ready to your plants then this system for when you need to use fresh water say from you substantial tank.

    len
     
  8. digging

    digging Junior Member

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    Regarding filtering grey water,
    do you think the cloth type bags that filter down to 5 or 1 micro would be ok? Or is that over kill?

    With this type of watering, a circle pattern for planting would then be better, built around the water pots?

    Digging
     
  9. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    digging,

    i wouldn't bother realy, you will find those micron filter bags will clog super fast with grey water and need tedious cleaning.

    best use grey water as fresh as and in its complete form, plenty there for the worms etc.,. then.

    len
     
  10. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Yep, agreed Len...personally, I think grey water is best used for nut trees and established fruit trees in that order...at least without a reed bed filtration system.

    It'd certainly compromise a 'wet pot' system.

    The great benefit of wet pots (which you pay for through the nose if you buy them commercially) is using good water so efficiently and so conveniently with nothing but gravity.

    I'd hate to see people spend up big on wet pots then use them wrongly and end up having to massively flush them, or even have them stuffed altogether.
     
  11. digging

    digging Junior Member

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    Yes,

    They do seem high priced! I don't have nearly the water problems you guys have' however the better we use all thing the more time and money we can save!

    Digging
     
  12. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    i applaud any efforts to better control use of water by others, BUT! for me auto systems of any kind don't spell real water management.

    real management comes a little harder than set and forget, hand watering is a lot better but still requiers guessing i find using a water can i know pretty much what i am giving each plant.

    those pots are expensive i still think the original idea of burying porouse pots as i mentioned earlier is the best way as you only top up the pot when it is needed, and of course if nothing is growing there you may not top it as often, so a far better way to mange water. a project for someone find out where they make those earthenware containers and they may have seconds or stuff they have to destroy that you buy cheaper??

    len
     
  13. digging

    digging Junior Member

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    I'm sure they could be found in China,

    I was just in a store and I noticed they now have little frogs and such that are a pot with a point going down into the soil and you fill it with water, I looked and they were from China. It's seem they are made lighter than regular pots, but I'm sure noramal clay pots would work to? That's a good point if you hand water then only the pots that need water get water!

    Digging
     
  14. heuristics

    heuristics Junior Member

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    In Bill Mollison's Global Gardener video he has a segment with an Indian couple with a roof-top garden.
    The woman is shown filling her buried earthenware pots as a watering system. Bill highlights and advantage being that as the pot is buried no water is lost to evaporation, and water gets to the plants roots as required.

    I saw this - what - three years ago - and thought it looked interesting - so WHY didnt I get to and manufacture those cute but hugely overpriced little pots for the garden?
    I too coulda been a zillionaire by now!
    Bugger
     
  15. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    lol heuristics,

    wet p[ots has been around for over a decade now, so maybe 20 years ago if you came up with the idea then you may have been in the right place at the right time.

    len
     
  16. Chris Dawn

    Chris Dawn Guest

    My soil was very sandy in the veggie garden and I reused terracotta pots as a water reservior in the centre of each small circle garden. I used plasticine (the kids didn't even miss it) to block up the hole in the bottom of the pot and then I buried the pot so that there was about 1 cm above ground. I used old plates, pot drip trays and hub caps for lids for the pots. I watered the seedlings in the garden and filled the pot with water to establish the plants. The pots seemed to be an effective water system.
    The roots of the veggies would travel towards the pot and some would form a mat on the outside of the pot.
    The only problem I had with this was SNAILS, slugs too. But the snails would cluster around the lip of pot, even burying themselves in the soil attaching themselves onto the outside of the pot. They would set up home in the pots, and so even if I didn't have to fill the pot with water I would have to collect snails very regularly (chook treats). It was a perfect snail environment and the snails and I came to an arrangement where I would cull them ruthlessly and they would only eat some of the veggies.
    The veggies thrived and the chooks laid very well with the high protein diet.
    :)
     
  17. Plumtree

    Plumtree Junior Member

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    Hello Chris,

    Can you tell something about the size of things? You sound like you have things going pretty well in a dry area. It would be good to use your experience to determine how many 'pots' to a metre square, for example.

    :oops:
     
  18. Chris Dawn

    Chris Dawn Guest

    Hello Plumtree

    The terracotta pots are roughly 20cm high and 20 to 25cm across the top. The reason for this size was that they were free. I did a test garden bed using one pot to see how far out the water went into that soil (it was mulched) in about a week. I topped the water in the pot up each day. At the circumference of the garden bed circle with a diameter of 75cm to 80cm, the top soil seemed dry but the soil was dampish about 3cm down.
    This circle size worked out ok as I could have a double ring of smaller veggies (carrots and lettuce for example) around each pot, or a single ring of the bigger ones (tomatoes, zucchini & capsicums ). Mulching is the go with these beds.
    I think it would be worth experimenting in your own soil type to see how far the water would travel out, as the soil here is sandy and I use as much compost as I can. If the soil is so dry it is water repelling, that has to be fixed up before you test your pot.
    To establish trees I use a 20 or 25 litre drum with a small drip hole at the bottom. Some drums have a plug for tap in bottom, and the tap can be turn on a bit or the plug unscrewed a bit until it drips at the right rate. The lid may have to be loose or off for the drum to drip properly. Move the drum around the tree each time you fill the drum to get even root establishment around the tree. When it is so dry a tree will establish slowly, but at least it won't die (hopefully).
    Hope this info is helpful
    Chris :)
     
  19. gingersnap

    gingersnap Guest

  20. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    gingersnap,

    brilliant hey?

    yep that 's the sort of pot needed, if anything as vege's don't need a lot of depth, they could be squat with a tad longer neck so you can grow things like lettuce/bok choy over the top of the bulb, yet cover more area under ground.

    to me the investment of seeking those sort of containers is more sustainable than a system, you only need add water to thos containers near wher you are growing things so if a section is fallowing then water isn't needed that much especially if you marry all this to a heavy mulching program.

    don't forget something to use as a lid over the opening of the pot.

    this link is going on our site.

    len
     

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