Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Self Watering Propeller Bottle Garden

My latest design for using plastic bottles for indoor gardens is my Self Watering Propeller Bottle Garden!
The thing I like best about this is that it dosent ever need watering so you can seed it and leave it!
The method is using a Large soda bottle with 6 smaller ones cut and drilled into the sides and sponge used as a wick to soak up the water.
I have had one growing for about 3 weeks and and is doing very well, i think you will need to top up the main bottle about every 2 weeks.


Tools used:
Hand Drill, 1 inch drill bit, Scissors, Clear gutter Silicon,

Supplies:
1 Large Soda bottle, 6 x smaller Soda bottles, 2 x kitchen sponge, growing medium,

Method:
Fill the large soda bottle with water and freeze over night, this makes it easier to drill holes.
Then drill 6 x 1" holes around angled edge of bottle. Then thaw ice from bottle under warm tap.
Cut the small bottles in half about 2/3rds along bottle, then cut a slot with curved end between the label area.
Add silicon to neck of bottle and thread into hole of big bottle, repeat for all bottles.
Cut sponge to about 1 inch wide and thread threw small bottle neck into big bottle to form a wick.
Fill with growing medium and fill with water  / mix, place cap on main bottle.
wait 24 hours for soil to absorb moisture then seed choice of plant to grow.
In my example I used Coriander / Cilantro and spinach.
top up main bottle level about every 2 weeks.










7 comments:

  1. Amazing.

    As always Dean, your stuff is incredible. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  2. Awesome ! got to make one and try it out. thanks for sharing a great creative idea !

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  3. have you had any problem with algae growth in the main bottle?

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    1. Yeah the bottle gets quiet yucky but its sealed no smell and feeds the plants. Ill replace the water every couple of months.
      Cheers Dean

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  4. As algae needs sunlight to grow, perhaps if the big bottle was dark brown or green it could be better algae resistant. Or you could try painting it with black or other dark colors from outside for the same purpose.
    Anyway, I love the look of those, and will totally need to make some. I'm thinking it'll look really cool with strawberries too.

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  5. what does the growing medium consist of? are you saying Perlite? please advise

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  6. Thank you for sharing good ideas

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