I wished the soft drink manufacturers would make flat bottoms for their sodas. Would make it easier for us WS..those molded bottoms are made of some very strong and tough plastic, and very hard to drill and takes a while for the soldering gun to go through. I'm a Coca Cola person myself!

"I wished the soft drink manufacturers would make flat bottoms for their sodas."

You may recall that soda bottles used to be 2 piece affairs.

The bottle was a blow molded piece with a simple round bottom and there was a harder plastic, black, cup-like piece glued on over that.

The current version is actually an improvement over that.

EG,

The bottles are the same in my area. May be a local supplier thing.

I do have a neat little trick ("of course I do") that makes slip fitting the two halves together really easy.

I'm working up an Instructables post on prepping 2 litre's and will post it sometime later.

I prefer Pepsi bottles. Getting the soil out of the new Coke silhouette isn't easy. With straight sides, it slides right out in one hunk that I can break apart. I've had to switch whenever I buy the one soda I drink a week. My parents and their friends drink Pepsi, so I have a steady supply of bottles.

Honestly, you don't need power drill to poke a few holes in plastic. Just stab with a knife and twist. Very easy, even for me with crummy old hands that don't work well.

Karen

I am with Karen here. I use an awl or kitchen shears. I only use a drill for very tough plastic such as those water bottles for coolers.

I normally use an awl to poke holes in my containers, 2 liter bottles are no exception. It's especially easy to poke holes inside out.

I cut 2 liter bottles about half way up, make a few 1 - 1 1/2" slits on the upper half. These slits allow me to slip the top over the bottom much easier. This idea came from Monte's tutorials years ago.

"Honestly, you don't need power drill to poke a few holes in plastic."

That's true---for you.

Others may have different abilities or sensibilities on how they like to do things.

Ranges from "Just Do It" types to full blown OCD's

Different strokes and all that.

Bottom line is just be in the game.

Whatever works.

All roads lead to Rome, etc., etc., etc.

I'm just sayin'

Carry on.

FWIW-I like Dr. Pepper

You and I are on the same page here Monte, I'm a diet Dr Pepper drinker, too ;-)

To EASILY poke holes in milk jugs or 2 liters:
Use an old piece of scrap wood. (Mine is about 6"x12"x1"). I've been using the same old piece of wood for 5 years. Drill some large holes in the surface using about 1/4 drill bit and darken those holes with a black marker or paint pen so that holes are easily visible thru the jug. After cutting the milk jug or 2 liter open, put the bottom of the jug on the piece of wood and poke thru the bottom (aiming for the holes in the wood) with a serated steak knife or skinny scissors and twist a bit to open the slit. Done in seconds.

I'm 57 years old and I'm right handed. In that hand I have a carpal tunnel, residual pain from a trigger thumb, had ECU tendonitis a year or two ago, and big arthritic lumps on my thumb and the top of my hand. Opening a new jar of anything is almost impossible for me. I have been seeing a hand specialist for 20 years. But I can easily poke drainage holes so I believe anyone can.

Karen

I drink a lot of the Adirondack flavored seltzer, and use both their 1 and 2 liter bottles, which have nice straight sides. As Token said, it is easier to get the seedlings out when the sides are straight than when they are contoured. Doesn't really matter what was in the bottle.

I use an awl tool on my Swiss army knife to cut the holes in the bottom, insert and twist. Then I cut the bottle in half, put 2 slits that are opposite each other in the top half, and slide the top over the bottom half snugly. They are very easy to reuse this way.

Karen, what is ECU tendonitis? I had terrible tendonitis in both wrists and elbows last Spring/summer, the right wrist was the worst. I also broke the left wrist in 2007. This has put things in perspective - try to minimize the wear and tear on the wrists.

I prefer the straight-sided Pepsi bottle, but in order to collect the number of bottles I need, I can't afford to be too choosey. Since a neighbor drinks Coke and I live with a Mountain Dew drinker, I have found a way to utilize them both. I use the bottom of the green MD and the top of the Coke to make one ws container.

Ellen

For selling tomato plants in, i'm definitely gonna use Pepsi bottles - as the soil mass is much easier to remove (as several of you stated). But, wintersown stuff will be done in Coke bottles, because I really like the way the 2 halves go together.

Monte - i'll be eager to see what you're putting together.

EG

I was going to post a similar question about the color of bottles, but thought is was sort of silly. My kids like lemon-lime sodas that come in green bottles, Hopefully I'm not changing the subject too much, but does the color of the bottle make a difference?

terrene: My ECU tendonitis caused sharp shooting pain (wrist radiating to pinky finger) with pronating movements. Once I dropped a full jar of spaghetti sauce on the kitchen floor, shattering the glass, when trying to remove lid. Also dropped and shattered a stack of about 5 glass casseroles from a cabinet.

The hand surgeon injected it with cortisone and had me get a custom made plaster splint which I had to wear 24/7 for a while. It worked well, and I rarely get those pains now. Definitely worth seeing a hand specialist for treatment.

Karen

milehighgirl, I use green liter containers. This time of year I tend to drink a great deal of diet gingerale. Never had any problem with the containers~

Karen
57 and right handed. Well that explains it then. LOL

I do know weÂre on the same page dear. No worries.

YouÂve hit on the thing that is often missed with the "poking" method.

You must have some void space beneath the poking device for it to go into, as well as, have the jug, bottle, whatever supported.

I sometimes have visions of people trying to do this holding the container in their hands or on their laps and inadvertently giving themselves piercings.

Really takes the fun out of it.

Your "piercing board" is the perfect solution to avoid that problem.

Sad that your hands are not what they should be.

My recent adventure with a motorcycle and gravity have caused me to lose a step or three during the last couple of years.

17 broken bones (5 in my spine) and 6 months of rehab was not how I wanted to spend my 50th year.

But I can still type.

Spelling, not so much.

And the titanium rods holding my back together are great fun.

Monte the Battered

I'm a Coke person & when I started seeing the new style bottle I was SO upset-my first response was "HOW will I get the HOS out of that thing?!?! So far it is limited to bottles in the next county, so I've dodged the bullet so far !LOL I shop in grocery stores all over (wherever I happen to be!) & I passed up a good sale over the weekend because the Coke was in the "wrong" bottle! Oh, the power of Wintersowing!

As for clear vs. green bottles-I have used both & seen no difference. About prepping the bottles-I use a great pair of kitchen shears to snip the "feet" on the corner & push the little flap that results up into the bottle. I cut the top off of the bottle right around where it straightens out on the sides. The top slides right down inside the body of the bottle & stay put until sproutage! Someday I'll post pics, but I'm SOOOO bad about even downloading, it might take a while!

I also use the green bottles with no problem.
jan ")

Monte, you are just too funny. You do have a way with words.

I don't mean to diss you power tools. For guys like you and Token who have the tools and know how to use them it's probably a really efficient method. But some folks don't have the tools or the finances to buy them. And some of us ladies (I use the term loosely here) are intimidated by power tools. I don't want newcomers to wintersowing to be intimidated by the thought of having to buy expensive tools and learn to use them. That's why I mention my techniques, (primitive as they may sound). Everybody has an old knife and scissors around the house and those things work just fine.

Karen

Bet you not everyone has a Gigli saw.

I bet you are right. And I bet not everyone even knows what it is (without looking it up). But I do. Are you still practicing? Want to volunteer in Haiti? I still need orthos.