watering your pop bottles

19 years ago

I followed the method with 2 litre pop bottles for WS, and used 4 rolls of toilet paper within each bottle. I put out twenty of them during March. Here in Ontario we had snow, cold overnight temps below freezing, but by May, overnight temps are now well above zero.

My question is...do you need to lift each lid in the pop bottles, to water the interior? I see condensation in the tops, and have holes in the feet, a tray to hold groups of bottles together which has drainage holes (to avoid drowning). I was pretty hopeful, but have zero germination by May 8th!

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Comments (7)

marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
19 years ago
If there's condensation and the bottles still feel heavy, you're okay for water. I water my containers by setting them in a tray of water.

Hang in there for germination. Maybe the seeds you sowed are slow germinators. I have lots of containers with nothing in them yet - frustrating, but i haven't quite given up yet!
northerner_on
19 years ago
This is my first year using pop bottles and it is also my first year having a deck, where I have several of my bottles. We have had several very hot days and I did find my bottles drying out quickly and having to water them every day. I bought a set of 4 plastic nozzles from Lee Valley, which fit pop bottles. I used a 1 litre bottle and the nozzle fits beautifully over the open top of the 'container' bottle. You can water them this way, without having to remove the 'lid', which can sometimes be quite difficult to replace, especially if it's cold. The nozzles are about $4.00 and each has a different spray pattern.
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sprout_canada
Original Author
19 years ago
Both good suggestions thanks. Found the lee valley item on-line. Anyone else can too, look for Bottle-Top Waterers.
monacda
19 years ago
This was my first year for wintersowing as well. Can I ask why you had the lids on? I threw all my lids out in the beginning. So far I have 18 of 26 milk/pop bottles sprouting. I only had to water mine once so far. Mind you they are at the back of the garden which only gets morning sun. Moved them further south today and they were in dappled sun. Just curious! Mona
sprout_canada
Original Author
19 years ago
To clarify: I should have said upper half of the pop bottle (cap removed), rather than lid. I followed a design mentioned elsewhere in another forum.
monacda
19 years ago
Sprout, anything yet? I've had all my pop bottle tops (upper half) off for a week now and the whole lot is under one of those plastic clear window wells (open side to the south). They all seem to be doing well. Now starting to wonder if I should transplant some of them individually. Mona
sprout_canada
Original Author
19 years ago
Yes there is a bit of success, only 2 dianthus, and 1 lupin. I'm going to take the upper half of the assembly off, since it has really warmed up a lot in Ontario this week. Fortunately, I planted lots indoors and they have done wonderfully. Never put all your eggs in one basket right?