I love clay pots, but too cost prohibitive for me. They have a short life too. You can't leave them out in the winter. I would need very large ones for tomatoes. I use them for cacti, another passion of mine. I don't see many advantages as tomatoes are water hogs. The plants use a lot of water. But if you have wet springs, and plants are out the quick drying clay would be a major advantage. I lost one plant indirectly because of this year's wet spring. Another had BER on the first few tomatoes. Both probably would have been OK, if in clay pots.

The ollas system looks interesting and is a different way to use clay. But I myself would not use it. Tomatoes can have roots as long as 4 feet or longer. Restricting root size would be a major problem for me. The pots would have to be dug up each year for me, as the freezes would more than likely damage the pots.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Mon, Oct 7, 13 at 8:52

Hi Drew51,
Thanks for the response.
Steve

I did something similar with plastic bottles one year. It wokred fine, but ultimately saved no work. It was nice knowing I'd watered enough at the roots, but nothing amazing.

With much slower draining ollas, I'm pretty sure it'd be a mosquito breeding ground. And it takes up space, which is at a premium for me. I think I'd want to be very sure what the benefits are to me, in my climate, before I went to the trouble!

This is an age old concept for desert areas to conserve water, where there is very little water and rain,
We are faced with opposite problem, a lot of time, a lot of places :: TOO MUCH WATER

I've used them successfully in drought conditions in my community garden plot for the last two years and I love them. I've tried three different kinds from three different purveyors. My favorites are the Dripping Springs Ollas which are 2 gallons and have lids to prevent evaporation.

I've bought the squash shaped ones from growing awareness and they are beautiful and functional for containers. They come in many sizes and are affordable, but the shipping is not and blows my budget.

A new option this year is growoya.com who ship two day fedex ground within the US at reasonable rates. Price is comparable to the competition, volume is slightly smaller. They come in three sizes and are lovely. I'm adding them to my beds this fall because I want to get into every nook and cranny of my beds.

Just keep in mind the water spread approximates the diameter of the olla (despite what may be advertised). Plant in a circle around the olla the width of the olla itself. So if your olla is 12 inches in diameter, you plant within a 12 inch circle around the outside edge of the pot.

Just as the width of the olla determines the width of the watering zone, I find the height determines volume, and the frequency of refill. Those two gallon ollas are tall, so I can get away with filling them once a week. Smaller ones need much more frequent fill ups.

Base price for a big olla is roughly $40.

Interesting post. I've never heard of these, although lack of rain isn't generally a problem here.

This year I've planted a Sweetmeat squash and 2 ground cherries around a Dripping Springs olla. All the plants are alive a thriving. The squash is huge and vining everywhere with several good sized squash, the ground cherries are huge as well but without a lot of fruit but I don't think this is due to the olla. This is my 3 year growing ground cherries and probably my last since I don't think this is the right climate. I fill the olla about 2 times a week.