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.