As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?
--

Mike

Mike Halmarack wrote:

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

capillary matting?

On Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:12:17 +0100, Mike Halmarack
wrote:

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

I think some people successfully do it the opposite way around - like
an intravenous drip. Perforated hollow spike in plant pot soil,
gravity fed water through tube into spike, back-pressure regulates
flow of water into pot. I would guess that they probably have
ready-made kits in garden centres if you don't fancy playing with the
idea yourself.

Nick

Nick

On 13/04/2021 16:15, Andy Burns wrote:
Mike Halmarack wrote:

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any wayÂ* similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

capillary matting?


Medical drip bag hung on wall and then fed through an adjustable
mechanical drip flow meter to plant(s)

Could fashion one out of a scrap 3L wine box bag (tap is removable after
drinking said contents)

On 13/04/2021 16:12, Mike Halmarack wrote:
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?


I'll try to describe my setup. Put your plants in a pot, the pot sitting
in a shallow container. Rig up a full water bottle with a tube attached
to the lid. suspend/Hang the full water bottle at some height now upside
down with tube coming from the lid at the lowest point. Fix the other
end of the tube so the end is about 10mm or so from the base of the
shallow container. The water in the shallow container will gradually
fill from the bottle until the water level reaches the tube. It will
then stop as no air can get back to the water container. As the water
level in the shallow container drops, air will be allowed back up the
tube and realease more water. This will carry on over several days or
weeks until the water bottle is empty.

Its often better to use several bottles in trays of capillary matting with
the planters sucking it up from the tray. I've done this with a whole
greenhouse and a lot of water bottles inverted full of water using
galvanised steel wire bent as stands and spacers at the bottle top which of
course is now on the bottom.
Might be a lot easier to find a person to do it though!
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Mike Halmarack" wrote in message
...
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?
--

Mike

On 13/04/2021 16:50, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
Its often better to use several bottles in trays of capillary matting with
the planters sucking it up from the tray. I've done this with a whole
greenhouse and a lot of water bottles inverted full of water using
galvanised steel wire bent as stands and spacers at the bottle top which of
course is now on the bottom.
Might be a lot easier to find a person to do it though!
Brian

what about extending on those Guinea pig/rabbit water bottles on their
cages but add a 2nd pipe of slightly shorter length to the original one?

then a shallw tray filled with water. Position feeding bottle so both
nozzles are submerged.

Then as water level falls, that uncovers one of the pipes to admit air
into bottle and lets water out.

it will the stop as the water level in shallow tray then rises and
reovers the pipe end?

Mike Halmarack wrote

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me
holliers after all, is there a method of watering my
balcony plants in any way similar to this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor,
with a tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on
shelves. Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind
of pressure without recourse to electricity and pumps?

Makes more sense to use water solenoid and a timer.
Have the solenoid on the tap so that any failure is
just dead plants and not a flood.

On 13/04/2021 16:48, Andy Bennet wrote:

I'll try to describe my setup. Put your plants in a pot, the pot sitting
in a shallow container. Rig up a full water bottle with a tube attached
to the lid. suspend/Hang the full water bottle at some height now upside
down with tube coming from the lid at the lowest point. Fix the other
end of the tube so the end is about 10mm or so from the base of the
shallow container. The water in the shallow container will gradually
fill from the bottle until the water level reaches the tube. It will
then stop as no air can get back to the water container. As the water
level in the shallow container drops, air will be allowed back up the
tube and realease more water. This will carry on over several days or
weeks until the water bottle is empty.

That's how some automatic waterers for hens work. And they do work, very
well.

Bill

On Wed, 14 Apr 2021 02:06:15 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Makes more sense to use water solenoid and a timer.

What would make even more sense would be if you finally swallowed your
Nembutal, you useless octogenarian senile bigmouth!

--
"Who or What is Rod Speed?

Rod Speed is an entirely modern phenomenon. Essentially, Rod Speed
is an insecure and worthless individual who has discovered he can
enhance his own self-esteem in his own eyes by playing "the big, hard
man" on the InterNet."
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On 13/04/2021 16:12, Mike Halmarack wrote:
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?


You may be surprised how much water is required for week during the
summer, assuming that we don't have a lot more snow because of the
climate crisis.

A tube going up? The flow will stop as soon as the water level in the
bottle is lower than the output.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 13/04/2021 17:06, Rod Speed wrote:
Mike Halmarack wrote
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any wayÂ* similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves. Is it
possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure without
recourse to electricity and pumps?

Makes more sense to use water solenoid and a timer. Have the solenoid on
the tap so that any failure is
just dead plants and not a flood.

Tip, always replace the batteries in a water timer a week before you go
away on holiday. Ideally water during the night and not during the day.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 13/04/2021 16:12, Mike Halmarack wrote:
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?


Neighbours ?

On 13/04/2021 20:19, Andrew wrote:
On 13/04/2021 16:12, Mike Halmarack wrote:
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any wayÂ* similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?


Neighbours ?

Or put them inside under that leaky black/blue pipework :-)

On Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:12:17 +0100, Mike Halmarack
wrote:

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

On Wed, 14 Apr 2021 08:25:11 +0100, Mike Halmarack
wrote:

On Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:12:17 +0100, Mike Halmarack
wrote:

As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

What a brilliant range of ideas! Thanks for all the tips. I'll try
them out.
While the inside of my airing cupboard may be well moist enough a lot
of the time, it's a bit dark in there. Mushrooms maybe.
--

Mike

On Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:50:06 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
wrote:

Its often better to use several bottles in trays of capillary matting with
the planters sucking it up from the tray. I've done this with a whole
greenhouse and a lot of water bottles inverted full of water using
galvanised steel wire bent as stands and spacers at the bottle top which of
course is now on the bottom.
Might be a lot easier to find a person to do it though!
Brian

Reminds me of my delighful mother in law who would often ask,
"Are you going to do it, or shall I get a proper man in?"
--

Mike

On 13/04/2021 16:12, Mike Halmarack wrote:
As I may be going to live long enough to go on me holliers after all,
is there a method of watering my balcony plants in any way similar to
this?

A large plastic milk bottle full of water on my balcony floor, with a
tube from it going straight up the wall to plants on shelves.
Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

No. You would need a pump to make water flow up hill.

One way that works provided that they are in sunshine is a bottle with a
small pipe in it that is bent to a J shape and glued into a hole in the
cap. The long leg should reach down to the base of the bottle and the
curve of the J should be above the plant you want watered. Needs an
airtight seal to work.

White paper wrapped around where the water is (to stop it concentrating
the sun on curtains and keep the water coolish) and some black tape on
the air filled void above the water. Expansion of the air forces some
water out whenever it is sunny. The amount of water gradually increasing
as the volume of air gets bigger each day.

You can also get drip release values that go onto lemonade type bottles
and a tent peg like hollow cone that goes into the pot. The bottle being
inverted so that water slowly drips out.

I found that they tended to jam frequently though. YMMV

I actually made a nominally solar powered pump (intended for a fountain)
but on a lead acid battery which drew water from a large sump and a
conventional drip watering system intended for mains water. Half an hour
a day was more than enough to keep everything watered. Again I needed a
good inlet filter or mosquito larvae clogged up the valves.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote:

Mike Halmarack wrote:

Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

No. You would need a pump to make water flow up hill.

You could use a ram pump, doesn't need electricity :-P

On 17/04/2021 10:49, Andy Burns wrote:
Martin Brown wrote:

Mike Halmarack wrote:

Is it possible to apply anything like the right kind of pressure
without recourse to electricity and pumps?

No. You would need a pump to make water flow up hill.

You could use a ram pump, doesn't need electricity :-P


Needs a continuous flow of water

Andy Bennet wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

You could use a ram pump, doesn't need electricity :-P

Needs a continuous flow of water

Hence the tongue in cheek.