Best way to water container plants - Olla spikes vs Plastic bottle

[@kate6119]

Thanks for the comparison. I got myself some olla spikes last year and they worked really well, however I started my balcony garden after the biggest sommer heat, so I will only be able to judge them fully this year. A tip for sunny sites - transparent bottles can serve as a magifying glass and burn the leaves, I swapped them for brown PET or glass and they work like a charm.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Kate. Thank you for sharing your experience with these! It definitely adds value. When it gets crazy hot in my area, I keep an eye out and provide additional water to plants as needed. Please share how it goes for you.

[@utubestalker.dotcom]

fyi: as an experiment we put water in 2 liter soda bottle and left in sun for months. inside was thousands of tiny clear microplastics swirling around even though the bottle still held water.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@utubestalker.dotcom Thank you for sharing this. Lighter glass bottles could be a good substitute.

[@dcwatashi]

@@TheGardenTinkers why not just wrap some aluminum foil, shiny side out around the plastic bottle

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@dcwatashi please elaborate further on this idea. I am not sure if I got it completely. Thank you!

[@LL-oc1xw]

Thank you! This is incredibly helpful. All of my garden plants are in various containers, and I have to hand carry all the water every day. We had a massive drought all summer so far (unusual for garden zone 5) and it's been tricky to keep things moist. This looks like the exact solution that I need. I love how you compared the results - and how you were smart about looking at how the roots spread out (or did not spread out) around the water source. So helpful to know all this. Hope your channel grows well. Great job!

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you! Very kind of you! The El Nino effect is definitely causing unusual weather this year. The temps are so high.

[@kathyw1710]

Thank you for your video. I’ve been looking for this and I will be doing this as well. I have seen hundreds of videos and you are the best.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Kathy. Thank you! I am glad you found this video useful and informative.

[@meganholt7158]

Very informative, high quality video. I was so shocked when i saw how thick the root growth was with the terracotta

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you, very kind of you! Yes those roots were a big surprise for me too. I found the same pattern in other containers that had Olla spikes. Plants are amazing!

[@Niaru.m]

Thank you! From different thoughts on how perhaps plastic could be used as its abundant to all of us, this video explained the best how it all works.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you for checking out this video! We are trying our best to reduce the waste we produce. Our composter has been a big help too, we reduced so much kitchen waste from ending up in landfills.

[@jamiejang8584]

Good for the olla companies but not for my budget 🤣🤣 I laughed out loud. Thank you for an amazing video! This was the last video I needed to watch before I ordered my olla spikes

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Jamie! I know the feeling:) Good thing is if handled carefully, these do last. I did loose a few because of my own mistakes, but most of these are still working, so I don't have to buy it every year.

[@redeemedvintageseamstress4728]

I just watched several "drip irrigation" type gardening videos. In the comments of one, a person said they use a 6" long piece of PVC pipe next to the plants. I'm thinking that would be similar to this, but be cheaper.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@redeemedvintageseamstress4728 it would be worth a try. To me it is all a big experiment, some pass, some fail. Please do share your findings if you try the pvc pipes idea. My only worry with pvc pipe would be that the water will run out of it faster than olla. But this is just a guess from me. May be I will try it out as well.

[@redeemedvintageseamstress4728]

@@TheGardenTinkers my husband mentioned it might be better to put a cap on the end going in the ground with a small hold drilled in it. We have done extra pvc around here.... I think we'll experiment!

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@redeemedvintageseamstress4728 I think it is a good idea. Please share here with me how it goes!

[@gtlfb]

I installed these same spikes in my raised tomato bed over ten days ago. It’s been warm, sunny, and DRY, since, and I’ve never had such vigorous plants, really remarkable. I use wine bottles, and top them off every 5 or 6 days. Very important, you should soak them for several hours before using. Yes, they are fragile. I ordered the set of 20 through Amazon, 2 arrived broken, but I was given a very fair partial refund. Another broke in use, but not so bad it couldn’t be fixed with good ol’ duct tape. I do recommend these, keeping in mind you may only get two or three seasons out them.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you so much for sharing this valuable review. I hope it will help other people looking for more information on olla spike! I am glad your garden is doing great!

[@brudo5056]

Hello, You can try to glue the broken ones by filling up the fracture with some fine baking soda (bicarbonate) and then applying superglue ('fast' acrylic glue) on this filled crack... it works for me also with cracked terracotta (clay pot)... By the way, I think using (unglased) terracotta pots as an alternative Olla works fine and much cheaper. OK, succes with the system

[@gtlfb]

@@brudo5056 I’ve found an even better solution for larger beds - unglazed Terra cotta wine coolers. They were very popular a few years ago, now I see them fairly regularly at thrift stores and estate sales. Much sturdier, hold far more water, and no hole in the bottom to fill in. Just cap with whatever you have handy.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@brudo5056 thank you! Good advice. Next time, I will try it out if I can.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@danasully7385 please see what others are sharing about their experience with using these.

[@SDaulton]

Thank you for this great comparison!

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Most welcome Sarah! Glad you found it useful.

[@kasession]

I soak my ollas before using them. I've been using olla spikes for a few years with wine bottles. I don't have the problem with breakage.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Karen, for sharing this tip. I will try it this year with wine bottles.

[@GrowZoneTamil]

Maybe burying it lil deeper without edge showing on top works ?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@GrowZoneTamil yes, it always starts that way, but as time passes by the soil in containers settle down and exposes the top. Good suggestion though, thank you!

[@dovh49]

There's also olla balls that you can put under the plant. And then you hook up a drip irrigation to it from a bucket. It is supposed to use 1/10th the water of drip irrigation.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

True. I saw those. They were a bit over my budget 😊 but a neat idea!

[@dovh49]

@@TheGardenTinkers Yeah, I had to get 25 of them all at once to make them worth it (~$6 each). They are nice. But my plants don't seem to get enough water even when they are sitting on the ollas, maybe I'm doing something wrong or maybe I just didn't water the ground enough to get them started out. I'll try again next year and see if soaking the ground to start out with will help. I did mention to my kids to water quite a bit the first week, but I don't know if they did or not. We do have one egg plant that is at the edge of the trampoline that is doing fantastic with the olla though. So, maybe they are all getting too much sun. Myself I'm doing wicking beds and they are working great. Today I finally gave one of them water (it had rain water in it from the spring). Pretty nice.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@dovh49 ya, I agree, sometimes certain locations get too much sun and it is hard to keep up with watering. For locations like that, I add a bottom tray and whenever I refill my olla and it's bottle, I fill the tray at the bottom as well. It kind of works like Wicking bed, where it soaks the water from bottom drainage hole and keeps the plant happier for long enough. Wicking bed sounds great and good to hear from you that it is working that well! I never made one but read about it. Saw someone in IG make an awesome wicking bed garden. Maybe someday I will try it.

[@janehill5183]

Thank you, great information

[@venpeddapalli7189]

Per the presenter, these spikes give you 4 days of water in the summer. Seal the bottom holes with cement and put the holes only in the upper part of the container. It keeps enough water for a week. No olla spikes, no bottles needed.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you!

[@danascully7358]

how do you put holes in ceramic? And there are no holes in the ollas. Are you talking about regular terracotta pots?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@danascully7358 you do not need hole in terracota, because these olla spikes let water get through them but at a very slow pace.

[@saltygreenapple1394]

have you ever used the spikes on roses in pots? thank you

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Saltygreenapple. I have not tried it for roses in pots, BUT I use these for other perennial plants in pots such as Moringa. It works well for them.

[@saltygreenapple1394]

@@TheGardenTinkers do you also water them or just the spikes?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@saltygreenapple1394 most of the times I just use spikes for them, but if I see high temps ahead, I would also water from bottom ( fill the tray in which the container is sitting and the dirt absorb the water).

[@manasikashyap]

Thank you!! How long does the olla+plastic bottle combo last in summer before you have to refill ?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Manasi. This relation is proportional to the size of bottle used. I have tried larger bottles and they would last me 3 to 4 days in summer. The bottles in this video are smaller, so in the middle of summer these usually last me 2 days. But in both scenarios these have kept my plants from dying. Also, I am in Kansas. It gets hot here but it is nothing when compared to Texas. I would assume that in Texas these would need refill every day, BUT the good thing is you can bring them in to fill instead of standing outside in heat, and Olla supplies water to the plant all day long as compared to watering the container once which dries out very fast soon after. Hope this insight helps you.

[@manasikashyap]

@@TheGardenTinkers thank you!!

[@laurakirkland4290]

THANK YOU for sharing the olla method! We will try it this summer

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thanks Laura!

[@GreenLove1]

I just got two boxes of these. Question: Do you need to bring them in during the winter ? I live in California and we have just a few days where the temps drop to freezing. Also, do we need to bury the spike completely to the top? I have seen many videos where half of it is sticking out, seems like thisbsefeats the point to the olla though. What is your recommendation? Thabks btw for an awesome video, super helpful. One of the best I have seen on the internet on this topic.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi GreenLove1. Thank you for your lovely comment! We are in Kansas and our winter is pretty harsh (snow, huge temperature drops, wind chills etc for almost 4 months), but I do not bring Olla spikes in. For example I left them out in containers this past winter and they are all fine except for the one that I broke in this video. My observation is that when it is too cold, they will become brittle and will break easily even if you kick the container gently, so better not handle them then. If you really need to use it, bring the container into garage the night before, it will thaw by next morning and then it is safe to take them out. About your second question, the reason why it looks like sticking up is because overtime the soil settles down and ends up exposing the Olla. So when you insert it, insert it all the way so that the collar of Olla is at soil level. Best wishes for your garden!

[@GreenLove1]

@@TheGardenTinkers super helpful, thanks for the guidance

[@TheGardenTinkers]

You are most welcome!

[@MrGiodude17]

Where do u buy olla spikes

[@TheGardenTinkers]

I bought mine from Amazon.

[@MrGiodude17]

@@TheGardenTinkers hypothetically speaking for a friend .. how would this work in a hemp plant pot

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@MrGiodude17 I have used it for several different vegetable plants and couple of apple trees. It seemed to work fine for them.

[@lzshow]

Does it matter if I put them on the side of the plant instead of the middle

[@TheGardenTinkers]

There is no rule about where to put it. You can definitely put it next to the plant. I put them in the center because that way the water is evenly distributed in all directions, in case I decide to grow more than one plant in same container.

[@jyothiblooms747]

Very useful video for summer time. Thank you. Your new subscriber. Stay connected.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Jyothi! Very kind of you!

[@vzero_snexfur885]

​@@TheGardenTinkers hi can i have a srip irrigation ststem off grid ?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@vzero_snexfur885 Hi, I am not an expert in off grid living, but if you have a water tap (from a well or any other system at your off grid location) then you can connect it to your drip irrigation system and it should work just fine. Water needs to be pushed into the drip irrigation system with pressure (a regular tap does it by default) so that it can travel to the end of the line and provide water drips along its way.

[@KojiLocks]

awesome experiment, fun and cool and very insightful thank you

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Koji! Thank you for your kind comment.

[@jameshecht3471]

Except that water bottle has a ton of bad bacteria in a matter of days 😂😊

[@Gundumb_guy]

Pretty cool

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Pat, glad you found it useful!

[@Kathy-ku9tm]

Great tip😊

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Kathy 🙂

[@lzshow]

What r ur thoughts on bottom watering

[@TheGardenTinkers]

It is one of my favorite ways to water containers, alongwith olla. I have a lot of containers, and not all of them have olla, so I use bottom watering for those. I think together, olla and bottom watering makes a strong combination that can help keeping plants hydrated for longer.

[@lzshow]

Is this the only way u water them or do u also directly water the soil

[@TheGardenTinkers]

At the peak of summer, based on need, I would directly water them. Some containers do fine, while others need more help depending upon where they are placed. For example, containers that get some shade need less watering or do fine with just olla itself. The ones in direct sun may need more attention. Again, depends on many factors.

[@OJoy1987]

Hi there, may I ask how often you refill the bottle of water

[@TheGardenTinkers]

It depends upon the size of the bottles and the heat. Because i am using smaller bottles when it gets to hot, I fill the every other day. During Fall they can last upto 3 days. If you can find larger bottles that are light weight then they will last longer.

[@dutchbeef8920]

Very useful

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you 🙏

[@1utube01]

I wonder what would happen with the plastic bottles if you wrapped them in a biodegradable sponge or cotton. The advantage with the terra cotta is it is breathable and transfers eater soaking all around the body of the stake. Cant do that with plastic, except at the holes. But maybe a natural sponge or cotton wrap would turn the bottle into something similar.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

I think it is a very good idea and worth trying. I plan to run few more experiments this year for watering options. I shall add this one and see how it goes. If you run this experiment yourself then please share the results here.

[@H.R.H-Amina_Bin_Shafiq-SHAKTI]

NIIIIIIIICE 😊

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you!

[@lyndasimpson4085]

❤❤ thank you

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Welcome! I hope you found this info useful!

[@Kathy-ku9tm]

Great tips

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you Kathy!

[@steveshuffle]

great video - thanks for sharing ! question: how long (days/weeks) is the watering lasting with those 500ml bottles?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Stef! Thank you! On crazy hot days (85 F to 100F) it lasts about two days, on other days it can go upto 4 days. If you can find light weight glass bottles ( such as wine bottles) that are bigger than these, it would last longer.

[@PuthyvanGarden]

Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Most welcome! Thank you for checking out this video.

[@danascully7358]

Thank You! I had actually thought about putting water bottles in the ground with tiny holes. This was great to know. Can anyone answer how often you need to fill the olla?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Dana. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and I am glad you found this video helpful. I have answered in reply to other comments on this video, how often we need to fill bottle to use with olla. I will try to tag you on some of the replies so that you can find it easily.

[@stephenantonicelli7069]

Where are they sold/ola

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Hi Stephen. I have put the link in the description for these.

[@WoodbridgeHillCottage]

We have just subscribed to your channel 😊

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you, very kind of you! And welcome!

[@WoodbridgeHillCottage]

@TheGardenTinkers your welcome. Our channel is kzbin.info

[@toosense]

Why not wrap the top of the spike in duct tape so it has support and doesn’t break so easily?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

It is a good idea and worth trying!

[@lzshow]

When I put the waterbottle the next day it's all gone...what I'm doing wrong

[@TheGardenTinkers]

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. There are three possibilities, 1st your olla is brand new, terracota soaks a lot of water when it is brand new, it will stop doing this after some time. You can also take the olla spike out and soak it in water overnight and then put it back in your container. 2nd possibility, it is really very hot where you live. When it is too hot, water also evaporates from the soil faster. You can slow this evaporation down by mulching your container. 3rd possibility, your olla probably broke, there could be a crack in it and the water is leaking out fast. You can take the olla out and inspect it, fill it with water and see if it is leaking fast from any side. If it is, and you recently bought it, you can return it and ask for a replacement or refund. I hope these suggestions help.

[@moistenland]

automatic drip irriagtion system will be more helpful

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Drip irrigation is a good solution but it works differently from olla. Drip would deliver water while the water supply is turned on, which will then evaporate within few hours after the water supply is turned off, similar to how to water containers manually. Olla provides a constant supply of water (as long as the water lasts in the bottle, which would then need refilling), regulated by how much the soil needs it, how much of water has evaporated and how much the soil dries out.

[@moistenland]

@@TheGardenTinkers Thank you for your patience in explaining this difference between them,my quick-dial automatic drip irrigation system need video reviewing,if you have interest,please reply to me your mail address,thanks

[@TheGardenTinkers]

@@moistenland Thank you for reaching out to me about this. Currently I am running on a tight shift, but I will keep you in my consideration and reach out to you in future as time permits.

[@moistenland]

@@TheGardenTinkers thanks,i am looking forward to your new video. BTW,could you please kindly tell me your mail account for more information talking?

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Thank you! I do not mind connecting with you. You can reach out to me at [e-mail].

[@ES-mc3cc]

Plastic bottles introduce plastic particles into the soil and plants. Just like the original bottled water did to your body.

[@TheGardenTinkers]

Yes, I agree! I would encourage everyone to find lighter weight glass bottle instead.

[@lolitabonita08]

how to pronounce the word...o ll (y- am sound) a (a- pple)

[@TheGardenTinkers]

I think it is oo-yaa , ll is silent, and the sound of 'a' is like how the word 'amazing' starts. I definitely mispronounced it.