Simple DIY Self-Watering Planter

Gardening
Simple DIY Self-Watering Planter

If you really dislike the task of watering your plants, you can make a super easy DIY self-watering planter! All you need is an empty coffee container like Folgers, an empty 2 liter soda bottle, a knife, a Sharpie, and some scissors.

YouTube user mediamaker2000 shares his few step process to a self-watering planter that is convenient and easy to make. Because it is a sealed system, it lowers water consumption by greatly reducing evaporation, and it keeps insects out of the water supply. All you have to do is follow the steps in the video, put your dirt in the 2-liter, plant your plant in the dirt, and put the water in. And because of the see-through 2 liter, you can easily check to see if your plant is rootbound. This kind of planter, although not large, would be great for growing herbs, or mid-stage growth of things like peppers, tomatoes, or even radishes, onions, or lettuce.

0 thoughts on “Simple DIY Self-Watering Planter

  1. Bob Madoran says:

    That is not a self-watering planter. All that would do is you would end up flooding the roots of the plant in too much water, which is not good. With this idea, you might as well skip the coffee can and just use the 2-liter bottle with out any drainage holes in the bottom, the effect would be the same.
    With a very simple modification to what is shown in the video, an actual self-watering planter could be made.
    You would need a few small lengths of nylon rope. The pieces of rope would hang of out the bottom of the 2-liter bottle through the holes cut into it. Feed one end of the rope up through one hole, have it loop around inside the 2-liter bottle, and then come back out one of the other holes. Do not push the 2-liter bottle all the way to the bottom of the coffee can, only about half way.
    The idea is fairly simple. Fill the coffee can with water, but keep the water level below the bottom of the 2-lilter bottle. Fill the 2-liter bottle with potting soil or other growing medium (not dirt), and add you plant/seeds. The nylon rope will wick the water out of the coffee can and into the 2-liter bottle. The growing medium will then drawn the water from the rope.
    As the plant uses the water, the growing medium will dry out causing the rope to wick more water out of the coffee can. The roots of the plant will not be drowned in water which will lead to a healthier plant.

    1. bit rez says:

      I’ve made these out of 5 gallon buckets nested inside of each other and they work perfectly well. Granted, my buckets are sitting inside of each other and the reservoir is below the soil level (the one in the video has water potentially much higher and I have no experience with what effect, if any, that has). In the bucket design you drill a hole and put a funnel (which will be filled with soil) into the bottom of the inner bucket as well as drilling holes into the bottom of same. Not too many holes and not too big. You don’t need any rope, you just put moist soil inside and the capillary action will pull up the water it needs as it dries.

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Cosplayer, writer, craftswoman at Ruby Fern, and co-founder of the non-profit The Geek Foundation. I love creativity and being a maker!

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