Instructions for another awesome self-watering container take a bottom-up approach, with a several-gallon reservoir in the bottom that slowly wicks up into the soil.

Concept and detailed instructions for one version:
http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/

A much easier to build container:

Some tips:

1) Pick up some porch screen while gathering materials at the hardware store. You can protect the fill tube and overflow drain to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the water.

2) The water jugs in the youtube video have a small hole pierced near the top to let air escape as water fills up from below.

I’m currently testing the style shown in the youtube video on my patio. I just got them set up in time for second planting and I’ve got some tomatoes put in as well as beans and egg plant starting from seed. So far everything’s going great.

@Skitchin: What about different weather conditions? When it’s hot, there aren’t only the tomatoes using the water, but also some of the water will evaporate. so you need to water the plant more often.

What i don’t like about this setup is the water reservoir. A bucket is never secure enough. Imagine children (or mature friends with significant level of blood in their alcohol) walking around. One kick to the bucket and you don’t only have a minor pond, but also maybe a wasted watering system.

I’d take something seal-able…and probably include some filling system for the reservoir. Jouni’s setup already includes a water level control for the bucket, so it might be usable for opening some valve to fill the reservoir.

Nice build though. I really like it.

sigh. reminds me of my plans for a patio hydro system this summer. unfortunately the damn police took most of my good equipment when they raided the place. so mad about that. hydro equipment != growing weed! moral of the story: get your vegetables from portugal, your medicine from big pharma, smoke cigarettes, and burn oil. :(

@Mike: You know, you have to be careful on the interwebz nowadays :D

Great hack! But why must every hack include an Iphone or use twitter?

I’m not a hater, but why the **** must your Tomatos twit? o:

@Henrik

10 CHECK BUCKET
20 GOTO 10

whats wrong with tomatoes? I have a couple plants out back, heck we even have a couple here at work (along with watermelons)

They are easy to grow and quite tasty, Grow up? you might want to take that advice

Can you make it with multiple soil moisture monitors that can average over a larger surface? Say, the 75 tomato plants we have in our backyard? Maybe toss in a ph monitor too? Use the arduino to control irrigation valve solenoids?

“whats wrong with tomatoes?”
what you gonna do with them a salad ?
how about nice fat join for you and buddies, that’s what wrong

@Osgeld: i think therian is talking about growing “other stuff”

Citation with correction: “how about nice fat joinT for you and buddies”

Hi all, thanks for all the comments. Few responses:

To many: yeah, I know there’s other similar systems as well. This is not unique idea, nothing is unique I guess. :)

toaste: Actually the box where the tomatoes is that kind of box :) But those things can run out of water and their reservoir is quite small. And the soil can get too moist quite easily and your plants will die.

nomad: Well, I don’t have kids and highly doubt that the water reservoir falls over. If it does, the water leaves from our balcony to the ground.

Henrik Pedersen: why wouldn’t it twitter if it can :) You’re missing the point. And also: I can easily check when the tomatoes have got their water – without some kind of logging systems you can’t be sure of it, you’re probably not there to see it pumping :)

–

This system has grown already one crop of tomatoes last summer and their were juicy! Now it’s just an addon with the internet-connection :)

WUNT tomatoes? Go out to the goddamn store and buy some. Why do people want to spare 5$s growing that shit at home.

Grow marihuana instead…

-forgot to mention.
Just got back from a KILLER Pa. vacation and I have a ton of weeding, cutting and watering to do!

(no crops, but some 10-foot high Hollyhocks, brethren and cistern…10 feet!)

Be well.

uh huh….”tomatoes”.

Sure.

@Jouni It is very nice !
Can I ask what hardware is in box that receives the data and sends the data to the router ?
Thanks

I have a similar but simpler setup I use when we go on vacation. We have many orchids in the house growing on slabs of wood that must be sprayed with water daily.

I use a 5 gallon bucket of water with a 120V submersible pump plugged into a household timer. Using a bucket limits my mistakes to 5 gallons max. The timer is set to turn on at 6:15 AM and off at 6:16 AM. The sump pump has an ordinary garden hose connector on the top, to which I have connected a drip irrigation pressure regulator (drops it down to 25 PSI max.) From the regulator, I connect it with an adapter to a piece of ordinary 1/4″ drip irrigation hose. From there, it goes to manifolds which fan out with very flexible 1/4″ aquarium hose to drip irrigation spray nozzles I affix with clothespins. I just point the nozzles at the plants that need daily water.

(The mounted plants are all located inside environmentally controlled glass cases which keep the water from being sprayed all around the house.)

I had the bucket, pump, and leftover drip irrigation parts laying around the garage. I had to spend $20 for an electronic timer that has one minute resolution. And now we can head off for a week without trying to find someone to come and babysit the plants once a day.