Ollas (watering with clay pots)

TejasTerry 4/21/2013, 10:30 am

Has anyone used ollas or clay pots buried in their SFG beds to water? I have drip irrigation installed in most of my beds, however have a new 8 x 4 foot 9 inch deep bed that I would like to try this irrigation method.

The ollas online are pretty expensive. Yesterday I bought some regular pots that are unglazed, and did the DIY method of glueing them together that's found on youtube, to create my own cheaper version. I put 2 of them in the new bed, and it seems they are leaching too much water..*sigh*...

Just curious if anyone has tried this, did you break down and buy the expensive ones? or make your own? Or perhaps have a source for some more reasonably prices ones....

I'm heading to Garden Ridge pottery today to see what they have...

**Turan** 4/21/2013, 1:03 pm

We talked about this last year but I can not seem to find the thread......
A couple people were using pop bottles with holes in the lid or sides to do something similar.

jazzycat 4/21/2013, 1:27 pm

I never heard of this but it sounds intriguing. Kinda like a self-watering system, but not. Let me know how it works out if you decide to do it. I have a self watering bed that is working beautifully. We buried plastic bins under the bed. There are pictures on here somewhere of the entire process. It seems like clay would be better simply because of the toxicity of plastic, which worries me. But if the water leaches out too quickly, it would require more attention. soooooo...

Icemaiden 4/21/2013, 1:38 pm

Would it work to waterproof part of the pots so that the reservoir volume is the same but the water can only leach out of a smaller area?

+old thread https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t2750-garden-ollas?highlight=ollas

Jeff 4/21/2013, 4:48 pm

What a great forum! We had some success with homemade ollas (frustrating to fill with small opening) so we designed a larger 2 gallon version with wide mouth, work well in our square foots. Also using ollas with new trees. Worked so well we started DrippingSpringsOLLAS.com. Take a look at the FAQs. Our facebook page is full of valuable info. Dripping Springs OLLAS are available in Austin, Wimberley, Waco, Houston, Minnesota, Virginia and beyond. Better to purchase from the retailer, expensive to ship.

TejasTerry 4/21/2013, 8:07 pm

We resealed some of the pots we had glued together, and they seem to be seeping less. So probably they are going to work really well.

I will try to post some pics tomorrow.

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Ollas (watering with clay pots)

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