Buried Soda bottle tips: Placing the bottle in a nylon stocking keeps most of the dirt out of the bottle. Milk bottles are larger than liter bottles and will water for longer than soda bottles.
Insert a funnel into the top of the open bottle to make watering easier. (this sometimes catches the rain too!) Freeze the water in the soda bottle drip feeder first. It makes it so much easier to poke the holes.

Marla, a reader of the blog, inserted a water meter near the roots and says that there is still moisture after three days of non watering in 100 degree heat!

Sterling suggests cutting the top 2-1/2″ from the soda bottle, flipping it over and putting it back into the bottle that was left from cutting with the top removed. This way, the main part of the bottle still holds the water and the upside down top acts as the funnel. and little will be lost to evaporation.

Joyce suggests this: just cut the top off a smaller soda bottle & attach it as a funnel. Or use a 2nd bottle the same size, cut the top off & clip the screw-on part so it can be forced into the soaker bottle. These are all great ways if you have no funnel.

Jennifer did this soda bottle drip feeder with milk jugs last year. She says �One thing no one told me was to put a hole/holes in the very bottom of the jug. All my holes were about an inch from the bottom so there was always an inch of water sitting in the jug. That inch of water grew algae and I lost 2 cucumber plants. Be sure to put some holes in bottom so it can all drain completely.�

Bob says he tried the soda technique and found it labor intensive. Instead he suggests this: Use a piece of PVC pipe with a funnel at the top to fill the bottle. And mark the bottle tops with something that they stand out so to make it easier to find when you go looking. You may also want to add liquid fertilizer during the growing season as needed.

Celesta suggests this: Try gluing your funnel into a convenient length of PVC pipe for your height.This will save a lot of bending to get the water into the neck of the bottle. It also makes it easier to spot in the garden too!

Jennifer suggests this tip for plants that do not like so much water. Poke a hole in the bottom fill and put cap on to adjust the rate of the drip(the tighter the cap the slower the flow) Jennifer also ties hers to the stake so they don�t blow away.

Karla suggested this tip: Have smaller bottles filled with water to add to the opening so you don�t need a hose. Wayne has an interesting tip for moisture on Tomatoes in general. He suggests mixing sheet rock from remodeling works for those with clay soils. He suggests mixing it with straw. This helps break down and loosen clay bound soils. You can also add sand from rivers. This should improve soil conditions tremendously.

Chrissy has a similar idea. She uses a 5 gallon pail, and drills holes all around and then she planted tomato plants all around it, and filled it with manure. Each time she filled the pail to water her tomatoes, the tomatoes received a healthy dose of poo stew. Chrissy ended up having massive tomato plants, and more tomatoes than she knew what to do with. Thanks for this tip, Chrissy, and I absolutely love the term �poo stew!� Sitting water can attract mosquitoes. Jess suggests this tip: When she does this in her raised vegetable garden, she leaves the caps on and unscrew them as needed. Otherwise I get mosquitoes hanging around and tree seeds in them. It works amazingly well though. Tomatoes love it!

Steve suggested using a large strawberry pot and to invert a bottle on the top. Plant in the pockets on the side and the inverted bottle will do the watering. This will work for smaller plants and make it much less time consuming than watering daily. He says he know it works since his plants are huge and blooming! Sarah has tried this idea for years but finds it great for keeping her veggies watered but finds it time consuming for a lot of plants. This year she attached a hose the length of her tomato patch to her faucet then punched holes in the hose near each plant. She then pushed flow-through Rain Drip adapters into the holes in the hose, and added a length of Rain Drip 1/4″ tubing to the end of each adapter. Finally, she put the length of tubing from the hose into each bottle. Now, when she turns on the hose, the water flows from the faucet to the hose to the 1/4″ tubing and into the bottles deep watering ALL my tomatoes at once. It�s working GREAT!
Soda Bottle Drip

15 DIY Planters http://secondhandsusie.blogspot.com/2017/08/water-your-garden-without-the-hose-ollas-wine-bottle-waterer-mulch.html 3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.

About Gravity Feed In gravity feed systems water will always take the path of least resistance. This should be considered if you decide to place tubing on the ground and punch holes every few inches. What you will run into is that the openings closest to the water source will discharge much more water than the openings farther away on the line. If the distance is longer, you may not even get any water flow out of the last holes on the line. Distance could be as long as 50 feet or as little as 10 feet. This will depend on the height of the bucket/container, the pressure available, and the flow uniformity of the system. Efficiency, and uniformity of gravity feed systems can be improved by selecting a low flow dripper, such, as .5 GPH (2 L/H), and raising the pressure in the system (by raising the height of the bucket from the ground). With drippers, you have better control of flow rate in comparison to poking a hole in the tubing, and also better uniformity from the system due to the dripper water passage.With a gravity feed system you need to fill the container daily or every other day. Also, the only way to adjust the time for the tank to empty, or the drippers' flow rate, is to change the height of the tank, the volume of the tank, and/or the number of drippers in the system. Another problem with gravity feed systems is that the size of the system is limited by the size of the bucket/ container; in general, a container large enough to provide adequate flow and pressure to increasingly larger areas would quickly become unmanageable. Also, as we add more outlets (drippers) to the line, uniformity will decrease, with more water at the beginning of the line and less at the end. In addition, as the water level in the bucket drops, the drippers' flow rate drops. To have an effective gravity feed system; consider the size of the bucket/ tank and the number of drippers. Our suggestion is to make sure that the flow rate per outlet is at least .034 GPH (1.28 l/h). Like drip irrigation, gravity feed systems need a minimum pressure to operate. To gain pressure in gravity feed systems, use this calculation: To gain water pressure by using gravity means you must raise the water source (bucket/container) above the system lines. For every 1' (12 cm) of elevation above the system you will gain .433 PSI (.030 bar). This means that if your water source is 10 feet (3m) above the system you will have 4.33 PSI (.30 bar) at the start of the system. (.433 x 10 = 4.33) Keep in mind that with low pressure, such as 4.33 PSI (.30 bar), you will have the following; Limited distance to run the 1/2" or 1/4" line. The flow rate of the .5 GPH drip emitters recommended is considerably below the manufacturer's suggested flow rate. A drastic drop in uniformity once you exceed certain line length. The chart below is for a gravity feed system using a 1/4" drip line with drippers every 12" (30 cm). In this design we use a 10 gallon (38L) bucket with 9 gallons (30L) of water at a pressure range less then 1 PSI on flat terrain Container Size Height above the drip system Length of drip line run Dripper Flow rate Container close to empty in: 10 gallon 8" 10' .034 GPH 1.28 l/h 35 minutes 10 gallon 12" 10' .036 GPH 1.36 l/h 30 minutes 10 gallon 12" 14' .041 GPH 1.55 l/h 25 minutes 10 gallon 16" 14' .042 GPH 1.58 l/h 20 minutes Installing gravity feed drip system using a 10-gallon bucket Parts suggested for a gravity feed system for 5 lines of 10' (3m) length, each using a 1/4"drip line with drippers pre inserted every 12" (30 cm): Minimum 10 gallon bucket for a system of 12' x 10' (3.6 x 3 meter) with bucket height a minimum of 8" (20 cm) above the ground Estimated cost for the bucket $3 to $10. This system can cover up to 5 rows of 10' (3 m) long, each using our drip irrigation components for a 12' (3.6 m) x 10' (3 m) garden using a 10 gallon (37.85 L) container at a height of 8" to 16" (20 to 40 cm) above the ground. Installation Drill a 3/4" hole in the bucket about 1" from the bottom. From inside the bucket insert a 3/4" x 1" nipple with o-ring model SWF013, listed for $.62 each. From the outside of the bucket, thread a model A029 3/4" adaptor, listed for $.75 each, to the nipple. To the adaptor connect a 3/4" filter model F303, listed for $8.95 each. To the filter connect a ball valve model A123, listed for $2.45 each. To the ball valve connect a 4" to 10" section of 1/2" tubing. To the tubing connect a 1/2" elbow model LF007, listed for $.65 each. To the elbow add another section of 1/2" tubing model T004 from the height of the bucket to the ground. To the end of the 1/2" drip tubing section add an additional elbow model LF007, listed for $.65 each. From the elbow lay out the drip tubing to the garden model T004, listed for $6.25 pr 50' and connect to the elbow. Near each row of plants punch a hole in the 1/2" hose and insert a 1/4" barb model SF001, listed for $.12 each. To the barb connect 10' to 14' of 1/4" drip line model T022, listed for $19.99 for 100' with drippers every 12". To punch the hole in the 1/2"tubing use punch model A019, listed for $1.45. Fill the bucket with water and turn the ball valve on to flush the line, and as the water is running, close the end of the 1/2" tubing using hose end model A006, listed for $.12 each, and close the 1/4" drip line using the small side of the goof plug, model SF007, listed for $.51 for 10 plugs. Total cost for the system will be around $53.00, depending on bucket cost. dripirrigation