I am guilty of being an inattentive and generally distracted seedling mama! But rather than give up on raising plants from seed altogether, these awesome little self-watering seedling pots mean I can still raise my own seedlings with much less risk of them dehydrating while I’m otherwise occupied.
This particular design is a great little setup shown to me by a generous AirB&B host I had the pleasure of meeting up in the Bay of Islands. He gifted me some wonderful chilli seedlings in these little pottles and I was so blown away by their function that I’ve made lots more since.
The concept is you form a seedling pot from a used plastic bottle, and take a fabric “wick” from the soil through to a water canister. This draws water through for your plants to drink from as needed, without the roots sitting in water. I find the water lasts a good couple of weeks before it needs topping up, which I’m much more likely to succeed at than having to water daily!
What you will need;
– Some empty plastic bottles
– Some rag material, old t-shirts are great
– Good nourishing soil
– Seed raising mix
– And seeds
How to make your self-watering seedling pot;
1. Make a hole in the lid of your bottle, I used a drill for this but however you want to do it.
2. Cut the bottles in half so you can invert the top half and sit it in the bottom.
3. Cut a strip of fabric and tie a knot it in which is bigger than the hole in your lid.
4. Thread it through the lid so it reaches into the bottom of your bottle, and has a bit of length up into the soil side.
5. Fill your top section most of the way with good soil which will feed your plant once it sprouts.
6. Top it up with seed raising mix to give your seed the best start.
7. Water to give the soil some moisture.
8. Plant your seeds and watch them grow!
When your reservoir runs out of water, simply lift the top out and fill it again. This means you don’t need to water over the top of the little seedling, meaning you don’t disturb the little tiny roots and they can stay super healthy until they’re ready to plant out in your garden.
There’s a handy little video of the process over on Instagram and linked below for those visual learners out there.
Happy planting team!
