Self / slow watering devices?

[swizzlestix]

Can anyone recommend any of those terracotta/ plastic/ glass slow watering bottles/bulbs that you insert into your plant pots / flower beds & they slowly release water.
Looking for something to use for when we go on holiday for a week. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you

I see these things on Pinterest occasionally, usually home made, it might be worth having a look through and see if there's anything you think will be worth trying.

Ooh thanks I hadnt thought of looking on there!

Amazon have some that I was thinking of getting but don't know what they're like yet.

Just water pots really well, put a plant saucer underneath and put them close together in the shade. They'll be fine for a week. I did exactly that 2 weeks ago and they were fine even during the heatwave.

Flower beds are more problematic but,given the recent weather, I well-watered the ones I wanted to survive before I went and left it to providence. Most of my borders resemble Arizona atm despite mulching,but a few plants are hanging on.

It's more my tomato's I'm worried about!

Thanks for all your replies plant saucers are a great call too!!

Capillary matting has worked for me; you stand the pots on top of soaked matting in. A tray. Then you have a feeder tray of water with strips of mattkng linking the two. The plants take up the moisture as needed, works in the garden/greenhouse and for houseplants.
DH has also set up a watering system which might be worth considering for the future; pipes that drip water into each pot, on a timer.

IKEA do them too - Svämskog

Thankyou both! Not heard about the capillary matting system - that sounds genius. Much appreciated

It’s an absolute revelation; in fact, I think I’ll set it up in my greenhouse as the way to raise seedlings without having to run out and check the water every day.
www.theartofdoingstuff.com/an-automatic-plant-waterer-that-works/

I’m also interested in suggestions for keeping plants alive while on holiday for 2 weeks in August .

I’ve experimented tonight with plastic water bottles with holes in ….

The holes need to be very small I found out very quickly :) I’m leaving them
overnight and will assess tomorrow

I’ve also wondered about just cutting back some perennials to reduce the water loss from leaves as it may be preferable to save the plant this way and have reduced flowers for the rest of the summer

I’m going to move as many pots as I can into the shade but I’ve got some big planters / raised beds where I’m trying the water bottles.

has anyone tried the drip spikes that you can buy and fix to water bottles that @Cheese55 suggested up thread? Or the ikea ones?

I got the spike globe ones from Amazon. One had a leak! The other 3 I put in the grow bag outside
With 2 of them the water went somewhere, 1 didn't do anything. It didnt seem to keep the soil damp though, so not enough for more than 1 night away at most.

I bought some spikes from Robert Dyas that you screw plastic bottles onto (one-litre mixer bottles fit perfectly, so we had fun drinking lots of gin and tonic to get the empty bottles ). I think it was about £8 or £9 for a pack of 8 spikes, which I've put in my raised beds by the most vulnerable plants. I'm on holiday at the moment, but my mum popped round at the weekend and reported that the bottles had only just emptied after a week away, and that the plants looked ok, despite hot weather in our part of the UK. She refilled them on Saturday, so I'll see how they're doing when we get back this weekend!