How do self-watering pots work?

[scottie]

Hi Im a newby

how do self watering Actually pots work I can see that there is water well involved but when water dosnt reach soil in pot to me there is nothing to get water to soil 

Regards Scottie

[BradN]

Hi @scottie, and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's great to have you here.

With self-watering pots the idea is that the roots of the plant grow down to the bottom of the pot and then suck up water from the reservoir in the bottom of the pot.

Of course, when you first put a plant into a self-watering pot, the roots won't reach the bottom of the pot. You'll have to keep watering your plant just like a normal pot plant until its roots have grown down into the reservoir.

But even when the roots have grown down into the reservoir, you'll still want to keep watering the plant from the top.

The reason for this is because plants are on a liquid diet – their main way of getting nutrients from the soil is by sucking them up with water. If you don't water from the top the plant will go hungry.

I have a few plants in self-watering pots, but I treat them just like all my other plants and water them just the same. I'm sure the plants get some benefit from self-watering pots but we still need to water them.

Are you thinking of buying some plants and pots? For indoors or outdoors?

You might be interested in reading some of the handy gardening guides in our How To section, such as How to pot a plant, How to choose plants for your garden and How to choose plants for hanging baskets.

Brad

[EricL]

Hello @scottie

It's great that you've received excellent advice from @BradN. His explanation of the inner workings of the self-watering pots is spot on. Depending on the type of pot you've purchased some have water windows in them to let you see if there is still water at the bottom of the holding tray. Others will have an overflow hole that prevents the pot from storing too much water and drowning the plant. Some pots have specialty tubes that let you know when the water is getting low. Personally, I'm waiting for the wifi-enabled version that will let my plant walk to the tap and get a drink for itself.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric