New: Recycled Pop Bottle Planters 2.0

Click for larger sizes on Flickr

Recycled pop/soda bottle planters are the best way that I know of to learn how to grow and maintain plants in containers. I’ve justifiably called them the Rosetta Stones of urban greenscaping.

The only thing that has bothered me about these sub-irrigated (aka "self-watering) planters is their height that makes them more difficult to conceal in a cachepot.

The simple solution is to cut off the neck of the bottle to reduce the height of the section that holds the plant. I used a hot knife heated over my gas stove. Doing this also requires lowering the height of the reservoir section.

You can see the significant difference in the photo above. The pop bottle planter 2.0 on the left now fits nicely into a ceramic planter like this one from IKEA. Incidentally, a standard 6” grow pot will not fit into this planter but the 2.0 pop bottle planter does.  

I would definitely recommend the 2.0 planters for all indoor plants. It will not work as well for outdoor plants in sunlight because the capacity of the reservoir is reduced.

Look for detailed instructions and an update of this Flickr photo set in the near future.

Comments

[Erik]

In your flickr photo set I see the regular plastic container with polyester batting style like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenscaper/2740516801/in/set-72157604735985648/

Is there no need to poke the air holes in the plastic container in addition to inserting the batting?

[Erik]

Also, somewhat eagerly awaiting more detailed pictures / instructions of the cut-off neck 2.0 version!

[Greenscaper]

Hi Erik, The inner (cookie) container has holes poked all over the bottom that help oxygenation and drain any excess water. They just don't show up in the photo. Good eye!

The Flickr photos instruction set needs updating to include the shorter 2.0 version and I've also added a fill tube (5/8" dia clear plastic). Should have done it long ago. Photo documentation of all this stuff is tedious work. Maybe it will be easier with the Flip camcorder I recently bought. Yet another digital art to learn. Thanks for your interest. Stay tuned!

[Erik]

Is there much to it aside from cutting off the bottle neck? I've just today made my first pop bottle planter from a 3 liter and it is just a little too tall to hide in the clay put my plant used to be in...

(i figured there were holes in the inner plastic container with the batting... they're smaller than in the original pop bottle planters or about the same size?)

thanks for the quick reply by the way!