This is the first effort at cutting glass bottles to make sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) or hydroculture planters. I believe it is the start of something big. Wine, champagne, liquor, water bottle planters to come. Who knows what else.
I pulled these small beer bottles out of the trash. The planter on the right is the same configuration as the plastic soda bottle SIPs.
The inverted neck portion of the bottle forms the planter. The bottom section forms the water and air reservoir.
There is a fabric wick/retainer at the end of the neck that holds the soil mix in the neck of the bottle and feeds water up by capillary action.
The planter to the left is hydroculture, which is a very simple form of hydroponics. There is no need for the neck. The bottom is filled with expanded clay pebbles. There is a ½” clear plastic tube going all the way to the bottom of the bottle planter. You can insert a piece of ¼” clear plastic tubing (or a straw) and oxygenate the water by blowing air. You do not need an electric pump or air stone.
The plants are unrooted Spider plant offsets (Chlorophytum). They are on a work surface less than two feet away from where I sit so I can constantly observe their health and growth.
I cut the bottles by making a single score line and then dipping them alternatively into boiling hot and then icy cold water. It took a significant amount of time and patience to assemble the cutter and get the hang of the separation method. When it works, it is rather miraculous. There are no jagged edges and no need for a burning string, which is the way I did it a long time ago when I was a kid.
Stay tuned. Lots more to come.