Ice for Summer?

[ma7t]

Just a thought, it might be a bit ridiculous but I was wondering and figured I'd ask for some opinions.
I work all day and only have time to water my plants morning and afternoon, with this hot summer weather I feel my plants need a bit more water as the soil dries up rather quickly. Not all of us can afford a fancy watering system with a timer, so I was wondering, would putting a chunk of Ice in the pot and letting it melt down through the day be a possibility for watering my plants?

[Boics]

It would probably need to be a reasonable sized chunk of ice to last any worthy length of time.
Personally I can't see any problem with this approach though.

Trays of rocks and water underneath pots are always a good option to keep up the humidity and moisture to trees.
This doesn't mean that the pots end up submerged - one simply rests the pots on top of the rocks and water.

Soaked newspapers on top of pots works well.

I can't imagine that plastic bags around pots would be too much of an issue?

I'm sure others will have some ideas.

[Rory]

Are you seriously going to prepare ice each day and leave that in your pots. I'd say this is a lot more work time wise than a simple watering system? To me it does sound ridiculous, and the extreme temperature of ice during summer is not a great idea.

When you say not everyone can afford a fancy watering system. Seriously, I paid I think $40 or $50 to setup my watering system from Bunnings, with a timer. Just buy the plastic tubing, buy a pack of spray misting jets, stick them in with the whole puncher, and attach it to the timer with a stop at the end of the pipe. Done. The real issue is normally, that an individual actually can't be bothered doing it, not normally the price. It took me about 4 hours to setup the system to water 200 bonsai. Just go into bunnings and ask the gardening guy for advice, they are more than friendly.

[Beano]

I'd love a fancy watering system with a timer but my silly little balcony doesn't have a tap.

[ma7t]

Are you seriously going to prepare ice each day and leave that in your pots. I'd say this is a lot more work time wise than a simple watering system? To me it does sound ridiculous, and the extreme temperature of ice during summer is not a great idea.

When you say not everyone can afford a fancy watering system. Seriously, I paid I think $40 or $50 to setup my watering system from Bunnings, with a timer. Just buy the plastic tubing, buy a pack of spray misting jets, stick them in with the whole puncher, and attach it to the timer with a stop at the end of the pipe. Done. The real issue is normally, that an individual actually can't be bothered doing it, not normally the price. It took me about 4 hours to setup the system to water 200 bonsai. Just go into bunnings and ask the gardening guy for advice, they are more than friendly.

It wouldn't be that hard actually because I don't have a lot of bonsai. Thanks for the input, I thought the watering set ups were a lot more, guess I should probably look into it rather than being a lazy shari.

[Isitangus]

Aldi have soaker hoses on sale for under $10, pair it with a cheap manual timer from bunnings and bingo bango you have yourself a fancy watering system for under $30 that can water your plants numerous times throughout the day.

[Ulf]

A 20 litre plastic drum set high enough to gravity feed with some 6mm plastic tubing and dripper ends should solve the issue for around $10 provided you can get the drum free. Fill the drum each morning before you leave.

[Jason]

Trays of rocks and water underneath pots are always a good option to keep up the humidity and moisture to trees.
This doesn't mean that the pots end up submerged - one simply rests the pots on top of the rocks and water.

This is what I do If I'm expecting a RELALY hot day, like the weekend just passed, I'll move them into a bit more a shady area so that they won't dry out as quick

[kcpoole]

My old faithful watering timer blew up last weekend due to a Faulty solenoid.
Had to replace the controller and Solenoid to get back up and running.

The one I had is no longer available ( about 6 years old) so replaced it with this one from the big B
http://www.holmanindustries.com.au/dial-ezy-controller/

My current setup has one of these, 3 Solenoids, 1x 4 way manifold, 50 M of poly tube and sprayers. the entire kit would cost about $150 to replace with new and saves me the need to water the lot every day. I just do a few by hand.

If you do not have a tap, then you can drive it all off a tank and pump if you want.

Ken