Wickpot From Plastic Bottle

As part of my first attempt to grow seeds indoors, I used a seed starting tray, which had a wicking mat. I needed more room to grow seeds, so I decided to create some wickpots using some plastic bottles I had saved.

This is how I created the wickpots.

You can be flexible on the type of plastic bottle that you use. The key is to have one big enough to hold some water and dirt in the final product. I used V8 Splash bottles, because my kids and I enjoy drinking it and we go through at least one a week.

• Plastic Bottle (64 oz / 2 Qt / 1.89 L, etc )
• Shoe string or small diameter rope (make sure it wicks)
• Drill with drill bit (same diameter of the string)
• Something to cut the bottle (scissors will work)
• Soil (preferably a type of potting soil)
• Pebbles (optional)

You will need to separate the top of the bottle with the bottom of the bottle. In his case, I cut the bottle into thirds, making the top section for the dirt and the bottom section for the water.

The cap of the bottle needs a hole in it for the string. The easiest way is to get a drill bit that is either as big or slightly smaller than the diameter of the string. Once the dirt is in, it will hold the string, but you want to limit the amount of dirt going through the hole. So, the closer the diameter of the hole matches the string, the better.

Once you have the hole ready, just pull the string through about halfway through the cap. You need to make sure that the string will touch the bottom of the water holder and be enough for the dirt to get wet all over.

As an optional step, you can put some pebbles at first into the dirt holding area and then fill in the rest with the dirt. Make sure that the string is inside of the dirt and not just on the bottom covered by the dirt.

After you add your dirt, you can either add seeds or plants. You will need to add water to the dirt, when you plant the seeds to help start the wicking process.

Add water to the bottom of the container.

Then put the dirt holder onto the water container with the wick going into the water.

Put in the sun or under a grow lamp.

When the plants get big enough, transplant them to your garden or a bigger container.