I'm having tomatoes in a little greenhouse. I water them by using plastic bottles where I cut of the bottom part, put them a few cm into the soil and fill them each two days entirely with water (+- 1 l). I fill the either in the morning or in the evening.
Now I had a discussion with my mom about the details of watering with bottles.
- She recommended me to fill the bottles with soil, for water to infiltrate more slowly. I was thinking that when the bottle heats up during the day, much water would evaporate and would not be used by the plant. At the same time, if water infiltates deeper, roots of the tomato plant will have to grow deeper, creating a stronger plant. But she told me that water would drain very fast too deep and would get lost that way. It is important to know that we have a very sandy soil and from a depth of 20 cm and deeper, organic matter content is very low.. (as I added compost only in the upper soil).
- She also recommended me to direct the bottles towards the plant... for more or less the same reason, so water can be more used for the plant and drains less. While I thought it is better for the plant to have to need to grow deeper.