Self-watering in the greenhouse

We’ve made no secret of how much we love and how successful our current self-watering planters have been over the last 8 years. We have 3 quadgrow units in the greenhouse which we use to grow tomatoes, peppers and aubergines and we’ve even grown various herbs in them. They have been a stupendous success for us and I absolutely credit them with the bumper harvest of peppers I get each year.

This year, I have a new self-watering system to test. It’s called an Oases Box.

So what’s different about Oases Box?

Unlike my quadgrows, the oases boxes are separate single-pot units. There is no wick needed, with an inserted growing space used as the way to wick water from the reservoir to the soil. Whereas with my current system, there is a material wick used which sits in the water reservoir and water can transfer from this up into a pot of soil where the plant is planted.

The water reservoir for these boxes is also bigger, with each being 15 litres for a single pot. The quadgrow is 30 litres for four plants. But with these being single units you can easily move them around your greenhouse and situate them to suit you.

Other than that, I think they are pretty much the same concept. All be it that the cone which goes into the oases box is a bit strange as a plant pot, I understand this is to maximise the amount of water the reservoir can hold. I’m a bit unsure about this as it feels like quite a small space for a plant like tomatoes or peppers.

How do they work?

Well, they are actually really simple, and much easier to set up than the quadgrows. You simply fit the black cone into the pot, it goes over the bump in the centre. There are cut-outs in the bottom of the cone which allows the water to wick into the soil.

You fill that cone with your potting soil and plant into it. It does seem like it holds a tiny amount of soil, so I am nervous about this. I’ve planted mine up with some tomatoes, a Black Krim and a Barry’s Crazy Cherry.

Then, like any potting up or planting, you water the plant in to settle the soil around the roots. But, you would then fill that reservoir via the opening at the side and that is how you then water and feed the plant going forward. By filling the reservoir.

It’s very early days for me yet, so I’m still watching them eagerly, but I also have my quadgrow planters planted up as normal, so it’s going to be very interesting to compare plants and harvests as the season goes on.

If you haven’t come across our quadgrow planters, you can out more about our growing fun using them from the video below.