The Best Watering Technique You've Never Heard Of

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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:10 - Olla History
01:02 - How An Olla Works
01:58 - Pros & Cons
03:00 - Planning Olla Placement
04:42 - Burying Olla
05:42 - Refilling Ollas
06:31 - DIY Olla

DISCLAIMER

[nobloombergterminal]

If you have a Mexican grocery store near you, check if they have unglazed clay cups (cantaritos de barro/jarritos de barro)! They're normally used for cocktails and beverages, and come in lots of sizes that are practical for the garden. They're as inexpensive as getting a terracotta pot from Lowe's without needing to plug drainage holes. For the lid, I use a regular schmegular terracotta saucer. Happy gardening!🙂

[DaZebraffe]

In the places they originate from, ollas are also used to store drinking water. This is because as trace amounts of the water seep out of the olla, that water takes the brunt of the heat from the sun and evaporates off instead of letting the heat build up in the water still inside, thus the olla keeps your drinking water much cooler than if it was stored in another vessel.

[f.d.]

*To all the DIY-ers out there: Don't use 2-component glue/sealant anywhere near stuff that you want to eat!* All epoxies are 40% bisphenols (BPA)... a "cold" curing process will leave a lot of the BA uncured so it will leech into the soil. Taken from the MSDS of Gorilla Putty: "Bisphenol A-epichlorohydrin polymer" is listed a key ingredient... definitely nothing you want in your food! ... and for the silicone rubber caulk: get "Aquarium Grade" or "Kitchen Sink Grade!" - the construction / general type contains toxins to inhibit the growth of fungi - again, nothing you want in your soil.

[bensatterfield]

I garden here in north Texas, the drought was brutal this year. I used many of these in the ground and in containers. Combined with shade cloth, I was able to keep many plants growing and alive all summer untill the temperature dropped and the plants were able to produce. Many people here this year gave up even the experienced gardeners. I will be using this method for everything from here on out Combined with water collection.

[cliffwoods]

First of all we have used ollas that we made from 4" and 6" pots. Before I go on, they did a great job. They watered our plants fine. We used the larger ollas in our pepper and tomato. We used the 4" ollas in our bush bean bed. We live in the Boise area where we regularly get roughly two months of 95 to low 100 degree temps. I figured we would fill the large ollas a couple times a week and the smaller ones two or three times a week. Sounded good but did not work out that way. Because of the high heat we found they all required filling every other day. We also soon learned that when you stuck a funnel in the top hole to fill the olla we created a vacuum almost instantly. We solved that problem drilling an 1/8 " hole in the top of the olla to let the air escape. The watering so often required lots of time. Bear in mind that we were using about 30 large ollas and about fifty small ones. The other big issue for us is that it gets very cold here in the winter. That required digging up the ollas so they would not freeze in the winter. Ummmm .. .. .. we love our drip irrigation system. Turn on the water, let it run for an hour or so then shut the water off. Hook up an Ez-Flo with liquid fertilizer in it and it fertilizes while it waters. Yes I have a pile of ollas sitting outside by my shed. Let me end this by saying that when we dug the ollas up to remove them the holes where the ollas were, were absolutely lined with roots which told us that the ollas did their job. In our situation they were just not practical. This post in no way is meant to discredit the ollas. They worked.

[peggystedman]

Love my ollas! I also scour the thrift stores for terra cotta wine coolers and just put a saucer on the top of them once they're buried. Cost effective and easy to fill!

[pennydox]

I have numerous DIY ollas buried in the front yard. They're perfect when you have no idea how much or how little water your plant needs, because the plant will figure it out themselves (as long as the olla is filled). I really like them for the onions and bunching onions, because it looks like a little onion fairy-circle, especially when I decorate the olla with a ring of rocks. With my DIY ollas, I like to line the top layer with silicone caulk as well, so that water slides towards the hole when i fill it up with my hose.

[fredrickelrik]

Was watching a video the other day saying that lots of sealants like silicone contain fungicides and other stuff, they suggested using aquarium sealant.

[catherinepususta]

I experimented with one DIY olla this summer. I planted 6 tomato plants and used it on one of them, and it was the only one that had no blossom end rot....consistent watering. Next year I plan on making several. And I did this without knowing about the correct distance to place it . Also I purchased the lid from Dollar tree, much cheaper. Thanks for this very informative video

[TargetZeroOne]

I actually use these in conjunction with my drip system in beds that need a lot of water. I'm here in Los Angeles, really hot really dry, etc; so I do the inverted method someone below mentioned where you seal the lid to it and left the drainage hole somewhat open, put a dripper inside and sealed that up almost all the way just leaving a little bit of space for air to pass back up. I bury it almost completely, maybe put a rock on top to mark the spot and prevent any surface evaporation.

[Cruznick]

Oh my gosh! I recently met a ceramics artist at my local makerspace who is making these out of some clay that got messed up (its two different clay types mixed together that can't be fully glazed now). She invited me to join in making some for my own garden because she has so much clay. I'm going to be joining her this week.

[Vampyronium]

I made my first DIY Ollas this year and had mixed result.
I used bees wax due to "sustainability" etc. and I noticed that some pots just lost a lot of water after some time, so don't use bees wax to seal them or fill them and check if it leaks after a couple of hours/days and THEN bury it.

I also tried them in grow bags and had mixed results again. I noticed bad growth in grow bags with Ollas because the plants were simply too close to the Ollas and I suppose root growth was therefore not promoted.

It was an experiment and I expected such results but it seems like the diameter is really key when using Ollas in containers. In my normal beds I noticed AWESOME growth and healthy plants.

[gregsanderson]

I picked up several taracota funnel shaped ollas. These are placed near the plants then a bottle filled with water is installed into the funnel. The corks from the wine bottles plug the drainage holes in the plant pot ollas.
I collect water from the rain gutters and the in house dehumidifier. The tanks have goldfish to eat the mosquitoes, and fertilize the water. Combining aquaponics and ollas. Periodically I partly drain my tank to add the bottom muk into my sandy soil.

[hmmm..]

I experimented last year with one olla and found it was really efficient so I’ve been buying terra cotta from thrift stores. Some are so beautiful it’s a shame to bury them, but they work so well!!

[canorth]

As someone who lives in Utah and is also in a drought, this is awesome.

[UnclePutte]

The jubilant, laughing face of the olla is perfect. It shares life with all its being, afterall.

[Rvo-Appl]

I buried some unglazed terracotta pots in my beds and they cracked over winter. Something to consider if your in a climate that experiences freezing winter.
Building organic content in soil and using thick mulch will increase water retention significantly. I’ve heard 1% increase of organic content on an acre of soil, will hold an additional 20, 000 gallons of water.

[gwenb]

I use grow bags so I would need much smaller ollas but thanks to you, I can make my own using much smaller terra cotta pots.

[naturekins]

I use a plate for the top as it doesn't allow evaporation. They work great. I made my own hose that has a whole over each vessel so to fill I just remove the lid by sliding it out from under the hose and then turn on the hose and it fills them all at once. I do some weeding and keep an eye on when they are full as with a small hole it will fill slower than with a hose .You could use a drip system hose and put a large emitter over each post. you do still have to remove and replace the lid but it allows you to do more than one task at a time.

[paulnipper]

I've been using those for about 3 years. No one where I live in West Central Georgia have a clue what I'm talking about. The amazing thing is the root ball that formed on the olla after the growing season