Roses_R_Red said:Speaking of Turkey basters, I have five inexpensive ones that I keep where ever I have plants 2 empty the drip trays if I should over water. Turkey basters are also a good idea for moistening seedlings because you can add little droplets of water without knocking down the delicate seedlings.
I save plastic ketchup and mustard bottles. 1/4" irrigation tubing fits tightly into the opening in some of those bottles. I cut it either so the tubing goes to the bottle of the bottle, or leave just a short stub near the cap. The tubing that sticks OUT of the bottle give me a nice extension that can reach across the width of a 1020 tray, even if seedlings are large an leafy.
Then I fill the bottle with water or very dilute soluble fertilizer.
The 1/4" tubing allows me to either shake out tiny droplets into individual cells, or squeeze slowly and release a thin stream of water as I move the end of the tubing along a row of cells. I usually water onto the 'ridge" between rows of cells so the water rolls down into the periphery of each cell.
When the tubing goes to the bottle of the bottle, I water by holding the bottle mostly upside-down, but then some water leaks out where the tubing goes through the ketchup-bottle-cap.
When the tubing is only a short stub below the cap, I water with the bottle upright, but then air escapes and eventually i can't squeeze the bottle any more until I let more air in.
It's an experiment in progress. Fortunately I don't need to do much top-watering any more, since I can bottom-water (if the mix wicks well enough).
In my shaky hands, either a baster or a ketchup bottle can turn into a squirt-gun if I twitch wrong.
