Can you use teas in buried clay pitchers/ollas? And a few other questions about clay pots.

Greetings!

I have looked on internet and I have not found any info regarding this, also I hope this question is in the right place if not I apologize.

I am very interested in using Clay Pots/Pitchers/Olla's in my dry hot desert garden to irrigate my young trees, vegetables and other plants.

1. But I am very curious if it is possible and if anyone has tried and can confirm that compost/manure/castings Tea's can be added to the clay pitchers for irrigation for nutrients?

2. If possible, could it be done all the time, instead of adding more water to refill the pot, to add every time a nutritious tea( mixed with water ofcourse) instead or would that be too powerful for the plants if thats all the plants drink?
What would be the cooldown period for next tea time ( I will be using big pitchers so refilling them probably once a week )

3. Also I am fairly new to Clay Pitchers ( I have not bought any yet ) and have not found adequate information on the exact way of making the ideal clay pitchers in terms of putting them into fire.
Has anyone made any themselves or know the exact requirements for thickness, and the firing of the pots for the ideal irrigation purpose?

4. Also I have seen that some people make a hole near the bottom of the pot and add a wick/rope to the hole, but I have not seen anyone explain it's precise purpose and how it works, I understand the wick/rope extends the water into the soil further than the pot's reach, but how efficient is it really, does it waste any water this way as in letting too much water seep out of the pot into the soil or do the plants and trees always absorb the water of the wick?

5. Has anyone tried or know if this is more efficient thereby needed less clay pots in vicinity between trees and plants if adding a wick to a pot?

6. Maybe a silly question... By adding Pitcher/s next to establishing young tree or older tree, will it make the roots of the tree lazy and they won't grow deeper into the ground for their own groundwater if they get easy water from clay pitchers?

Thank you for reading!

I am so sorry to bump this up, but in 3 days I am going on a 3 month vacation to africa and I want to use clay pot irrigation to fix my mother in law's struggling garden, if anyone could answer at least one of these questions I would be very grateful and it would help me knowing what I am going to do right or wrong before I get started.

Thank you <3

Aery, welcome to the forum.

Sorry, no one had replied, I saw your post in our Zero Replies though I did not have an answer.  

I am not sure I have ever seen a question about using compost tea in an olla or a clay pot.

My first thought was that the nutrients might be filtered out by the clay which would not be a good thing.

I can search for olla though not both ollas and compost tea.

Here are some threads that might be of interest:

https://permies.com/t/53639/ollas-wicking-beds

https://permies.com/t/19615/Ollas

Maybe now that this has been bumped another time someone with some answers to your question will see it again.

Have a nice trip.

One thing you could do to help the plants until you return, similar to the slow release of water from an olla, is to repurpose old bottles or plastic milk jugs etc, if any are around, and pierce a tiny hole in the bottom of one corner of the bottle or jug. Fill with water and cap it, and place the hole end over the root zone of a plant. It will drip very slowly if done correctly and potentially save the plants.

Maybe you've already considered this and ruled it out, but just in case you haven't. I know you're going away for months, but as you mention, even if ollas were to be the perfect solution, they'd need lots of refilling from somebody as well, so maybe repurposed bottles or jugs could be a good help in the interim and it'd be something you could probably do with the couple days until you have to leave. This is assuming you don't already have a good supply/supplier for ollas within the next couple days, which I imagine would also take plenty of your time for burying them. reused jugs would potentially cost nothing and they require no burial, but yeah, just one idea.

These are great questions, Aery!
Anne's suggested links are very helpful.
In addition, it is helpful to understand that clay is used to filter out impurities:
https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/ceramic-filtration.html
Therefore, if you put something in the clay pitcher or olla such as compost + water, your clay vessel will allow clean water to percolate through and leave the compost residues behind. You might experiment: plug the hole in a clay flower pot, put it over a collection bowl, fill it with compost and water, go on your vacation. See what is in the drip bowl upon your return.
I personally compost in clay pots without bottoms. I keep a layer of moist newspaper on top and tuck the scraps underneath. I cover the newspaper with improvised lids of various sorts. Kitchen scraps and grass clippings stay moist in the pot. Earthworms eat the "food" from the bottom up and leave nutritious worm castings for the plants. Adding water moistens the scraps like a sponge. Extra water flows through the worm castings to achieve the compost tea effect.

I use clay pots as ollas and yes, someone has to fill them (me in this case) but they're easy to fill and usually the plants can go at least 4 days. However, I try hard to keep stuff out of the pots because I was under the impression that they would only allow chemicals as small as H2O to get through.

My chemistry is *really* rusty, but here goes: 1) the forms of nitrogen that plants use are nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+). Both of these are definitely larger than H2O.
2) two forms of phosphorus that plants absorb are H2PO4– and HPO4=. Again, both of these are much larger than water.

Since they use clay as one way of filtering water, I'm guessing that most of the useful compost tea compounds are going to be left behind.

If you have time, I would simply dig some compost holes near the plants and fill the holes with finished compost and put the olla pots beside - water goes into the olla and the plants will have to send roots out to access the compost. That's just a guess because I simply don't know enough to be sure.

I agree with Jay, putting the olla in a compost lined hole would work well. It also works to make a worm compost bin with a 3gal+ pot buried in the ground to the rim, then when watering the worms the runoff will hydrate surrounding soil. I often do this in hugel beds. I also use felt pots filled with compost or forest duff to run water through to get a nice passive seep of more fertile fluid.

I don’t have an answer either, but I too began exploring ollas as a sustainable way to irrigate my gardens a couple of seasons ago. I tried milk jugs with pin holes this past year, but they stopped working mid-summer. I have not had a chance to dig them up and examine them., but I’ll finish my experiment next spring.

I found some large clay ollas both online and in local garden shops available for purchase, however they were very expensive. Buying in large quantities made them cost prohibitive, so I started my research and picked up some porous clay to attempt making them on my own. I have a kiln, but it’s very small, so I’ll likely pit fire them. One of my info resources is gentleman on YouTube named Andy Ward. He specializes in teaching ancient pottery fabrication techniques. When I reached out to ask him about ollas he was very helpful and guided me in selecting the right kind of clay for the project and put firing, etc. You might want to reach out to him there. (Update: I went looking for a link to his YouTube channel to share below and discovered he recently made a video on the subject. I haven’t seen it yet, but my guess is that it’s an excellent resource.)



Good luck!

https://www.ibegin.com › benson
Cascabel Clayworks in Benson, Arizona 85602 - (520) 212-2529
Cascabel Clayworks Claim this business. 5360 N Teran Rd, Benson, Arizona 85602 (520) 212-2529 ... Facebook: n/a; Twitter: n/a; Categories: Pottery

I took a class from these folks years ago on how to make Indian pottery. It was through the community College and I learned so much. How to make the pots and how to fire them. I am sure that they could help you. Good luck

Clay containers of any shape , [the unglazed kind] for watering may be very attractive, but if you live in any zone where it may freeze, forget about it. You can get a much better solution [and much cheaper] by using throwaway plastic. If you don't drink milk, go to your landfill and let them know what you want. They will be only too happy to let you take them! That will give these gallon milk jugs another life an save your local landfill. We don't drink much milk and I prefer the cardboard, but we still manage to get a few plastic jugs [Hubby!]
Use one or more plastic jugs, drill the tiniest holes you can, partially bury the ugly thing, cap it and finish hiding it with mulch.
This solution has the advantage of stacking functions: saving your landfill, watering plants for a pretty long time [depending the soil and weather you have], saving you water and work.
I imagine that for young trees, you could probably use a couple of Homer pails and bury them the same way, but they are a bit tall! Besides, I get enough rain that I don't have to, here.
In zone 4b Wisconsin, very sandy, 34" reliable rain/ year, I can't use clay containers. They sure are prettier than my ugly plastic milk jugs, but for my money, these ugly trashy things do the trick. If you don't cover them with mulch, the sun will deteriorate them in 1-2 seasons. You can lay them down too if they stick out or use 2 half gallons on their side. If the cap is tight, make sure to have at least 2 holes so they do leak.
At the end of the season, if they are empty, you could leave them out in the cold, saving you time until spring.
When we have a long period without rain, it is much easier/ quicker refilling these containers and walking away than doing the sprinkler thing. It also economizes on water.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Clay containers of any shape , [the unglazed kind] for watering may be very attractive, but if you live in any zone where it may freeze, forget about it.

Yes, it takes time to pick up and put under cover the clay ollas for the winter, and it is necessary, but it gives me an empty hole to dump some fresh veggie scraps/plant scraps from fall clean-up to feed the worms that tend to hang around the plant roots. I try to get the clay pots second hand (read cheap or free), but I've done the plastic milk-jug thing and even trying to keep them covered, they solar degraded into little bits that I wasted more time trying to gather up. Granted our plastic is still being recycled - but they only take it clean - but I'm tired of finding it in my garden areas/forest areas from people littering.

I like Jay's composting in place idea. I may just be ignorant about making pottery, but if one had access to fresh wet clay in abundance, would it not be feasible to simply:
1) dig a hole
2) line it with clay
3) fire in the hole to bake the clay (maybe just hot coals would do?)
4) after frost heave and cracking, reseal with a minimal clay layer each year and some coals

Just a thought...

The use of ollas in the garden intrigued me for a long time, but purchasing "real" ollas was cost prohibitive. Four years ago, I found some 8 inch unglazed terracotta pots at the dollar store and decided to try making ollas. To make one olla, I used two pots. The bottom drainage hole in one pot was sealed by gluing a piece of scrap tile over it. Then I inverted a second pot over the one with the sealed drainage hole, and glued the rims together. After testing for water tightness, I buried them in the garden, with 3-4 inches above the soil line. The ollas get filled through the drainage hole in the inverted pot on top and hold about a gallon and a half. I made 6 of them using gorilla glue (per an instructional video found online) but will probably use silicone in the future. Thus far, they have worked very well and the plants growing closest to them definitely look happier than those further away. The plants stay hydrated and happy for several days even during the summer when temperatures are over 100F.

Farmer's almanac says you can put liquid fertilizer in an olla at a reduced concentration, but I only use water in the ollas, and use compost tea or liquid nutrients on occasion to water the soil at the base of the plants.  It does not seem like the ollas prevent the plants around them from growing deep roots, but in this area, pretty much the only water the plants get is whatever water they are irrigated with. For what it's worth, transplants are easier/do better around the ollas than seed because you have to water the soil around the ollas where the seeds are until they germinate and develop a reasonable root system, and it's hard to tell when they are ready to draw water from the olla on their own.

Location: southern California zone 9b, hot, dry, high desert  

Composting in the ollas: neat way to stack functions, Jay.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Composting in the ollas: neat way to stack functions, Jay.

Not in the olla itself - in the hole left when you remove the olla to keep it from freezing. Composting and watering together in the ground using just a wire frame is the principle behind the African Raised Keyhole Bed with a compost tube in the center. I tried one of those in my climate, but from reading actual usage in Africa, it seems they pour greywater from humans washing or animals drinking into that same hole every day or two which is how it has enough moisture to actually work. My second ARK bed worked better than my first, but they were both too far from a source of greywater to be very productive. I'd like to move some ducks to that area, but need better fencing to do so.

Jay Angler wrote:

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Composting in the ollas: neat way to stack functions, Jay.

Not in the olla itself - in the hole left when you remove the olla to keep it from freezing. Composting and watering together in the ground using just a wire frame is the principle behind the African Raised Keyhole Bed with a compost tube in the center. I tried one of those in my climate, but from reading actual usage in Africa, it seems they pour greywater from humans washing or animals drinking into that same hole every day or two which is how it has enough moisture to actually work. My second ARK bed worked better than my first, but they were both too far from a source of greywater to be very productive. I'd like to move some ducks to that area, but need better fencing to do so.

That is even better, Jay! I have been amending the soil in my garden with leaves for years now, so my garden soil is getting pretty good. When I plant a tree, however, past the first 2", it is pretty much all sand. At least, very poor soil.
So far, I have not done this, but you just gave me a great idea: In my sandbox, when I plant a tree, I was thinking of digging 2 holes. I now have a Ryobi auger that will dig a good 6" hole as deep as I want it [Well, 4' anyway]. I could widen the hole that will take the tree. In the other hole, I could put chicken litter [sawdust & manure], and mulch as usual.
If I could work it that way, I would not really need the ollas either, would I? The clay ollas are great to dispense the water more slowly.
So far, what has stopped me is that first water is at 10 ft, so I'm a bit worried about contaminating groundwater. If I would dig, say 2 ft and burry a column of chicken litter That might be pretty good for my fruit trees, nut trees and bushes.
Since we get about 32-34" of rainwater/ year, water is not really a problem, but enriching the soil really is. I also have comfrey and could water with comfrey tea, although I won't have enough for all of them and I have been using comfrey tea in the garden. Perhaps I could establish a rotation... You got me thinking, Jay, Thanks!

Thank you everyone for your wonderful replies, ideas and tips.
But I think some of you misunderstood my initial post. I was not looking for ways to keep my plants from dying while I am away on vacation for couple of months, I am on vacation in Africa, arid subtropical desert with low rainfall and am currently in progress of buying a few hectares of land for future farming and living.
I found a potential piece of land that has great groundwater, yet I don't want to abuse groundwater source if I can help it. So I want to use ollas to establish young trees, vegetable garden, herb garden. While terraforming to capture rainwater and slow and soak nearby small seasonal dry river water into the farm.

I am also trying to give water saving tips to family members of my husband( greywater usage for garden, ollas, mulching, shading, windbreaks, etc) and they all have the same problem: SALTWATER.
They used to have freshwater years ago but with urbanization the ground water has become salty.
And they have lost many salt intolorant trees such as mango, lemon, guava, etc..
Big question here is to anyone who knows for a fact, can ollas filter out salt so the plants only suck fresh water out from the ollas?
If yes, would the olla's pores clog up with salt residue eventually thereby needing to dig up the pot and clean it from salts( if even possible?) or would the salt not clog up the porous clay pot from releasing fresh water?

Thank you again for reading!

I don't think much is going to remove salt short of reverse osmosis or distillation.

the other problem in giving you a one fits all answer is that even the same clay fired to different temperatures will have very different porosity.

If you were going to make pots slip casting is the best bet, but, that usually becomes an involved process of making multiple plaster molds.
The simplification of that is that ceramics can be slip cast in a sand mold.
Just like the ones everyone running a homemade metal foundry is using so lots of info on those via search engine.

Here's a demo by Chris Gryder of how he does this:



https://www.chrisgryder.com/process

Look him up too, his art is awesome. he worked with Paolo Soleri On the Arcosanti project and other earth casting.

https://www.chrisgryder.com/post/the-beginning

There's a good bit to learn about making casting slips but there's a ton of info out there on that too.


Distillation may be your best possibility for clean water. You can build quite large improv setups using holes/trenches and sheet plastic.
More on this at your favorite search engine.

Clay pots won't filter out salts. If you doubt this, you could experiment: take some salt water, put it through a clay pot then taste for saltiness.
Desalinating soil is difficult. You might find this thread helpful: https://permies.com/t/44792/desalinate-soil
Out here, alkalinity and soil salts are high. Saltbush grows in these conditions. We trim the saltbush hard, burn the trimmings, collect the salty ash and use it for adobe building projects. Let the saltbush keep growing the little leaves which hold the salts then trim again, build again. Anecdotally, the gardens have greatly improved as the ash-laden buildings have grown.
Prevention is important. Keep salty contaminants out of your garden: soaps, water softener, synthetic fertilizers. Avoid unresearched compost contaminated with waste salts.

Aery Eltibrizi wrote:
Big question here is to anyone who knows for a fact, can ollas filter out salt so the plants only suck fresh water out from the ollas?
If yes, would the olla's pores clog up with salt residue eventually thereby needing to dig up the pot and clean it from salts( if even possible?) or would the salt not clog up the porous clay pot from releasing fresh water?!

I've read that ollas will accumulate minerals from ground water over time and that a periodic vinegar treatment is advisable if using it.  So, they would likely trap some salt residue but it's unlikely they would filter out all salt.  I find no reference of terra cotta being used in a desalination system.

In my raised beds, I've been using a system of ollas that I made from common, unglazed clay pots (2 pots, 1 inverted upon the other and sealed with silicone) for 5 years now.  They are kept full at all times by underground piping that connects to a bulkhead fitting in each olla's bottom hole and fed from rain barrels.  I fill those with city water every 10-20 days as needed and do not add anything to that water except a little vitamin C to neutralize the chloramine.  After 5 years it's possible that they perform a little less well but upon examination I do not yet see any build up.   To be sure I suppose one could fill a pot with salt water and taste the moist outer surface.  

In regard to the freezing issue someone else raised: I thought they would crack in the winter (we can get to -22C +/-3C) so I had planned to unscrew the ollas' bulkhead fittings from the pipeline and lift them for winter.  But it seemed like too much work to excavate them all so I took a chance in year one.  As it turned out they weathered the freezing just fine.  After 4 winters now in raised beds (which freeze harder) none of them have cracked and only one had the silicone seal release this year.  Of course I drain them in the fall and I also heap a little extra soil over the tops (which are normally just below soil level).  

I have a suggestion for reducing the number of water reservoirs you need by using a wick. I have done wicking containers, but not olllas, however, the principles are similar. One wicked reservoir should be enough for a small plant, probably more for larger plants. The reservoir does not have to be porous so it could be a recycled jug or lidded 5 gallon bucket. Repurpose plastic.
The wick should be buried in a 2-6 inch deep trench that goes AROUND THE PLANT within the root zone. Don't cut roots. Shallow rooted plants like blueberries need the wick to be covered (Such as sheet plastic covered with mulch.) and on the surface during your absence. Do not dig a hole straight down and place the wick in it. Having the wick go around the plant is more efficient watering. If the wick is shallow, 2", then a layer of mulch over the wick will reduce evaporation to the air. If you place the wick and reservoir on the surface, cover both the wick and the base of the reservoir with sheet plastic and mulch both well. The idea is to have the water go down and not up into the air.
There may be a problem with water pressure and rapid loss of water if the wick is placed at the bottom of the reservoir. In wicking containers the water is wicked upwards. So having the wick hole near the top of the reservoir with the wick extending to the bottom of the reservoir may be necessary - but I don't know if siphoning would then be a problem. Sorry, nothing definitive here, just ideas.

With regard to the porosity of ollas, low fired clay vessels are usually quite porous. Probably no problem letting small organic and inorganic molecules pass through. Check it out by filling an olla with sugar water to see if sugar crystals form on the outside of an olla. Sugar is a small molecule in the world of organic molecules, but its a lot larger than plant nutrient molecules. If sugar goes through, no problem with using compost tea.
And, this site states that compost tea can be used in ollas to feed surrounding plant roots. Check ollas and compost tea on: farmhouse-bc.com          
But, it does seem a possibility that these pores could become clogged over time though.

I love this thread! I've been looking into using ollas too and wondering about using my Bokashi compost tea in them. I used the plastic bottle method last summer, but I didn't really like it.  It's hard to find any instructions for making your own so I'm looking forward to checking out the videos and links that people have posted. I did find one site that I thought provided some good details: Ollas Irrigation - You can order clay from their site and they give detailed advice about firing.