These worked great! We were leaving on an extended 5 week trip. These worked wonderfully and kept my household plants watered!

My son says these are great.

They work great but careful setup is important.Submerge the stake and the hose in a bucket or large container of water.Keep the entire system underwater for the rest of the process.Remove the cap from the stake and make sure the stake has no air in it.While keeping the stake and the hose underwater install and remove the cap from the stake repeatedly until no more air bubbles emerge from the submerged end of the hose while you're pushing the cap on.You're using the cap to push all the air out of the hose so push it on firmly.When all the air is out of the hose insert the stake into the soil, make sure it is deep enough and the soil has been watered. To avoid letting air in the hose keep the weighted end submerged.If you let the system get air locked it won't work, similar to a siphon.

I was using these this past year - Sept through May - for watering my indoor plants. Most of my pots (clay) are 6" - 8" dia., and were packed into cedar mulch in planter boxes (to reduce evaporation) on my ground floor NYC windowsills. So without any real direct sunlight, I've been supplementing with LED strip tubes suspended over the plants. There is a ceiling fan for minimal air movement.The planter boxes held either 3 or 4 pots. Each pot had one Blumat spike (regular) going to a liter bottle reservoir (empty seltzer bottle) of water. The bottles were open and exposed to the light, and quickly developed slime/algae along the feeder tubes. I alleviated this problem about 80% by adding one to two droppers full of concentrated barley straw extract (I had previously used it in my birdbath) each time I added more water to the reservoirs... Works like a charm! I have since added neoprene bottle sleeves to insulate from heat (plants are now outdoors on a deck) and block the algae-inducing sunlight. so far...so good! I have also added sponge stoppers (from sponge hair rollers) to each reservoir. These inhibit evaporation and keep bugs out! (They already have a central hole, so just cut up one side with a scissor to open the foam, slip it over the tubing, and insert into the bottle neck.)And having each plant on a separate reservoir, lets me see how much water each plant is drawing.INDOORS, over the winter, with NYC apartment dry radiator heat, each liter reservoir lasted well over 10 days! But do not wait until they're completely empty to refill, or you'll end up having to re-prime (re-soak and fill) the Blumats...!OUTDOORS currently, in addition to my houseplants which are still in their individual sunken pots (in a shaded location), I have annuals and perennials planted directly into planter boxes in full sun. Each planter box (24" - 30") has 3-5 plants growing in it, and each has 2-3 Blumats with covered reservoirs.I also have several hanging baskets that tend to dry out quickly, which now have three reservoirs attached to them! I have an avocado tree with four reservoirs, and four cherry tomatoes, each with two attached reservoirs... This is an experiment setup! We've left them all for 10 - 15 days. If we get no rain in Ulster County, we'll see how well they survive...Reservoirs are very easy to refill from a watering can with a fat flexi straw fitted to the spout. Don't forget to add the barley straw extract, neoprene sleeves, and hair roller sponge stoppers!So far, a great product! Use your own ingenuity to make it even better...Photos will follow at a later date...

They seem to be working perfectly and arrived quickly