Several years ago a forum member (sorry--I don't remember whom) told of having good success with potted figs placed in a big tub with an inch or two of water in the bottom, so the roots always had plenty of moisture available throughout the heat of the day. I wondered about keeping roots constantly submerged, but tried it and my plants seemed to thrive.

I decided to expand the idea, and threw together a crude plywood tray with 2x2s at the edges to form a shallow dike, and then covered everything with a plastic sheet. I ran some drip emitters to it so the tray would fill to overflowing once each day, and put my smaller potted stuff in it. Usually by the end of the day, most of the water has disappeared, so the bottom isn't always 100% submerged:


Anyway, it's been working fine for years, with the following drawbacks: mosquitoes, and stinky, anaerobic soil in the bottom inch of each pot (which as near as I can tell, doesn't seem to hurt the plants any in my dry climate). I try to make sure there aren't any roots at the bottom of the pots when I first place them in the water tray, but often they grow roots right out through the drainage holes.

SO--my question is: Why bother with elaborate "self-watering" pots that have small reservoirs underneath? Is that really any better than just sticking a pot in a water tray, and keeping an inch or two of water in it? What am I missing?

My reason for asking is that I just purchased a 3 gal Pickering Mango, which can't survive Tucson's winters in the ground so it's doomed to stay in a pot. I thought I'd move it up to a 5 gallon container and then set it in a plastic tub fitted with a 1/4" water line and float valve to maintain an inch of water in the bottom at all times during the summer (in cooler months I'll let it dry out). I'll wrap the pot with a light-colored cloth that hangs down into the water, to shade the pot and keep it cool via evaporation. Then, I'll "cloak" the whole thing with mosquito netting to baffle the blood-suckers. The upper part of the soil will stay pretty dry but grow progressively wetter lower down, with the bottom inch always under water.  I figure the roots will grow into the zone of ideal moisture and avoid anything they don't like. Does anybody see any fatal flaws with this idea?

 Hi, I wanted my fig tree to be portable, transportable, and also located on our patio, so I constructed a 'self-watering-barrel'. Mine is made with a 55 gal food grade plastic barrel. Any youtube video on this topic will show the essential desgn elements which then can be designed into the 55 gal barrel(s). (soil wick, soil tray (top pf barrel), air layer to separate the soil and water. screening on fill hole, etc).   It works. The 4 year old fig tree ( some dwarf apple trees too) are doing fine. Issues to consider: The top of the soil can dry out so it has to be top watered ocasionally. In the heat of the summer the water resoivoir will need checking and filling daily, unless hooked to a float valve or drip system. It is heavy (~300 to 400 #'s) so make sure you are okay with how to move (large dolly, etc), and the structure (patio, deck, etc) can handle the loads. The barrel's outside can be decorated with fabric or wood slats, and this essential to help keep the roots cool. I trim my trees to stay within a resonable size for my convenience but also for wind considerations.