On April 8, 2023, I created my initial post about Ollas and how I made my own with terra cotta pots and saucers.

I wanted to share my experiences with the ollas I created to circle back on its effectiveness and the efficiency of using ollas.

The first day, my olla stayed relatively full, mostly because the “suction” that needs to be created was not there yet. Two days after I installed the ollas, we had torrential downpours.

My expectation was that the ollas would be full after all that rain though I was surprised to see that my ollas were nearly dry! Then it clicked. The suction had been initiated by the rain and so now there was an active suction pull happening of moisture seeping into my bed and out of the olla.

I had to fill up the olla daily for about a week, and it is getting less now where I can fill it every 3rd day. It has been pretty interesting to watch this process!

My plants are really liking their new olla friends. My squashes have grown exponentially and my beans as well as my tomatoes and lettuce are happy. one benefit is that because i am not watering the beds from above, I am not encouraging weeds to grow. In addition, I am no longer washing and rinsing the nutrients out of the soil, and I am no longer challenging my plants to take on a battle with fungi such as powdery mildew.

I do recommend that you do this process with soil that holds some water so if it is sand, i would enhance the soil with compost, peat moss, or coconut coir. This will reduce the frequency of watering you need to do for your ollas.

I will be making ollas everywhere and I will be using ollas in conjunction with drip irrigation.