Better Alternative to Ollas

Looking for a better alternative to ollas?

If you've spent any time among the gardening circles on social media, you've likely seen ollas everywhere.

The main player in this space has been doing tons of social media collabs with influencers lately.

Because of this, it seems that everyone is using ollas in their gardens.

I am not, and never will be.

What's Wrong With Ollas?

Nothing and everything.

These are a great ancient technology that probably worked really well 2,000 years ago.

I live in the desert, I get it. It's hot, it's dry, nobody wants to hand-water twice a day.

I don't hand-water. I don't use ollas. And frankly, I hate the olla trend.

These things are huge.

They're bulky.

And they're WAY too expensive. You'll spend an absolute fortune putting one in every raised bed, every planter.

They don't scale. This is a huge problem for me.

They're rudimentary, imprecise, big clunky things.

And, you still have to refill each and every one. Lame.

What's Better Than Ollas?

It's not that I hate ollas, it's just that we have better technology.

Osmotic watering at a lower price tag, which scales, that doesn't take up all the space in your soil, and doesn't require refilling zillions of separate reservoirs.

We have... Blumats!

What the heck is a Blumat? Glad you asked!

I'm not sponsored by Blumats, but these are the best watering system humans have invented up to this point in time, and I'll die on that hill. These things just win at watering your garden.

Blumats are a passive moisture sense and release system that utilizes osmotic pressure to release more moisture from a drip line. They can run via low pressure gravity feed, or a pressurized system connected to a spigot.

Unlike ollas, these are hooked up to an expandable drip line system that can bring endless water to the drip emitters.

Unlike traditional drip lines on timers, Blumats use osmotic pressure to sense soil moisture levels and only release more water when soil dries beyond a set level.

Each Blumat sensor has an adjustment which allows a soil moisture level to be set and dialed in precisely.

Any soil moisture level can be automatically maintained.

That means unlike a traditional timed drip line, which may over-water during a rainy week, or underwater during a drought - Blumats maintain an exact moisture level. They'll release more water on hot dry days, and less water on cool or wet ones.

No seasonal adjustments are required like timed drippers. They'll continue to maintain moisture levels through multiple seasons.