Vent: the "water bottles stop root rot" trick felt like internet nonsense until my basil proved me wrong
I rolled my eyes when a neighbor on the fourth floor here in Portland showed me her trick of burying a plastic water bottle with pinholes in each pot. Three weeks later her cherry tomatoes were thriving while mine were yellowing from overwatering, so I finally tried it on a sad basil plant. The bottle let water seep out slow over about two days instead of dumping it all at once, and that basil put out new leaves within a week. Now I'm half convinced and half worried I'm just getting lucky with the weather. Has anyone tried this with peppers or is it a fluke that only works on herbs?