Water Bottle Sprinkler Cap

Intro: Water Bottle Sprinkler Cap

This instructable describes how to make a simple and ultra-cheap sprinkler cap that you can use with most plastic (PET) bottles. I use mine to water guerrilla gardens around the park close to where I live.
One benefit is that if you don't have access to water close to your garden site you can pack your bike basket full of bottles of water with their original caps on. Then switch to this one when watering.
It's really simple.

You will need:
cap
needle (or nail if you want bigger holes more water flow)
thimble (or hammer if you go with nail size holes)

Tips for other uses are appreciated in the comments section.

STEP 1: Find a Suitable Cap

This step is fairly straight forward. Find a cap that fit the bottle(s) you're going to be using it with. You could of course use the cap of the bottle you intend to use but then the only cap you have wont be very tight if you need to transport it full of water.
My suggestion: Find a cap. Yes, go out in the urban jungle and forage. You probably won't have to walk very far before you find a recyclable bottle thrown into a garbage can. Take the cap from it (take the bottle only if you need it, there are probably someone out there who need that recycle-fee better than you. If your country have such a recycling system that is).

You may want to clean the cap before you move on to the next step..

STEP 2: Pierce the Cap

How simple this may seem there are a few things to bear in mind about before you go ahead.

Depending on what you'll use the sprinkler for you'll have to decide how many and how big holes you want. The fist cap I made had not so many (15) but big holes (small nail) and quite good water flow.This time I want a finer sprinkler for delicate plants. Therefore I'm using a sewing needle. You'll have to decide what you need.
Another thing is to angle the holes so the water won't just go straight down but have a nice kinda 'sprinkling' effect to it.. ;-)

Gently pierce the cap from the inside. Try to start from the center and work your way out in circles. That way it'll look nice and give an even spray. When you've done all the holes push the needle through them all from the outside to make them evenly round and the same size.

like that y'all!

Now. Go out and help the world grow up.

Comments

[lizziewriter]

I've made these before, sure, but your directions are the most fun of any I've seen. Thanks for the reminder ... super handy for seedlings!
PS.... we used the awls on our pocket knives to make the holes... one of us had a Swiss Army knife with a pointy awl, and I have a Leatherman Squirt with a very pointy fine screwdriver(?). Remember to do this on a durable surface (we used a cutting board) and watch your fingers. :-)

[Mattdjmorris]

Outstanding idea. I’ll use this to make packing snow for my snow sculptures.

[innoko_bird]

I LOVE THIS!!! At our school we have 2 giant Grow Labs. I've been purchasing all kinds of gadgets to water our tender seedlings and they are either too big to fit under the lights, too awkward, too much pressure, etc. What an awesome way to recycle plastic bottles AND water your fragile lovlies! What a great trick. Thanks for sharing this perfect no-brainer!

[yumjo]

What a valuable find....Too great to miss. I'm teaching a felting class and needed the dampening/sprinkler spout used for dampening clothes in the olden days. I can't find one that doesn't cost a bundle (used to cost about 10 cents, but now costs are in the hundreds because they're old). I need to wet down the wool with sudsy water, but the water needs to be distributed and not in just one spot. A modern day spray bottle has too little water and then there's too much when I just pour the water on the wool. The sprinkler spout will work great. Thanks for the innovative and useful idea. So, now I'll woolligate with the the new sprinkler top.

[declayton]

I made a sprinkler bottle to help me wet pastry dough more evenly. The bottle makes it easy to toss the pastry dough with a fork with one hand, while sprinkling the water with tthe other.

My recipe calls for 4 ounces of cold water. I can measure just the right amount into the bottle. When the bottle is empty I know I've got the right amount added.

[Purple Guy]

 Oh well :( Today i had the idea for this so I decided to check it out to see if anyone had done an 'Ible for it but i guess i was too late! :P
*Purple Guy*

[francoe]

What about the air entrance? You use an extra hole? where?

[bearcat73]

Has anyone tried this with a milk jug? I thought they might be easier for little ones to hold, with the handle. I will try it and post my review.

[UnboundLight]

I used a thumb tack, it made it easier to puch the pin through. Thank you for this tip! It will work great for our community garden project! Lady Jessi

[bearcat73]

The thumb tack worked great!!!

[Kathybear]

Hate to tell you this, but in the "olden days" we had a similar gadget to sprinkle water on clothes to be irtoned. Your sprinkler cap looks very similar. The clothes sprinkler fits into a glass soda bottle.

[testie]

Thanks Cathybear for reminding us of the old days. Yes I remember starching and ironing your clothes and keeping them in the refridgerrator

[tatihana00]

this is a hit at my house *grinning* my little girl thought that it was great and she loves chasing her friends and squirting them with it. i used a hot needle and it went faster and easier.

[iffee]

Here in Pakistan, vegetable sellers already using such thing to sprinke the vegetables and keep them fresh. They mostly use mineral water bottles for this purpose.

[SoapyHollow]

Oh man, what an ingeniously simple idea! My faithful assistant Igor loves to help water, but he's a little too small to carry around my two gallon watering can...14 pounds of water is just a little too much for a 50 pound Igor to tote. But a 2 liter bottle? Perfect! Thanks!

[brd154]

No problem. It was thought up after I tried to push a needle through something (without using a thimble, of course)and instead drove the back end of the needle through my thumb. Life lessons learned through trials and painful errors.

[brd154]

Just a tip... If you're trying to push a needle through a lid like that, it works great if you add a little heat. I usually wrap the end of the needle in something or use a set of pliers while I "heat" up the business end with a lighter. Like a hot knife through butter!

[frithiofandersson]

Thanks man. Good tip. It would make it a lot easier..

[Anath47]

Drills are nice, but fire works just fine here. Heat the needle/nails/shank and it will slide right though that plastic.

[Browncoat]

This is great! I'll likely cheat & use a small bit in a drill also. Can't wait to bring this up the next time the hubby wants to buy ANOTHER watering can! ;)