12pcs Automatic Plant Watering Spikes - Self Watering Devices for Indoor & Outdoor Gardens, Flowers, Potted Plants | Drip Irrigation System for Vacation & Busy Lifestyles

Drilled small holes in the side of these and they work as expected. Pretty simple setup with a 2L bottle. Happy with purchase.Some states are experiencing horrible droughts like mine and just getting out the house and watering my garden is not an option so each plant has a spike with a bottle on it. I just pour water in the bottle it drains down into the roots and it keeps my plants watered without wasting……Now about the holes… yeah you have to drill the holes as you can’t use a pin it doesn’t work. I got out the Dremel and I just drilled holes where I wanted. It took me I don’t know six or seven minutes to drill holes in 12 spikes…no big deal…plus I can make the holes the size I wanted. Not the size of a pinhole.Good productI read the reviews and purchased these in the hopes that they would work to deep water my plants. They are molded and therefore quite strong. They fit the bottle I had and did not leak. The issue I had was that people said the push pin hole didn't allow water to flow. So I drilled a 5/64 hole and water flowed out like crazy. I plugged the hole with a piece of wood and used the push pin to make two holes. Even with the push pin, water flows out faster than I wanted.One push pin hole made along one of the grooves works reasonably well. If I water the pot prior to inserting the water spike, it should last 2 days. I may use these to pour water into pots for deep watering which is really what I wanted them for. It is summer and the weather has been quite hot, which will increase the amount of water plants need. I will insert some cotton into the spike and see if that slows down the flow of water. I know I can get them to work like I want, but it will take some trial and error.They are strong and work as advertised. Be careful about drilling a hole until you have tried the push pin. And the price dropped 15% right after I purchased a set. Oh well.I put the hole on the side closer to the tip and dirt eventually filled the hole. So I drilled another closer to the top and tilted the bottle some so hole is out of the dirt but water rolls toward tip. May not be directly to deep roots but I haven't had problems with plants wilting.I bought a similar product last summer. When I wanted to reorder, they were no longer in stock. This is a worthy substitute. I use these to water outdoor plants in the summer. Rather than spray the water above ground and hope that it gets to the roots, I can fill a 2-liter bottle with water and shove this in the dirt right next to the plant. It keeps the leaves dry (prevents rot and mildew) and puts the water exactly where I want it. I used these on roses and tomato plants. I read some complaints about having to make your own holes. I like that part. I DO want the water to come out faster so I drill several holes in each. If I want to slow it down, I can (and have) use duct tape to cover the holes and only leave on or two open. This is more helpful for hanging baskets and planters. For my purpose, which is to get water to the roots now, this works very well. My dad raised trees and he used a Ross Root Feeder for deep watering. This is a cheap and easy alternative for plants in the garden.The so called "push pin" is actually a thumb tack. I took a drill and 1/8 bit and drilled two holes in the spike. Three stars because the spikes are rather short, and I had to drill the holes. It would have been much better to leave the pins out and just tell people they will need a drill. At least I got two thumb tacks out of this.