Conventional irrigation supplies water hundreds to thousands of times faster than plants can absorb it.   The Water-Witch™ is designed to deliver water at an extremely slow rate to allow plants to draw water from the soil and lift it to the leaves where it is used.   As a result, the plant receives virtually 100% of the water supplied.

The Water-Witch™ relies on a rigid bottle that can support a small vacuum when it is turned upside down. If your bottle is collapsing either the bottle has been damaged (crushed) before, or the bottle is made of a plastic that is too thin. The "What Bottle?" section of the website has a list of bottles from known brands that are known to work.

The Water-Witch™ is manufactured, designed and developed in MN, USA. Even our tooling is made in the US.

The air tube can be replaced by a 4mm/0.16” polyurethane tubing.   This is a common size available in hardware stores or online at retailers such as Amazon.

The Water-Witch™ can be quickly rinsed with the straw in place.   Never immerse in water or allow the straw (or the socket in which the straw fits), to fill with water.

The most likely cause is that water has entered into the internal passages during washing, or during an immersion or due to the fact that the straw is not fitted tightly in its socket.    If this is the case, remove the straw, shake out as much water as possible and put the Water-Witch™ in a warm place to dry out thoroughly for at least a week, before firmly reattaching the straw in the socket and using as normal.

Yes.   The water emitted by the Water-Witch™ is insignificant in relation to that delivered by rain.

The function of the Water-Witch will not be affected, however the presence of conventional fertilizers could trigger algal growth in the bottle which may hurt your plant, so we do not recommend it. Specialized fertilizers are under development.

In the case of most perennial plants some degree of water stress is actually helpful to stimulate development of deep and wide roots.    If there is water present deeper in the soil the roots will naturally grow towards the water gradient and as long as the leaves have enough light and water to grow to photosynthesize.

Annual plants do not benefit from being in water stress. 

In certain cases fruit growers also prefer to create some degree of water stress to create intensely flavored fruit. 

The device is capable of being reused hundreds of times.   It has no wearing parts or filters to clean.

The rate of daily emission remains constant until the water level reaches the top of the air straw, thereafter it will progressively diminish until the bottle is empty.

Yes, to a degree - the device is tolerant of dirty water.   In case the sediments accumulate within the Water-Witch™, it can be rinsed and reused (do not immerse the device in water).