How many of us have house plants that when you water them the excess water goes everywhere as the little saucer at the bottom is not sufficient to catch the excess. The alternative to that is a big bowl thing that never fits properly so when you water your beloved plant it gets about a litre of water twice a week and ends up with root rot!
What I propose is stylish outer pots made so that they fit perfectly to the inner pot - full range of them right next to the plant pot section in garden centres. This I can hear echos of (baked) BUT what I propose on these pots is a little see through bit on the side (like on kettles) perhapes even with a floaty ball and everything (although we don't want to over do it and make them too exspensive). This way you can SEE if your plant needs a water just from the side of the outer pot! In fact I'm going to go into buisness right now - as some git will probably make a mint from this idea if I don't.
-- aphidman, Sep 12 2002

using hydroponics.... http://www.soil-free.com/about.htm
the pots come with a neat little gauge [po, Sep 12 2002]

(?) Honeydew season http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/
Many aphid species secrete a sticky substance called 'honeydew' which is similar to sugar water. This energy-rich anal secretion falls on leaves and other objects below the infestation. A black-colored fungi called 'sooty mold' colonizes honeydew-covered surfaces. As a result, sunlight is unable to reach the leaf surface, restricting photosynthesis that produces the plant sugars. Honeydew also attracts ants, flies and other insects. Some species are heavily dependent on ants for survival and dispersal. The honeydew-loving ants 'tend' the aphids and prey upon natural enemies of aphids and otherwise unhealthy aphids [ty6, Sep 12 2002]

ladybird eggs.
-- yamahito, Sep 12 2002


Watch out for the symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids. The ant will run around and protect the aphid from the ladybugs, in return for this, when tickled by said ant, the aphid will offer up one drop of honeydew from it's posterior, rich with sucrose, which the ant will lap up. [link]
-- ty6, Sep 12 2002


// {idea's first paragraph} //

No, the alternative is that you don't overwater them. That's why there is water spilling out all over the place.

(Well it was the first paragraph, until you edited out the break.)
-- waugsqueke, Sep 13 2002


ty6, whence is your link supposed to be going?
[pedants: help! grammar?]
aphid-lad is well aware of the doings of aphids. That name was not chosen blindly.
-- lewisgirl, Sep 13 2002



random, halfbakery