Well I have mixed feelings about the drip spikes now. Seems they get clogged very easily with the normal grit in the pots and this prevents the water from being applied to the plants. I am going to persist with them as I feel that when they work they work well. However, this is an intrinsic design flaw worth sharing with everyone.
My mind is contemplating strategies to overcome this problem, and one that immediately comes to mind is to get some PVC piping the width, and length, of the spike and sit the spike inside the tube. This will keep the soil away from the spike, thus it should not become clogged as easily as appears to occur now. Further, it still delivers the H2O directly to the plants root zone. Sounds like a trip to the The Big Kids Toy Shop is on the cards.
Actually, it will be a bit of an adventure visiting Bunnings Warehouse down here. All the ones I have seen look absolutely huge and I have not set foot in any of them. Definately time to correct that over the weekend me thinks. I need some more RichGro Pro Mix at any rate.
