I was told by the owner of the setup that the company who makes her system is Blumat of Germany. You can see from the link how they work, ceramic cones called Trompf-Blumat and Trompf-Blumat Maxi. Does anybody in the states make something similar? They seem really wonderful!! They are different from the cones at Lee Valley which drip water from the cone itself. These seem to work like a valve that opens up and allows water to flow freely from a water source, which seems like it would be good for watering large plants too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blumat International

There are also electronics control systems which use electronic soil moisture sensors, and some sort of relay board to turn on or off water valves according to soil moisture, for example see Vegetronix

Here is a link that might be useful: electronic soil moisture sensors

I am new to gardening. I would like to plant some melons around a 55 gallon drum. I will arrange for it to leak about a gallon (or whatever) per day. Will this work? I am sure I can arrange for the irrigation system to perform, I'm wondering if the plants will like it.