Would ollas work in sheet mulch?

If I buried an olla (clay pot irrigation) into a sheet mulch bed, would it work? Or would it need to be buried into the dirt? I will be growing my plants in the mulch. The mulch contains lots of manure and other fine grained materials, so I am assuming it would work. The cardboard at the bottom might even wick water along from the olla underneath the plants.

What do you think?

I think it would work - haven't tried it though - but I would think that you might have to fill up the olla more frequently in a sheet mulch bed than you would in the ground, potentially. It'll be interesting to see.

This was an interesting study on the effectiveness of various mulches: http://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanHort/files/80238.pdf
Might be of use in looking at what you plan to use for your mulch, possibly.

Gilbert Fritz wrote:If I buried an olla (clay pot irrigation) into a sheet mulch bed, would it work? Or would it need to be buried into the dirt? I will be growing my plants in the mulch. The mulch contains lots of manure and other fine grained materials, so I am assuming it would work. The cardboard at the bottom might even wick water along from the olla underneath the plants.

What do you think?

Have you tried it? I know Bill Mollison says it works (the father of Permaculture). I plan on trying it this year.

No, I never got around to it. Now I'm switching away from sheet mulch anyway.

I would only try it in a dense mulch like woodchips, not in something fluffy.