Yes, the PVC pipe is for watering from bottom up, assuming the pot is in a tray, bucket, etc. I put river rock (a coarse gravel) at the bottom of the pot to act as a drain field, and then potting soil. This works even better with larger pots above 3-gal. I can put the pot in a tray or bucket half (takeout tin foil pans are great). We have really poor soil here to plant directly in the ground, and even in some garden boxes, nematodes cause root growth problems and stunt things. The pots have been by far the most successful to date, although I am thinking I need larger (5-7 gal. range). I have also done a few double-bucket setups, but they seemed to do better with tomatoes and eggplant. There is still a good bit of effort in watering the single pots, but they seem to have less over-watering issues.