Water Wicking Material For Plants

Let s look at the materials you will need for this diy wick watering system.

Water wicking material for plants.

Cotton clothesline available at most hardware stores works great. Customers are especially happy with the capillary fabric tubes that come with our self watering line of galvanized planters. Shoelaces come in various lengths. Old school water wicking for this you need a large water container like vase or bucket and some cotton rope.

Now to my pseudo scientific tests of water wicking materials. Bury 1 end of the wick into the potting soil so it s about 3 inches 7 6 cm deep. How it works a wick watering system for potted plants employs a soft fabric string or ribbon. The diameters were 1 2 inch.

Insert the end of the wick into the hole. Most important is your choice of soil it must contain at least 50 perlite for this system to work well. Cotton shoelaces to act as the wicks. Take a strip of synthetic fiber like nylon stockings or cord and fill a container such as a bucket or a jug with water to serve as your reservoir.

Soak the wicks in a bowl of water. Bucket to act as the water reservoir. Do this gently so as not to damage any of the roots. There are other products that help your soil wick water as well.

If you have never used wicks here is a quick how to. I used an 11 quart plastic bucket. Capillary matting works great for wicking water to your seedlings. A wick watering system will help to solve this problem by providing moisture to plants when you don t.

It barely wicked any moisture whatsoever. The poly rope is a much more plasticky rope than the nylon much rougher too. Use a wick to water your plants while you re away. Wicking material for self watering planters.

Insert a pencil into the bottom of the root ball of the plant approximately half way up the root ball. Potted plant sits on the lid and wick goes through the hole into the water. I ve recently installed a vertical herb garden in my house and had some problem watering my plants doing some research i found that a wick watering system is a way in which my plants don t run out of water and don t get excess water basically they. Grasp the base of the plant and remove it from the pot.

As for the wick any man made material that absorbs water acrylic yarn works well. Choose the length based upon the distance from the water reservoir to the container with plants.