Arlene said:
>> I believe the soil in the pot has to be wet first, before it can wick up any more moisture?
You might be right, ESPECIALLY with commercial potting mixes that are mostly peat. I wouldn't know, because:
1. I start with moist mix and still occasionally top-water. esepcecially with seeds, I over-water rather than under-water. I doubt if my cells ever go dry all the way to the bottom. Larger pots I usually top-water, especially if they went mostly dry.
2. My mixes are now mostly bark with only a little peat. I think that bark re-hydrates easier than peat.
But I do notice that the top of a cell or pot can go pretty dry but still re-moisten itself when I water the flannel. So at least some dry mixes can re-moisten themselves for at least an inch or so by bottom watering.
I WAS afraid that a CHUNKY bark mix might not wick well enough to pull water up rapidly into a pot made from a two-liter soda bottle (around 7 inches deep and ~4 inches diameter).
I'm going to try various wicks to find one that doesn't rot and will lift water rapidly at least 7 inches, then lay that along the side of the bottle before filling it with mix. If the wick keeps itself moist, I figure that water can wick 4" horizontally even if the mix doesn't have much peat or bark dust.
I'm also thinking of making it into a mini-EarthBox with small internal reservoir, since a chunky bark mix will not hold very much water and I don't wnat to have to water twcie each day!
