African Violets and Gesneriads: Self-watering pots, 1 by begoniacrazii

begoniacrazii wrote:
I use them, not from Lowes, but HD. They are made by NorCal. I also got some from Wally. Here's a shot of a group of them.

The one's that are at 8 o'clock and 2 o'clock are the NorCal pots. The front white one was $0.50 from a thrift store. And the purple one from wally world, last week, they were like $5.

For me, the secret is using a VERY light perlite mix. Like 60-70% the last one I potted up, I also added a layer of perlite to the bottom of the pot.

I don't fill them very high either, just so the bottom of the insert is 1/2" or so in the water. Until the plants root out a bit, I use a water meter to check the moisture level. They always look bone dry on top, but stick the meter to the bottom and it reads wet.