Hi All;
I have been having the rottenest luck with my wicking, seems like they stop wicking, i have 3 different size cord & they all seem to do this, not on all my plants but on quite a few, really aggrevates me as i think the plant is doing ok, then notice it starting to look terrible & find it bone dry, but water in the container.i have tried wetting the cord first,nothing seems to be fool proof, any suggestions?
mrsbonnie
wicking
use a couple of drops of dish liquid when you make a batch,it will help
JIM
i'll try it. thanks
Same thing happens to me.I knew about the dish soap when using yarn as a wick but never thought of it with the string.
What type of cord are you using? My only experience is with Mason twine, but I found it works beautifully. I haven't had one wick dry out on me in the several months I have been wicking.
ive used it on twine and yarn ,works good
JIM
I have never heard of using the dish washing liquid, you said when you make a batch? Do you mean in your water or when you set up the wicking, to wet the wick with water and dish washing liquid? Maybe its too early this morning and Im just not getting it.
I'm confused too, might need more coffee. I'm planning to wick ALL of my houseplants so that I can go out of town for a while. I guess I need real clear instructions, so type real slow.
LOL
cut your wicks and put them in a bag and add water and a couple of drops of liquid
(dishsoap)i make a few hundred at a time and keep them wet till i need them
i have done that before & still some won't wick.
bonnie
AH HA!! Thank you bigoldbuck01 for that!! Sometimes I need to bring a crayon so that these things can be drawn out for me!! I will do this for sure!! Again, thank you to you and everyone else who posts these little "helpful hints" I have printed out a lot of them and or copied to my onenote for future reference, this one and the lighting info that gail posted will be next in the notes!!!
I don't know what cord has, but the yarn has sizeing and the soap washes that out of the fibers. Your wicks should already be wet when you pot your plant and if the wick ever dries out, you will have to get the wick wet again for it to start drawing up water either by top watering or setting the pot in a dish of water. I use the yarn used to crochet/knit baby things...I like that size, it works for me. Please don't wick everything at one time, if the soil is not light enough, you could lose plants before you realize its a problem. So just do a few and if it is working good, then do more plants! It is great when you go on vacation though! I repot all my plants with a wick if they are in a plastic pot with bottom holes but they are not all on resouvours. Some are in trays with the acrylic blanket in the bottom, but if I every want to take one of them out, they are ready to go into a resouvour. (can't spell that word!..hope there are no teachers reading! My aunt was a teacher, a stickler and I cringed every time I wrote to her knowing I have issues with run on sentences, spelling, etc....oooo...gonna stop now!). tish
i have been wicking most of my plants for about 2 years now, & have this problem every so often. i have wicked plants with out the wicking being wet & also wet & both have worked.,I am thinking i might have the problem is the cord is either to small for the pot or something has clogged the wick or the cord might be to old. i have just repooted several of mine, but i did put them into a soap solution first.i will let you know how they do.
If you think your cord is too small you could put two pieces in and see if that will make it too wet. My violet club ladies all told me to use the regular yarn and to pull it apart for the smaller plants...the regular yarn kept my plants too wet (I probably needed to add more perlite but I didn't know that then)...and pulling the yarn apart was a pain. I guess...I'm lazy and I usually don't wet my wick when Im potting, I set my pot in a dish of water after I've potted it to soak up the water, thus wetting the wicking. Sometimes I have a plant that does not want to draw up and I just assume it's because I didn't wet the wick first. Also it will only pull up about 4" so if your water is a long distance from your plant, that can be an issue. Do you put a new wick in everytime you repot? tish
yes i do put new wicks in. i have used yarn before & was not pleased with it so i use different sizes of nylon cord.i know thats what dave from daves violets uses, he is the one who told me about it.
have you ever tried mason twine?i use the size 18 works like a champ
JIM
I forgot this until this thread, when I was at the St. Louis show, we were talking to a few of the people showing. My sister was asking about the watering etc. he said if his get dry (I believe he was talking plants, not wicks) he sets his in water, not to just leave them in there but for a couple of hours or overnight. Maybe this would help to saturate the wicks as well?
thanks for the info, i will try it.
bonnie