A method of watering some say better left to the advanced growers, but it can be easily adapted to many household plants, particularly those that do well with constant moisture. This watering method is NOT recommended for cacti and succulents, but has been embraced by the African Violet and other Gesneriads community.
Some things to remember for wick-watering success: the wicking media MUST contain at least 50% course perlite and the wick MUST be artificial fibers (NOT cotton). If not, you risk keeping the media too moist and the plant will rot, and natural cotton fiber wicks will break-down and encourage fungal/bacterial pathogens. Wick watering is perfect for those who have a large collection of small plants (like AVs and other Gesneriads) and/or find themselves often traveling. I have been on 3-week long trips and it is certainly a welcoming surprise to come home to a thriving, wick-watered plant in bloom!
The image to the left (left pot) is pasteurized potting mix alone. After adding course perlite to a 1:1 ratio, the wicking media is light and airy (right pot), ready to be planted and for a wick to be added.
Once the wicking media is prepped, the next step is to wet your wicks. The easiest way to wet the wicks is to pre-cut them and drop them into a pot of hot water. They wet almost instantaneously. I use polyester (acrylic works too) yarn, pre-cut to the proper size so that ~4 in (10 cm) dangle below and ~3-4 in (7.6-10 cm) dangle above the rim of the pot (image below, A). Fill the pot partially with wicking mix, only enough to still accommodate the plant’s root ball. Place the plant in, fill-out the rim with wicking media, gently tap the sides of the pot to level, leaving some room at the top for the remaining wick. Wrap that wick partially around the top (image below, B) and cover the wick with wicking media to hide it. Notice the plant sits on top of a container that has a lid with a hole punched through. The wick goes through the hole and into the container with water + added diluted (1/4 suggested amount) fertilizer of choice (image below, C).
Alternatively, instead of a single container for each individual plant, a large communal container can be used (left image). The benefit of a large communal container/humidity tray is that it adds additional humidity to the surrounding plants, a great advantage during those dry winters when the heater is on. The disadvantages include the tray drying out faster and will need to be filled more often, and if a plant is infected/infested (i.e. root mealy bugs), all the plants in that communal tray are subject to the same infection/infestation.
NOTE: Perlite percentage may need to be further optimized for certain plants, as 50% perlite may be insufficient and leaves may start to rot. For those particular plants, I have gone as high as 75% perlite. Watch plants for several weeks after transition to wick watering to ensure plants are actively growing. DO NOT take a regularly grown plant in unmodified potting mix and wick water it. The roots will rot from the constant excess moisture.
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