If it has acheived it's initial set you can't overdo the misting. Temperature, humidity and air movement all play a role in dehydration. Completely sealing a piece of work prevents any of the above from allowing excessive loss of moisture and the the water that you see dripping off the plastic is more than likely the moisture that is being given up from the cement (can also be dew forming). Do all you can to keep it from escaping into the atmosphere.

Hi Kim
I went out and bought a bunch of boot trays for $2 a piece.
They are about 30 inches by 14 and have a lip for drippy winter boots.
I like to set my work on these so they can wick up water from the bottom. And if it's in a leaky bag the water doesn't run away. Yuo can fill up the tray with water, plunk down your project, and throw a bag over it and you are good to go. a towel will wick water up from the tray over your work as well.

These boot trays are handy especally indoors.
I use them for my bedding plants as well.

It just occurred to me that my finished trough is a bit smaller than the mold I used, so I can just turn the mold upside down on top of the trough! I have one of those boot trays, so I think I'll be brave and move it there so I can get it out of the way. I'm anxious to start the next project. :-) How long should I keep it covered and damp, did I read two weeks?

Hi Kim
Seven days if you are in a hurry but 2 weeks is better.
Tufa reaches most of it's strength after the first week but does keep getting stronger for about a month.
Two weeks is probably longer than most folks cure their work.
I'm down to 10 days for most stuff.
I really hate the wait, it's the worst part of this hobby.:)

I'm keeping the trough in the plastic bag, misting once daily. Today is the 4th day and I'll do this for 10 days. Then what? Out of the bag, but continue to mist daily? One good thing about starting this in early fall, I'll have all winter for things to harden before spring planting next year.

Friend of ours has been developing sensing instrumentation for concrete hydration and curing. If you scroll half way down, you will see a chart that will show the curing curve for crete in detail. The "cure time in hours" was quite interesting, and the variation in curing time compared to partical size is also. The larger the particals, the slower the cure. This is as much as I can understand. These guys are physicists.
Jo

Here is a link that might be useful: highly technical curing info

This is a good post from some the old time memebers.
Bump