No Nac, clear containers shouldn't pose a problem. The only thing you might want to consider is drainage--if there are no holes in the bottom of the cups, the plants could get waterlogged. Good luck. :)

I was going to do the capillary watering thing. I know it won't be so beautiful with a little yarn hanging over the edge, but I was gonna hang them out the back of each cup. Does this sound like insanity?

Feegle

Just a little, Feegle. Maybe you could use them as cache pots? I have some espresso cups I'm going to try that with -- just as soon as I find them; I know they're around here somewhere...

Korina (deeply distracted by the new 'Doctor Who' ::goes to take cold shower::)

Korina,

OHMIGOD - we got the first season of the new 'Doctor Who' last spring. It was so great! We seem to get BBC stuff a season before the USA, and USA stuff a season late. Very sad about waiting for Stargate Atlantis up here. :(

Okay, back to related topics.

Are you saying I'm just a *little* insane? (Clearly you don't know me -smile-). I think the cups are too small to be cache cups. Why wouldn't the string out the back work? If I circle it around the bottom and up and over the sides? What are the dangers besides Martha Stewart raiding my home and giving me an 'F'?

I'm willing to cave to your HUGELY greater experience, but I need to argue a little about it first (apparently).

Feegle (who just survived DG's first day back at school - phew)

I think Korina's concern is that the string wouldn't work right in that setup. The capillary action probably wouldn't work where it will be exposed to air--it's not a straight shot up.

I wouldn't pot any plant in a container without drainage. Try the cache pot idea. I don't know what you have exactly, but the minis and microminis will be happy in very small containers.

~Brambles.

Feegle, don't *even* talk to me about getting shows. BBC America has no plans to show Doctor Who; SciFi was talking about it, but SciFi talks a lot. Shame you don't have the new Atlantis, though. It's good. But I seem to like nerdy scientist types anyway.

I'm not saying *you* are a little insane; you asked if your *idea* sounded a little insane. I simply agreed with you. I'm a very agreeable person, generally. Anyway, yes to what Brambles said. I don't think it would work. Use them as reservoirs and have your yarn hanging from the ugly plastic pots into the pretty tea cups.

Korina

PS Saki is Japanese for salmon. Sake is the deceptively mild-tasting rice liquor. Did I mention I like to pick nits? Yum!

I got a few nice small containers at flea markets to display my AV in. All you have to do is plant your AV in the solo 3oz cup with the wick out the bottom, then place it into the tea cup or whatever you find. BUT, you must put something in the bottom of the tea cup to get the solo cup off the bottom of the tea cup. This keeps your AV out of the water and allows the wick to work. I use a small piece of plastic rod. Works great and your plants look good too.
Cork

I use cut up pieces of acrylic blanket so it's like capillary matting.
Barb

Thanks for all the advice. Let me be more specific (yeah, I know, I should've given you all the facts to start with).

My babies are standards. At the moment they are about 4" across. The cups I got range from standard teacups to espresso cups (about 1" - 1.5" across and 2" deep). I want some sort of capillary system so I won't have to water them every day. I think that except for the teacups, they are really too small to work as resevoir cups.

What is a cache pot? Is it the same as a resevoir cup?

You're saying you think the string will dry up since too much of it is exposed to air? That makes sense.

How does one set up a capillary mat?

Can the string be cotton? Or does it need to be wool?

I did an experiment last night with some string (cotton) arranged in different ways (curled in the bottom, down one side and up the other, etc.) in the cups and then all going up and then down into a glass of water. (I am using the perlite/peat/vermiculite mixture.) Without exception, they were all drowning by morning. I suspect that since the little cups were actually lower than the level of water in the glass, I created a capillary siphon! Ha! Tonight I am doing the same thing with a shallow bowl of water.

How wet is too wet? I will certainly try the solo cup in the teacup for some of them, but I want to know how to tell if I am getting too much water and need to shorten the length of string in the solo cup.

Korina,

Sorry, I was taking no offense. I really meant, how can you call me a *little* crazy when I'm clearly hanging out in left field and still walking away?

Also, thanks for the spelling correction. I clearly had a few too many nits -smile-. No, I really mean it. I would have made that mistake over and over again. Most of my misspelling can be atributed to typos I don't catch, but not that one!

Your faithful, grateful, and happily nit-picked Feegle

Feegle -- in no particular order; get some cheap acrylic worsted-weight yarn for wicks. You will notice that the yarn is made up of 4 strands -- take one off and use it. You can't use cotton or wool; they will rot. I make a loose knot just large enough to not fall through the hole of the pot. Of course, if you're using Solo cups, you might run it once around the bottom. That should give you enough water, just make sure the soil and the wick are wet when you do this.

Too much water... I dunno, when your plants start rotting? Kidding! If you're worried, add an extra measure of perlite to your mix; it adds more air.

Offense? Naaaah, no offense, just slightly too subtle humor. I know what you mean about left field; some days I'm not even in the ball park.

Good luck with the mad scientist experiments.

Korina

'Lots of planets have a North!' -the Doctor

'If wishes were horses, we'd all be eatin' steak.' -Jayne

Baby yarn can be purchase with just 3 ply.. that way you do not have to remove one strand. This is what I use on most of my large plants.. but on my mini's I use just 2 ply. Acrylic is the best.. and it is so easy to find in the stores. It will not rot.. just have to clean it when algae forms in the water. I just add a little bleach to the wick, rinse very well and voile.. it is clean again.

Tea

I'll get the acrylic yarn and experiment with it. It's funny about the moisture level. I'm used to being able to judge it by feel; with the soil-free mix it's a whole new ballgame. Hmmm...new skills....

I definitely had a capillary siphon going. Moving the dirt(free) cups above the water level in the resevoir stopped the flooding. Now I have to figure out how long the string can be before dehydration occurs. This would all be different, of course, if I had a light table. But I haven't got room for one, and since discovering that my AVs love the blocked southern exposure in my kitchen, they all live there! May they 'bloom and grow forever'....

I'll let you know how further experiments work out.

Is a cache pot the same as a resevoir pot?

Thanks (as always),

Feegle
who is waiting not-so-patiently for 'Serenity' and 'Corpse Bride' to come out. And who is waging war on the fruit flies that have suddenly INFESTED the house! Grrrrr

A cache pot is for what runs out of a plant when you top water.

A reservior is what the plant pulls water up from (wick watering).

I am also awaiting Serenity. I have the series on DVD. Other than my yoga workout, it's my only DVDs!

~Brambles

Ooh! Ooh! More 'Firefly' fans! Yay!! Have you checked out the movie site? www.serenitymovie.com. Very cool.

A cache pot is the pretty pot you put your ugly plastic pot into. It can serve as a reservoir if you wish.

Feegle, are you sure they're fruit flies? They could be fungus gnats and are a pain in the tukas.

In Joss's name,

Korina (still traumatized from finishing Doctor Who... waaaaaa!)

I HATE MONDAYS!!!!

I'm pretty sure they're fruit flies; they're attacking my bowl of tomatoes. I finally had to put the bowl outside - didn't have time to cook them and my tomato plants are producing too many too fast. Every time I walk into the kitchen the evil buggers fly up and get in my nose> blech!

On the other hand, my pitcher plant is *feasting*!

Feegle

Happy pitcher plant.

Korina

'Nice to meet you, Rose. Now run for your life!'