Those are strong healthy and beautiful plants they actually glow with good health, good on you.

Unbeleiveable!!!

You are doing such a FANTASTIC job minimac!!

We can learn alot from you....Thank you for sharing with us here.

What are those things hanging from the pots bottom? Just curious..If wicks, how do you make them work?

HI merimac,
I was curious enough to look in FC2 to see what Buckeye Smarty Jones looked like. I couldn't find any such plant. Are you sure you have the correct name. I also checked the AVSA photo site and they had nothing there under that name. The only thing I can figure out is that maybe its a new hybrid or else it's mislabled.
Fred in NJ
BTW your plants look great. I wick all of mine also.

The hybridizer of Buckeye Smarty Jones is Pat Hancock, and it is listed on her website as 'large'. It appears to be a new hybrid of her series honoring race horses.

Barbara

Meyermike,

Those are wicks. I use acrylic baby yarn 4 ply for standards that I split into 2 strands for minis and semis - cut about 8 ins. poke into hole in bottom of pot. I use solo cups. Melt holes in bottom of cup with soldering iron. Wrap yarn once around bottom let the rest hang below pot. Cut small piece of paper towel lay on top of yarn inside pot - this prevents soil from falling out of holes. Fill with wicking soil mix and plant. Submerge bottom of pot into water to get yarn and paper towel wet (wick must be wet before it can work)Then put it on reservoir. Reservoir - I use plastic container with a hole in top of lid (which I also melt with soldering iron) Put end of yarn though hole. End of yarn should touch bottom of reservoir which has water, fert. in it. Set solo cup on top making sure yarn is straight down hole and cup is not sitting on yarn. This is something to go by. There are also other ways to try. This so far is working for me. When you have several violets it saves a lot of time. Try it on a few at first. If your reservoir ever goes dry remember you must submerge the bottom of pot to get wick wet again, or top water making sure wick is wet. Good luck.

MeyerMike..........would u have any pictures of how you wick and the reservoir. I am trying to get this in my head....what I have now is not setting straight down the hole but next to the plantlets and the wick is just loped over the side of the saucer filled with water/fertilizer....it seems to work this way..I have several plantlets drinking from the same dish at one time..??

Fred and anyone!...how exactly do u wick? I thought that just capillary matting would work, but seems like I don't even know what to do exactly with that...have read conflicting reports............I have the wick....some of my plantlets came to me with wicks in small solo cups and doing just grand wicking into a saucer..four or five of them in the same saucer and doing just great....looping over the edge of the saucer.....but what is your way. It takes alot of room to run them side by side, but I don't know how to build them up...and have the reservoir underneath. My space is limited.....thanks for all who answer..

Al I can say is Thankyou so much...

I am going to experiment with one to see how it works for me..

You all have such great ideas and are so kind..I am glad I met you all!

I asked an earlier question about keeeping the soil constantly moist..I hope I get an answer for it..

I always thought keeping soil constantly moist never allowed oxygen exchange to roots causing a plants decline eventually.. Therefore the reason why many say to let plants dry out between waterings, then a good drink to allow water to flow out causing an exchange of air to the roots..

I think I am under the wrong impression about this now? Seems to be working for all of you..;-)

Does the peat moss based soiless mix eventually compact over time, having to cause many transplants into fresher soil to avoid root rot?

MM - yes it does compact over time, just like when we use it in other containers. So far, I've been gently "fluffing" it with a bamboo skewer when that happens, making sure to avoid hurting the roots.

Also, I agree about the oxygen - AVs are no different. But, like most plants, they'll still grow amazingly well when damp all the time. I'm hoping to do some experiments with an Oyama pot (it wicks) and my letting a plant dry out a bit - using two plants I've grown from the same mom leaf. I just haven't quite enough plantlets to do it yet!

I want to record the growth of both and see what happens. I may throw in a third plant that is grown in either the gritty or the 5:1:1. The last plant I tried in gritty was in an Oyama pot. It didn't have enough roots yet and I almost killed it. I learned that even the gritty is TOO wet for a plant that has insufficient roots.