2 wicks seem 1 too many. Plus Tallahassee is blessed with a humid climate... I do not think vermiculite serves any purpose in your case - it increases the water retention - and is beneficial for the dry climate or bottom watering.

I am thinking your plan will work - less wicks and less vermiculite - but I would be interested if you run a control pot - one wick and no vermiculite at all to see if it contributes anything.

I imagine that it will serve it purpose if you will decide to spend your vacation in Antarctica, come back in 3 weeks - and the plants run out of wicking water - and vermiculite will supply enough water to keep them from being badly damaged.

I.

I'm about to change my wick and I just bought acrylic yarn number "4" medium. Is that the right size?

Thanks

You need to try and trust your own judgement. Each yarn is made diffferently, pretreated with some waxy material during the production and so on. If you rinse your wicks in a water with a little bit of dishwashing liquid - it usually improves the capillary action. Try it in a pot with your soil. If the sold will become humid but not wet - it is what you want.

That great idea so that I don't need to take the plant in and out pot.

Why don't you try 1/2 soil of your choice and (very generous) 1/2 perlite with your wick.

I never did understand the draw of peat. Once it is wet it stays wet but once it drys out, well you will pay he double hockeysticks getting it wet again. Just a thought.

I still cannot find a yarn I like and I have plenty of types. I use a poly blend of string. Works well! At least for me. Rosie

I was told to use Mason twine.

I don't think I have any Mason Twine. That isn't cotton is it? I will have to look at it next time I am at the store out of curiosity. Rosie

I do not recall

Might be synthetic.

My wicking experience started with masons twine. It is synthetic and actually does work well. Too well. That stuff is capable of pulling a gallon an hour. Moved over to knitting yarn.

I am becoming acquainted with the fine line between water retention capabilities and water drawing capabilities.

A wick depends on having a moist environment to work. If the mixture the wick is immersed in is too dry, too lumpy, too slick, the water won't stick to it and the wick will stop working. If the wick is inserted to a moist, absorbing type of material, it will work too well.

The idea is to find a vehicle for a constant source of water w a constant material that retains water at a constant rate.

Sounds easy enough. Ill let you know how it comes out!

I was almost ready to look into Mason Twine! Not that my stuff doesn't work, there are times the wick apparently does stop and the plant goes dry. I hate that. I still don't know how that happens. That is why I thought it was my wick.

Wick & pot the plant, water it, put on a reservoir filled with water. No dryness between the two. So how does the wick stop working?

I don't seem to have a problem with working too well. I believe that is because I use a lot of perlite in the mix.

But the wick stopping the suck up action??? Can't get a good explanation for that. Let me know what you figure out! Rosie

Ha! That is the crux of the biscuit Rosie. I am dealing with that very issue right now. Imagine that your potting mix is made up of small glass (lightweight and airy) marbles. The plants roots would have no difficulty navigating through all those nooks and crannies. Perfect, right? No. Water won't stick to or be absorbed by those marbles and after a relatively short period of time the water you put into the top of the pot will dry out along with the wick. The potting mixture has to remain damp for the wicking action to work.

My current mix is perlite, horticultural charcoal and peat. If I reduce the amount of peat too far, I have the same issue as you described because water won't stick to my marbles (perlite and charcoal).

Vermiculite has fallen out of vogue but I still think that my final recipe will contain some small amount of it to aid in battling this problem.

In the meantime, I would try some new wicking material just for grins!

My "marbles" are made up of glass (perlite) AND absorbent pieces of sponge (MG soil). Now I do know that perlite doesn't absorb water but it does hold on to it on the surface. Imagine you spray water on a mirror. It won't become part of the mirror, but will stay there until it evaporates from room temperature.

Now my pieces of sponge (MG soil) DO absorb water and then they slowly dry as room temperature draws it out of the top of the pot. This action makes the sponges in the pot shrink or contract. But if there is a wick touching the sponges and marbles, the wick will keep bringing water up to them from the bottom reservoir to continually supply small amounts of water. This keeps the sponges damp and dampness on the marbles somewhat. All of these actions work together to keep air moving in and out of the soil. It is a continual push and shove.

Add growing roots to the mix and their movement further "pushes" the sponges and marbles hither and yon. Continual movement necessary to have all important air in the root ball.

Now, that is the way it happens in my head. And this is why, to me, plain perlite would not be a good thing to use. Or plain vermiculite. Although I have had success with barely damp plain vermiculite (and I mean BARELY damp!) with Christmas Cactus cuts and a few other things. Not wicking.

But for wicking violets, I prefer the 1/2 soil 1/2 perlite (a very generous 1/2 perlite). I don't use charcoal or vermiculite. Don't know why. I suppose a little bit,,,,maybe just a scattering worked in real well might be helpful.

For these reasons, I don't understand why a wick will go dry. Especially when there is water in the reservoir. The continuous action worked well for the longest time. Is it the fault of the wick? Do they just fail after a while? Mind you it doesn't happen often at all. But every now and then,,,,, And I do have a very absorbent wick. I also let the potted plant sit in water until the entire root ball is wet. Then I set it on the reservoir. Seems to me the chain has no reason to be broken! And yet it does. And I don't know why. Rosie

In my experience mason twine #18 - that's what I use - works well on contact - I use both wicks and mats - and is not reliable if it is hanging if the pot is on a top of reservoir. You need thicker twine or yarn. There are probably 2 things at work - if exposed to the air - the water from the twine is actively evaporating - living fertilizer salts behind - and crusty salted twine is not a good conductor of water. Sometimes the wine doesn't work well even it is new- you probably need to retread it - because it has a poor contact with the soil - it is running by the side of the pot - or stuck below in bottom layer of perlite (I put half inch of a coarse perlite on the bottom).

Irina, my wicks are not exposed to air. There is no additional hole to pour water in. I literally cut out a hole in the top of the container just a hair larger than the bottom of the pot. Then I firmly set the pot INTO the hole. My pot doesn't just "sit" on top of the lidded reservoir, it fits tight into the hole I cut. I did this because my clumsy hands were knocking pots off of the top of the reservoirs too frequently. So there is no evaporation opportunity between the pot and the cover of the reservoir.

Another thing I do is thread my wick up through the rootball. I don't like it just up the side.

Now there is something I don't do. I don't put 1/2 inch of coarse perlite in the bottom of the pot. But one thing I do is, I use one ply of cheap napkin to cover the holes in the bottom of the pot so soil doesn't fall through. And I thread my wick thru that. THEN I fill with soil and finish potting. And I run my wick above the top of the pot and when I am finished, I gently pull it downward to soil level. I try to cover all bases.

Other than that,,,,I got nothing. Can't figure out what else to do. Rosie

Rosie - you do not need perlite - because you do not have a direct contact between the wet mat and the pot like I do.

Try prewetting your wicks with water with a several drops of dishwashing liquid.

And they do unravel ... naughty things... may be pot your plants first - and then dip the bottoms in this soapy solution for a sec.

Oh I see! ok Irina!

I do use that drop of dishwashing soap. I don't have trouble with unraveling. I usually tie a knot in both ends of my wick. One of the last things I do before I am done. Or I will tie a little pony bead at the end of the thread that is in the water. And I use a good knot. The bead is for weight so the thread won't stick to the side of the reservoir and not be in the water by accident. I learned that in my AV club!

See??? I am trainable sometimes! Rosie

You are not only trainable - you figure out things in your own quite well.

I let my unravel....

Oh,,,I don't belive you unravel! hahaha! Rosie