Nice arrangement! Looks like it should work well for you providing they get enough light there. If your plants start to get a little to wet, it may be that your wicking material is doing too good of a job. Keep an eye on it and enjoy the freedom of wick watering!

Hear, hear!

Usually you can control the water with 2 things - select a skinnier wick - or significantly increase the amount of coarse perlite in a soil to keep it very loose.

I.

What the initial signs of drowning? ...... and thank you both !!!!!! ; )

The larger plants will take it - it is the babies that can catch root rot.

Watch for the outer leaves, if they start drooping - you have a root rot. Your wicks look right, the only thing that we need to check - what is in your soil?

I have not repotted since receiving from Violet Barn simply because they were so small also I imagine they are superior in knowledge to me. I believe the instructions were to report in 6 months. Plus smaller transitions for them seemed reasonable. They do seem so far to put up with me well.

By the way, I will be cleaning their leaves. I saw the specks of dirt too. ; - }

Cheryl -

This is NOT a good approach - they "have superior knowledge"!

Even if the grower is super - duper - pooper experienced - his conditions are different, his methods are different, you need to tweak the method - not immediately copy - and NOT on all plants at once. This is a recipe for disaster - and we all make this mistake every so often.

Your intuition is on a top as usual, you should trust yourself more - looks like plants speak to you,

VB soil is very heavy on vermiculite. They do use mats, but they do not use wicks. They put these solo cups on a surface of the mat - and rub the pot in - so there is a contact between the soil and the mat through the hole in a bottom. They always ask customers NOT to pick plants off the shelf - because they lose this contact and the pots dry.

Anyway - their soil will work with bottom watering - but won't work with wicks. It will be too soggy,

You have work to do tomorrow. Fix your own soil - whatever you normally use - Promix Bx or Miracle Grow - (Bx is better) and split is with 30% medium to coarse perlite or with 50% for MG soil. Take your plants out of the pots - and carefully brush as much VB soil as you can. Pot them back with a new soil.

If you are not ready to do it now - move plants to saucers. VB soil is good, just NOT for wicking.

Good Job, Cheryl!

Irina

Irna_co

So glad I posted these. Almost didn’t. I am also glad you are so vigilant and have follow me through this. 1st thing tomorrow, this will be fixed. I thought they felt wet but assume I don’t know what I’m doing, since really I don’t. - ha! You are my plants safety warrior!!!!!! Irna the Warrior Queen! .......Thank you ; - }

Yeah - right...

Use your own wings ;-))! Do not be afraid to try!

One more thing. You mentioned implementing a tray of pebbles. If a person wicks, wouldn't a tray of pebbles be a little too much moisture? JMO. Rosie

Rosie - not exactly. High humidity and barely moist soil is what we need. I do not know what is the home humidity = but it is winter, house is warmed up by a forced air furnace... can be very dry - i believe Cheryl mentioned that her pots dry up in 3 days with hand watering, If her home humidity is around 35-40 % - she is OK without pebbles - there are house thermometers with a humidity meter - i am thinking Walmart sells one for $9.99. I am thinking the digital one that gives you the current temperature, the high and the low temperature and humidity.

- thanks guys. yYou are all wonderful.

I live in Florida, the land of high humidity. All of my plants live on trays full of river rocks laid within my shelving units. During our 4 weeks of winter here, I have to run the furnace. As a result, I add water to my rock trays twice a week instead of once.

Externally applied moisture (water added to the rock trays) is generally enjoyed primarily by the leaves of the plant. Moisture introduced into the potting medium is distributed to all the parts of the plants via the root system. Both systems are vital for AV's.

Prior to introducing my rock trays to my shelving units, I constantly struggled with leaf health. No matter what, they often looked "tired". I still make mistakes with lighting and such but at least now, the leaves on the plants look healthy otherwise.

Jeff Zenner

that interesting Jeff. Thanks for the input. I do plan to try moisture trays, especially on my tropicals. They have always struggled and now I think I can help.