This is actually good to know! My 50/50 with perlite is on the dry side for my newly wicked plants in the same 2ply situation, I had noticed. I've been considering mixing it with Turface -- I've got scads of that stuff from making mix for my succulents.

Happy you posted. Nice experiment. I may reduce to two strand myself.

My home's humidity is always high, except during winter. Two strands of acrylic yarn were keeping my plants much too wet so this summer I switched to 1 strand.

This seemed to work through summer and fall (though even with 1 strand my Solo cup minis and plantlets seem like they're always too wet). Now that I have fans going all the time, plus the dryer winter air, the 4" pots seem to be drying out as are their reservoirs. I'm hoping through enough trial and error I'll eventually find a happy medium. Seems like I've changed my variables too much this year, including soil types, to figure it out just yet.

If I tried conducting the same soil experiment as you did in my home, I might have very different results. Too many other variables at work...

I have tried the one strand and found it problematic. It works in the sense that it wicks water but at least in may case, not enough.

I still use it in a few of my very small cups that are wick equipped. Normal pots all get two strands.

Yup = the adjustment you did will brought you to a acceptable results - home conditions and soils differ - so we all need to do some tweaking the way how you did to nail it.

Tiffu (Oregon 8b)

"I've been considering mixing it with Turface"

Funny you should mention that, Tiff .... I was considering trying Turface as well ........

I have a 50lb bag of it just waiting for warmer weather so I can sift it for gritty mix! My dracaenas love it.

When I was still attached to the University, I had access to huge quantities of the stuff which they periodically used on their sports fields. I considered it but never got around to actually using it.

From what I can tell, the primary ingredient is a type of clay that has both water absorption and retention capabilities.

The costs for this product seem very reasonable, especially if a person had a huge operation which required large quantities of potting mix.

I use perlite and horticultural charcoal for my aerators and vermiculite for my water retention element. Those are the elements that all of my experimentation contained. For me to change primary elements now would be time consuming at best.

This Turface sounds intriguing. From the Amazon reviews I see people use it for succulents and makes me wonder how well it works with AVs.

Excellent thread. I started reading up on wicks, and my internet searches led me to some info by the Violet Barn, which was extremely valuable because I did not realize that I should report my new violets since they are not in wicking soil. However, he does seem to be saying that if one has wicking soil, the wick will only bring up as much water as the plant needs, and I would like some clarification on this after the posts above detailing the thickness of the wick.

https://www.violetbarn.com/watering/wicking-material/

Lucille, you should have no trouble getting to the bottom of your need for wicking information. Use the search feature here and you can read for days. I have been working on the perfect combination of wicking material and potting mix ingredients for the last year. I have narrowed it down for my needs but yours may be different. I mentioned every thing I have done up to this point in some past posts.

Yes, wicking can require a different potting mix than those used when top watering.

Enjoy the hunt!

Cool project! Please continue to post updates! I'm experimenting with soil mixes for succulents. Believe it or not, I've had great success with straight compost (I use Leafgro, a local commercially prepared product made with leaves, grass, and other yard waste picked up in municipal collections). I just prepared a 1:1 mix of compost and perlite as my first test. I also plan to test a 2:1:1 compost, perlite, sand mix.

It would have to be sterilized for AVs by cooking or baking in the oven.

Lucille, you should have no trouble getting to the bottom of your need for wicking information.

Nope, no trouble, the Buddies helped a lot! I even linked this thread!

Joanne is correct - the reason growers moved away from a garden soil and other natural ingredients - to avoid a nematode infestation. Soilless mix is nematode free. It is impossible to get rid of them - the treatment is prohibitively poisonous. Outside - mother nature takes care of everything by balancing plant eating nematodes with nematode eating nematodes.

Intestine parasites - round worms - are nematodes too, I think it it is a time to feed my Ascarids - will go nuke some soup...

i digress - whatever you bring form outside - bake - 2 hours at 185F in an oven will pasterize your compost and make your house smell like a well lived bear cave. Put the premoistened soil on the tray - cover with foil - and fire up.

- hahahahahahaha - bear cave!