Wicking pots do sound like a great product to have within your garden if you use pots, allowing you to do less watering and, if you go away on holiday your plants will be fine. All good. I got some a while ago, as my thinking at the time was in part due to the fact that summers can be rather warm in Sydney and i was hoping to make my life easier.
How do they work? Will they idea is that there is a well of water in the bottom of the pot, with some sort of shelf (with holes in to allow contact between soil and water) to support the growing media above. Mine do not have any sort of string in to help the wicking process, although some do.
From using these pots, I have found a couple of issues with them. I have several of them from the same brand in square and rectangle shapes in a couple of different sizes for each shape and these issues are the same among them all.
The first issue is that, you cannot tell how we the water is towards the bottom of the pot, even if there is no water in the well. It could be saturated, while the top half may well be pretty dry. This isn’t that great for most plants as they don’t like saturated soil that doesn’t drain well! I have found that plant roots often don’t grow that well into the bottom half of the pot. Soggy soil isn’t of any use to the plants I grow.
This means that I do have to be extra careful with the watering when I go out there. I do often stick my finger in the hole to see if there is any water in the well. If there is I normally tip it out straight away as it will just sit there due to it not draining out of the said hole. This is to help the water drain out of the soil if it is waterlogged at the bottom, to also prevent any chance of mosquitos breeding and, if I don’t, the water can get smelly! I really ensure that I do this after rain too.
In all honesty, as I write this down, I am thinking they are more trouble than they are worth! I can understand why they are handy if you are away a fair amount, on your annual holiday or you are a bit forgetful with the watering, then I understand why you give it a go.
The way we are living at the moment at home, then they are a little redundant in a way, even if they worked as well as I would like! I am one of those gardeners that will get my fingers into the soil and see if it needs watering and check for any issues like weeds or pests at the same time, and then deal with them there and then. Also, it is a rare thing to have no one at home for an extended period at the moment. With my son being older now, he generally doesn’t com on holiday with us any more, or myself and/or my husband are about so someone can actually water the plants when required.
While I want to replace my pots as I find them a little annoying to use, I will only replace them as they degrade to the point of complete uselessness/break (I am a bit clumsy at times). I am not totally sure what I’ll replace them with as yet, but it will be something well made and not plastic. I’ll just have to be careful with my watering and carry on getting dirty hands for a while yet!