With so many medical issues going on lately, and having to bring the horse out on lead to graze for 3 hours a day, there is little time to remember what plants need watering when.
I had tried a form of wick watering once a few years ago. The method was an aluminum lasagna pan with 3" of aquarium gravel. The wicks were pushed down into the gravel. It just didn't seem to work very well for me and I gave up, going back to hand watering.
Finally, I decided to give it another try with a slightly (well very) different method than before.
In this method, I cut a water drinking bottle in half about 2/3 of the way up. To help prevent algae (although I am not terribly concerned about algae growth), I placed a piece of masking tape down the side, primed and painted the bottom portion with acrylic paint in terra cotta color. Then sealed with mod podge. Removed the masking tape. The "see through" strip will help me see when the reservoir is running low. There is also a square cut out for filling the reservoir, to help with air circulation and prevent a vacuum seal.
I ran a piece of acrylic yarn through the top portion and stuffed it lightly with a small piece of paper towel. In the future, I will likely drill a couple of holes in the lid and string the yarn through that. The yarn I used was worsted weight 4-ply which being as the plant, Rob's Boolaroo, is a miniature, I split it to 2-ply. And filled the top portion with a mixture of 1/2 perlite, 1/4 vermiculite, and 1/4 spagnum peat moss.
Will be keeping a very close eye on this little fella. I also used a plastic mayonnaise jar as a reservoir for an African Violet in a 3 inch pot. Not painted, just plain old plain old for now. A small square is cut for air circulation and to prevent a vacuum seal.
