I have tried to make some self-watering plant boxes where I 3D-print some containers with holes to act as wicks to absorb moisture into a top container with soil. The wicks themselves are packed with soil.
However, some white mold quickly builds up around some of the holes (fairly self-limiting though, it does not get much more than what you see in the attached picture after some days since I first noticed it). I emptied the water and re-cleaned the box, and wiped off the wicks. The existing water had a slight sewage smell to it.
For now, the boxes are directly exposed to light, but will be built in by a wooden enclosure in the “final product”.
- Should this be of any concern for the plants growing in the soil? They will be edible greens.
- Can I avoid this, while still using my 3D-printed parts?
Soil being constantly wet is exactly the conditions anaerobic bacteria need to rot everything thats submerged.
The solution is pretty obvious: don’t put soil direct under water.
There are many possible ways to achieve that:
- Add a drainage layer made out of LECA, pumice, or whatever inert material you can get. Then, add a polyester cloth or whatever synthetic fabric you can get, and sandwitch it between, and then add your soil. This prevents it from washing out. LECA and similar substrates can also wick water, but don’t get soaked and can’t rot.
- Or, you can use a polyester cloth or a proper self watering wick and put them in the holes, or fill them completely with it. They can wick way stronger, but shouldn’t be submerged completely, because then the soil gets too wet again. Or,
- Ignore the self watering capabilities and just water regularly, but use it sparingly, e.g. when you go out of town for a week, and then let it dry again
- Or, don’t use soil, and visit [email protected], where we use different substrates and techniques and also make use of those self watering pots. I use something very similar, but with mineralic substrates (I personally love LECA), where self watering works exactly like that, and the media can be reused indefinitely, without soil borne pests and much more!
Thanks for a thorough answer. I was not aware LECA would be able to act as a wick to any required degree, but that could be a good solution. I’m having some difficulties picturing exactly what you are suggesting with the LECA drainage layer - do you mean in the soil compartment? And then LECA in the wicking baskets with some polyester cloth going from the soil and into the baskets?
I have seen many videos doing it exactly like I do incl soil in the wicking baskets (which is why I went with it), but you are saying that is a fundamentally wrong way to go about it?
Yeah, right. Soil decomposes, a polyester wick or expanded clay won’t. Fill the baskets with it, and it will draw moisture from below, without any risk of rot.
If the reservoir is filled completely, the soil still should be way above the water level.Still, keep an eye out for the moisture grade. Soil and any other organic media aren’t allowed to be soaked constantly and usually need some drying in between. Damp is fine, but not wet.
Always wet is bad. Ideally you water once a day and the soil mostly dries within 23 hours. You’re so close to an ebb and flow style system you should give it a try.
So these self-watering concepts are just wrong then? Loads of videos on them on e.g. YouTube, so I would assume they worked well enough.
How would I change my system into an ebb and flow system? The reason I want a self-watering system is mainly because they are placed in a way that makes it akward to water them and because I want a way to avoid killing the plants when I am away from home which happens often enough.
Maybe the videos are using non organic material as the wick?
An ebb and flow system waters the roots directly. The planting medium is usually some gravel, peet and vermiculite. The peet and vermiculite hold a good amount of water while promoting air flow around the roots.
I’m not good at explaining because I focus on too many little details. Look up ebb and flow systems for some expert advice. They take a little setup but you look 75-80% there already.
The goal is to flood the watering basin so it saturates the medium in the basket, the Ebb, and then shuts off letting the water and nutrients Flow back out.
