{"id":64783,"date":"2023-01-19T16:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=64783"},"modified":"2023-01-19T16:50:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:50:33","slug":"wick-watering-simple-and-efficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=64783","title":{"rendered":"Wick Watering: Simple and Efficient"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wick Watering: Simple and Efficient<\/a><\/h3>\n

Set up a wick system to water your potted and in-ground plants with hands-free efficiency.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Adobestock\/detry26<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Use wick watering to keep your plants hydrated. Self watering wick systems are simple to assemble, and they use less water than other methods.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wick watering is a lesser-known method of efficient irrigation. I was first introduced to the concept while reading a paper from India many years ago, in which wicks were used in conjunction with buried clay-pot irrigation. I later discovered a variety of systems for wick watering that had been used in lab studies to measure water use, vacation-water plants, provide a steady water supply for plants in greenhouses, and\u00a0starting seeds<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t find any research on the use of wick irrigation in the field or garden, so I gave it a try. Over the past 30 years, I\u2019ve conducted many experiments and field trials that have helped me understand how to design and use self-watering wick systems.<\/p>\n

Wick irrigation uses a wettable fabric or rope to carry water from a reservoir or pipe to the roots of a plant. Wick watering can work by capillary flow that goes up and over a rise, resulting in a slow flow; by gravity flow, where water runs down the wick, which produces a fast flow; or by a hybrid of both systems. Here\u2019s a closer look at both techniques so you can determine which will work best for your plants.<\/p>\n

Capillary Wicks<\/strong><\/p>\n

With capillary wicks, the water rises through small channels in the wicking material. In one test I performed, water in a 7\/16-inch washed solid-braid nylon rope rose 10 inches in 100 minutes and 22 inches in 20 hours.<\/p>\n

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Image by Lorain Ebbett-Rideout<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Capillary wicks are a popular way to water houseplants and starts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest\u2026<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wick Watering: Simple and Efficient Set up a wick system to water your potted and in-ground plants with hands-free efficiency. by Adobestock\/detry26 Use wick watering to keep your plants hydrated. Self watering wick systems are simple to assemble, and they use less water than other methods. Wick watering is a lesser-known method of efficient irrigation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[33591,8678,33590,33589],"class_list":["post-64783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-survival-2","tag-david-bainbridge","tag-mother-earth-news","tag-plant-watering","tag-wick-watering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64784,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64783\/revisions\/64784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}