AquaMat Horticultural Fabric

[Ray]

I suppose I can claim it was due to my business travel schedule, and my inability to repot frequently enough (or maybe it was just laziness), but I have been intrigued with inert media for a long time. Hence my development of S/H culture using LECA, and the use of recycled polyester fiber pads for media and mounting.

More recently, I read about inert polyester fabrics as a mounting and potting material, so acquired some for experimenting, and found that I like that idea too. The commercially available product dried out a little too fast for my liking, so I worked with a domestic manufacturer to develop a thicker version, which I call "AquaMat".

I'm happy to announce that it is now in stock and available.

Read more HERE.

[Discus]

Yay, an alternative to Hygrolon. Wish shipping wasn't so prohibitively expensive from the USA :/


Ray - You state that it "wicks well" but there is no quantification of this. Your test for water retention&gravity drainage doesn't really equate to a "wicking" test (which I would consider to be adequately tested by two dry pieces, one of each, being placed with the bottom inch or so in water, whilst held vertically in the air, and seeing how high up the mat gets wet over an equal time period and environmental humidity).

I'm not certain what a fair, objective test for wicking/wetness at height would be; perhaps holding a piece of moisture indicator paper every cm up the cloth? Or starting at the top and working down and seeing where the indicator strip first picks up "wetness" - you'd have to ensure equal pressure on both strips, of course.
Independent (different cloth samples) replicates would be nice.

A weight-for-weight comparison won't really help for wicking either (because it stands to reason than a thicker bit of cloth can hold more water, but it may not necessarily be dry that high up the cloth). It's potentially possible to assess this by then chopping into strips and weighing each horizontal strip, but how you'd achieve a sensible result when cutting would likely squeegee water all over the place I have no idea. A laser perhaps...?

The overall amount of water held is interesting, but I'm most interested in how effectively the fabric "wicks" from a reservoir.

I'd be really interested to see a comparison in wicking effectiveness between the two when you're feeling bored.

Congratulations on bringing yet another interesting product to market.

[Ray]

One of the nice things about the fabrics is that they appear darker when full wet, resulting in a reasonably distinct "line" if you do a wicking comparison.

You are right that the conditions make a huge difference. A claim made for the competing material is that it "wicks and lift water vertically up to 320mm". My own testing of that material with a strip 40mm wide x 300mm tall showed that in my basement, after the end being in water for 24 hours, the "line" was about 150 mm above the liquid.

I have not run a side-by-side yet, but will. (I'm going to be away through early next week, so please be patient.)

The weight-per-weight measure tells you the volume that can be held - an indication of the "reservoir" - but if you do a weight of water held per volume of fabric, it's about the same for both. As the water is held on the surface and in-between the fibers - a surface energy effect - the fact that they are the same suggests the wicking will be similar, too, as that's also a surface energy thing.

[Discus]

Thanks for your feedback, Ray, looking forward to your results when you have time to run the test.

[ALToronto]

Just a technical point, Ray - the page you linked to dead-ends on your website. You need to add a link to go to your home page or to the store page for this product.

[Ray]

Thanks, Alla.

That page is actually a "more info" result from a link in the store description, so I really intended it to be closed when folks go back to the store, but your point is well taken!

[Ray]

If there is any interest, I did manage to get the wicking evaluation done, and have added it (along with navigation links) to the web page.

I'm off on vacation now. Catch you all Monday.

[Discus]

Thanks Ray, some interesting results! Enjoy your vacation!