Wicking

[SallyO420]

I am in a dry climate and I have found that using a wick in the water to the roots seems helpful because the top get dry quickly. I just started this so not sure if this will work. Does anyone else do this or had tried it?

[Louis_W]

I dont use a wick, but Semi Hydroponic growing uses the same principal. Works great for me!

[aparnamane]

Originally Posted by SallyO420

I am in a dry climate and I have found that using a wick in the water to the roots seems helpful because the top get dry quickly. I just started this so not sure if this will work. Does anyone else do this or had tried it?

I am in San Diego (Vista) as well and recently started using wicking for some of my orchids (oncidium, miltoniopsis and tolumnia), just testing if it works, but I do have some Cats in semi-hydro in lava rock and they are doing ok.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

I grow many plants in semi-hydro. The LECA wicks moisture up into the root zone. It doesn't need to be moist at the top of the pot.

[estación seca]

Others have reported success with wicking. Moreso than with flush watering, you must watch for mineral buildup at the medium surface.

[SallyO420]

Thanks for the info. That was helpful

[Grawski]

Photo credit ... Taken from Nicole Deanna's semi-hydro video. I have used this on some of my plants, specifically my neofinetias. The river stones are not porus, and keep the Leca below from drying out. Flushing is still required.

[SallyO420]

I started using a wick about a month ago with the leca and it has made a huge difference with the orchids and especially my African violets.

[Ray]

In my environments, a wick has never been an advantage over the wicking capacity of the LECA itself, but in a dry environment - IF the wick has a large enough capacity - it may very well help.

Indoor winters around here are dry, so I started experimenting with a top-dressing of Grodan rock wool cubes, but have evolved to mixing them with the LECA, and that does a good job of equalizing the moisture gradient.

(Note to all: Sally was one of my S/H "early adopters" when she lived in PA. She has grown things in S/H culture I would never have imagined of.)

[SallyO420]

Ray lived a town over from me and I don't remember how I heard about him and s/h and the whole idea just made sense! This was around 25 years ago and I have been using ever since. It cut down on my rot 95%.

Being is a dry climate now, I was having to water daily so I have been wicking for the last few months and it has worked so well for me on everything. My orchids, succulents, cactus, Caudiciforms and African violets that are all in S/H. Huge success for me. They all love it. I will still flush when I water. I bought a new Phal in Nov. and switched it to s/h. For me there would be a transition period where it would lose a leaf or two over 3 months and not be happy. This one hasn't skipped a beat and continued growing like nothing happened. My African violets were OK but now really thriving.
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