I’m just going to slowly unfold my jouney along into my wicking adventures. Its something Ive applied into my growing as a means to buy myself more time as I work away from home a lot and sometimes I just cant get to my plants within reason. For now this will be just a quick post of words but in time I will break down what I do as well as visuals for you good folk like myself that are lazy and would rather look at pictures.
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Oh, Im in!
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My thoughts are simple as are my effort so I’ve stumbled a fair amount along the way 
Overall has it been easy, Yes! Has it freed up more time, Not at all…
Is this a streamline process, NO. Its a"Work in Progress".
I’ve been trying things along the way with varying wins but with everything comes challenges and lessons.
Does this method work “YES” and has for me for over 2 yrs now. What have I learnt so far.
In a nutshell this does buy you time just know that It will get your root zone quite happy but will need to transplant or better just don’t leave you plant root bound like me for too long and deplete the soil of the small pot. Right now I have all my living soil plants sitting with wicks. All my plants have been neglected at some point and dried up and when they did stopped drawing up water.
Even after I’ve added water back into the res it stopped drinking via wick and become hydromorphic and my only means of rescuing the plant at this point was too place the pot into a container with to bottom 1" of root zone submerged for it the be forced to soak up the water and start wicking again.
I’m dealing with this right now with 1 of my Lemon Wookie plants but had to deal with the same issue last month with the AU79 and the other Lemon Wookie (I need to transplant these LW, ASAP) as they’ve been in a 1 gal shoes for 6 months now and are showing leaf fade more & more each day.
The AU79 since placed into a 5 gal fabric pot has sorted all it unhappiness out and it thriving just need to flip this plant along with the rest of the tent just need a bit more time to spread those roots.
When I first encounter issue and notice soil dry I start to troubleshoot buy inspecting the wick.
- Is there water in the Res?
Yes/No
If “Yes” what does my water look like?
Is there a visual indicator such as an oily slick sitting on the water surface?
(For me, the last 3 times “Yes there was”) from having runoff from the container into the res from the green amino being watered in and causing a reaction in the res.
Corrective action
- Take the plant too a water source and wash off the wick to remove the residue/contamination. Drain/Clean/Sanitize base holding water source. The last 3 times I’ve experienced this Ive had to place the pot into a tray and had it sitting in water forcing it too rehydrate and they’ve all bounced back. (This has been the most extreme response for me as the root zone was hard and almost entirely dry)
- Is the wick dirty but empty res?
Yes/No
If yes, you have 2 choices. CLEAN or REPLACE
If you clean the wick thats the easier route and what I’ve done as a 1st response but watching the next few days for it to either continue wicking water like it never happened and the issue is now resolved and process like nothing is going on. If the water level isnt dow in a few days and the root zone is drier you can sit into water and force a root zone soak and watch it for the next few days again (This has worked for me previosly as well) if it starts to wick again issue is usually resolved.
If it doesn’t wick after the root zone soaked up everything it was sitting in then I’ve had to replace the wick which isnt always easy as the root have grown into it heavily by this point and have anchored it so you’ll need to pull the root zone partially out of the pot creating space so you can remove it with a downward pull which WILL rip out root with it but is the better option then the plant dying for an inability to drink. Place the new wick right in the same track as the old 1 and rest it ntop of the wicking base and thats it (with the removal of the root usually the offending contaminated roots go with it and within the next week you’ll see many new roots poking out those holes.
Is wicking the perfect solution "No’. It is very effective just know you will encounter issue at some point but is quite easy to deal with if you can troubleshoot is quickly.
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I need pics, bro!
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Here’s just a few pictures of what I do. I had good start then got i to it and just started doing the planting and forgot to take picturesof the steps after the initial ones. This said I have to do this a few more times with some more plants so I will get it done.
For this planting, I will be taking x2 Lemon Wookie & 1 Chocolate Haze Xmas from heavily root bound 1 gal pots into a 2.9 gal pots
I’ll be using 1 wick poking out 2 of the hole that are not flush with the floor.
The way I measure the length of wick is simple go from 1 edge wrap around the base to the other lip.
This is the length after I made the cut
Im using 1/4" wicking string for this pot as it provides decent water movment. Normally I use 2 strings but this round I wanted to test with only 1.
Due to the limited capillary action of the soil when I started to add in the soil I lifted the string raising it2" off the base to givea bit extra height assist the cap action.
From here its just a normal replant and water in. I have these 3 plants now sitting ontop of wicking bases to help entice the water seeking roots.
If I find that the soil isn’t wicking enough water I can always pull another string up into the pot however I would pull it UP into the soil rather then across the base of the pot. I did this with my gifted auto flower and it did take the plant a bit of adjusting and myself as well as it made the upper portion of the pot wetter and mold had started on the surface.
This was a bit of a learning curve for me with this but I have found its easier to rehydrate the soil with the wick pulled up into the soil then along the base.
I will have to get more pictures from the next transplant and show the root locked plants that are very unhappy with still wearing toddlers shoes.
The 1 gal has worked with with my Sowah Apple and didnt mind the root boundness but 5 months in a 1 gal is just cruelty to my plant children.
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