Have you noticed how your houseplants get neglected when you are busy? Somewhere along the way I came up with this plan of watering my houseplants. With the wick method I only water and fertilize about once a month in the winter and every two weeks in the summer.
First I take an old pair of panty hose (which I’ve been saving to stuff a puff quilt with) and cut a length off of about 10 inches to a foot long. I prepare my water reservoir by cutting a small triangle into the side of the lid. Do you recognize this repurposed container? It is a frosting container with the label removed. You can use any container that is strong enough to support your plant. Some of the whip cream or margarine containers work for the larger plants.
Using a pencil, stuff the nylon-wick into the bottom hole of the planted pot. Push the pencil all the way up through the dirt by the roots, near the middle of the pot until it comes out through the soil.
Holding the top of the “wick” between your fingers pull the pencil back out of the pot. Give a slight tug on the wick to make sure the tension is off and pulling it slightly back into the soil. Cover with dirt. Using your sprayer from the faucet, water-in the spot where the wick came through the soil.
Now insert the wick into your reservoir of fertilizer water. My favorite African Violet food is made by Schultz and is just 3-4 drops of fertilizer in the water.
You can use this same method to water all your houseplants that sit on a shelf, using different sizes of containers. If you use containers that have writing on them, say for example an empty whipped cream container as in the last photo, then I disguise it by setting it down in a basket.
I hope this frees up some of your time and lets you enjoy your plants a little more. 🙂
