How To Use Self Watering Planters

Greenery Unlimited'southward Self Watering Planters.

Taking the Guesswork Out of When to Water

Houseplants have a problem. They rely on human being caregivers to provide water, light, nutrients, pest direction-- in essence everything they need to survive. But humans are inconsistent, and information technology can be difficult to infer exactly how much water to requite your constitute at any given time. In fact, overwatering is the unmarried biggest reason houseplants perish.

Sub-irrigated or self-watering planters eliminate the guesswork of watering by allowing plants to water themselves.

Self watering pot

Houseplants are for the almost role tropical plants that have adapted to the low light understory of forested regions surrounding the equator. Because the weather in equatorial regions is more consistent than anywhere else on the planet, plants that nosotros've come to term every bit "indoor plants" by and large have 1 thing in common: they don't like change.

Eliminating Inconsistency = Happy Houseplants

Providing consistent intendance to plants is grueling work. You can't command exactly how much light they receive if yous're non exclusively using a abound light, then their water requirements are constantly shifting. Two cups of water one week might be too much or too trivial the next. And this is at the core of the problem facing house plants. They crave the one thing most of their caregivers are unable to provide: consistency. We become busy and forget to water 1 calendar week, and the next overcompensate past giving the establish an "actress drinkable". We then realize a week later that the soil is nonetheless very wet and we have overwatered, and so we withhold h2o for another calendar week, and a bad bicycle emerges. Self watering planters eliminate the inconsistency in watering by allowing the constitute to beverage from a reservoir on an every bit needed basis. It as well provides more consequent soil moisture for a longer period inside the pot. As a caregiver, information technology simplifies knowing when to water as all you need to do is refill the reservoir when it is empty.

Refilling a self watering pot

Agreement Sub-irrigation

Sub-irrigation is a method past which plants are watered from below, instead of higher up. Our self watering planters use this method with a patented sub-irrigation insert that allows soil to maintain a consequent wet level at the base of the pot, and for thirsty plants (looking at you Ficus family) the roots can grow through the insert and directly into the reservoir for continuous access to h2o and nutrients.

Roots in a self watering planter

To understand the whole process, it can assist to look to nature. Consider that when information technology rains the soil absorbs the moisture and gravity draws the h2o to the lower levels of soil and into clay and rock subsoil horizons. As the pinnacle layers of soil dry out, the plant'due south deep root systems are still able to depict h2o from the water reserves below in the subsoil on need. The h2o retained in the subsoil allows plants to survive even in periods of drought as the roots still accept access to water. Typical indoor planters don't utilize this natural system, and instead strength the institute to rely on elevation waterings when a man perceives the constitute as thirsty.

Cocky watering planters employ sub-irrigation to evangelize water directly to plant roots, without any estimate work. The water reservoir at the bottom of the planter allows the plant to drink at its own pace and visually shows caregivers when information technology is time to water with an empty reservoir.

The Scientific discipline

The scientific discipline behind why sub irrigation and self watering planters work comes downwards to some bones phytology. Plants blot water through osmosis and move it throughout the found using capillary action and water potential differences. This whole process is called transpiration. When roots don't have regular contact with water, they tin can't effectively draw enough h2o to retain the rigidity of plants which is why y'all may see your peace lily drooping when it gets too dry. As any experienced plant parent can tell you, there are many environmental factors that go into how fast or slow a plant is transpiring and using h2o (light, heat, humidity are only a few). This is why sub-irrigation is truly the easiest way to ensure plants have enough access to water-- the reservoir allows them to process water equally needed. On darker, damper days the constitute volition require less water than on hot, dry days. By having access to the reservoir, the institute doesn't need to rely on a human intendance giver to brand incremental changes in watering to compensate for changing environmental conditions.

Then Does Every Plant Want a Self Watering Pot?

In our feel, more often than not yep. The vast bulk of tropical plant species prefer consequent levels of moisture in the soil and admission to a h2o reservoir then that they have control over the rate of transpiration. Even plants with shallow root systems similar cacti and succulents can exist very successful in our self watering planter every bit long every bit they are receiving adequate light. Our patented insert in combination with aerations stones offer excellent root aeration while also drawing water up into the lower soil layer which mimics natural environmental weather, fifty-fifty in desert landscapes.

Self watering planter

Moisture Feet, Dry Ankles

A saying we accept around our horticulture department is that most tropical plants relish wet anxiety merely dry out ankles. They desire to have access to water at the root level, but don't want all the soil in the pot to be saturated. Near plants prefer the summit few inches of soil on the dry out said, and but want to experience moisture at the straight root level. The single almost common reason people kill their plants is over watering -- wet ankles and a lack of air at the roots. A well-designed self watering planter will take a separation between the water reservoir and the growing medium. To ensure water is able to travel to the "feet" or lower root zone, a wicking cloth is used, like aeration stones that both absorb h2o and create air pockets inside the lower soil layers.