I’m sorry for my delay in making this post. With the help of Wallace and Bob, i decided to work on an experiment and project with my tobacco growing. I tested out the wick watering method and homemade soil mixture with positive results. The homemade soil mixture was a mix of top soil, peat moss, vermiculite, and low grade fertilizer “Seedlingers Plant Fertelixir” that didn’t have High chloride. While it worked to use top soil from my dollar store I would avoid using it as it hardens. The other top soil “New Plant Life all purpose top soil” from Menards was a lot better to use and loose to dig into if needed. I put the mixture into a bucket and added water from my mother in laws which is from a well and doesn’t have chlorine in it. Mixed it around and let it sit overnight. Then took styro cups, drilled 5 drainage holes into the bottom with scissors, and labeled the cups with abbreviations of the plants that were to go into them. The next day when the soil was ready I filled up the cups with the soil and put the plants in their cup. I watered them with either the turkey baster or the wick watering method. I also grew plants from seeds in the homemade soil mixture without problems . I had some leftover burpee organic seed soil and decided use it with some test plants to compare the two soils together. The only difference I noticed was the commercial soil was slightly easier to tell when dry and grew the plants faster at first. Though once when the plants got established in the homemade soil they grew just as good and healthy as the commercial soil. Both soils even grew bigger plants then the starts I had in my peat pellets.
I was going to be gone for a week and was wondering how I could water the plants while I was gone. After asking Wallace and Bob and doing some searching. Came across wick watering. 1st attempt with a 5 gal bucket for the reservoir didn’t work as good mainly because too long of wicks and the water was evaporating from the wicks. After asking Bob and Wallace and getting information online I realized I need shorter wicks and run them through something like plastic tubing or in my case I chose plastic bags to help eliminate evaporation. I then used 1 gal ice cream bucket, big plastic Folgers coffee container, and close to a gallon plastic container filled up with my mother in law’s water (the reservoirs lasted a week or slightly more before I needed to refill them). Next I cut a hole in the lid big enough for the wicks and plastic bag to fit in. I soaked the wicks (the whole wick) in the water, put one end of the wicks in the water, ran them through a plastic bag with the other end cut off so the wicks could run through it, ran them through the lid and put the lid on, and then pushed the other end of the wick with a popsicle stick into the dirt of the planted styrofoam cups. For the styrocups I had some plastic plant water trays that I put the cups in to collect excess water. To play it safe the night before i left I also put a little less then an inch of water in the tray so maybe the plants could soak it up from the bottom if for some reason the wick system didn’t work. The wick system and adding water to the tray worked well. I left for a week. When I got back the plants were doing great and didn’t have a single one die on me. However, I think next time and how I would suggest to do wick watering is put the reservoir (container of water) below the plants and run a short wick into the bottom of the plant container rather then into the top of the container. This way you have a shorter wick and I feel like it might have better results. Popsicle sticks help a lot to push the wick into the dirt. Other than checking to make sure there’s water in the reservoir “That’s all folks!” Hope this helps!
Materials used in wick watering: cotton twine (Walmart or Menards(Menards is cheaper)), tape, scissors, plastic bags, gallon size plastic container(reservoir), plant container, plastic water tray, popsicle sticks,and storage rack
I was going to be gone for a week and was wondering how I could water the plants while I was gone. After asking Wallace and Bob and doing some searching. Came across wick watering. 1st attempt with a 5 gal bucket for the reservoir didn’t work as good mainly because too long of wicks and the water was evaporating from the wicks. After asking Bob and Wallace and getting information online I realized I need shorter wicks and run them through something like plastic tubing or in my case I chose plastic bags to help eliminate evaporation. I then used 1 gal ice cream bucket, big plastic Folgers coffee container, and close to a gallon plastic container filled up with my mother in law’s water (the reservoirs lasted a week or slightly more before I needed to refill them). Next I cut a hole in the lid big enough for the wicks and plastic bag to fit in. I soaked the wicks (the whole wick) in the water, put one end of the wicks in the water, ran them through a plastic bag with the other end cut off so the wicks could run through it, ran them through the lid and put the lid on, and then pushed the other end of the wick with a popsicle stick into the dirt of the planted styrofoam cups. For the styrocups I had some plastic plant water trays that I put the cups in to collect excess water. To play it safe the night before i left I also put a little less then an inch of water in the tray so maybe the plants could soak it up from the bottom if for some reason the wick system didn’t work. The wick system and adding water to the tray worked well. I left for a week. When I got back the plants were doing great and didn’t have a single one die on me. However, I think next time and how I would suggest to do wick watering is put the reservoir (container of water) below the plants and run a short wick into the bottom of the plant container rather then into the top of the container. This way you have a shorter wick and I feel like it might have better results. Popsicle sticks help a lot to push the wick into the dirt. Other than checking to make sure there’s water in the reservoir “That’s all folks!” Hope this helps!
Materials used in wick watering: cotton twine (Walmart or Menards(Menards is cheaper)), tape, scissors, plastic bags, gallon size plastic container(reservoir), plant container, plastic water tray, popsicle sticks,and storage rack
