Water matting or capilliary matting - what do you use?

[Storming Norman]

Hi Folks,

I need to get some more of either or both of these watering devices and am wondering what other people use. I just cannot water really regularly, unfortunately work interferes.

Water matting has been my preference, but it is really vv expensive and does not last too long.

Is capillary matting worth? It it seems really thin. Does it last better? Is it possible to source something that holds more water that does not break the bank?

What do you use to keep the seedlings watered in your greenhouse trays?

Thanks.

[Bigmallly]

I've tried different types of materials that absorb water but couldn't get on with them, I found they got messy when compost leached through. I find it easier to use self watering buckets which last 1-2 weeks before re-filling depending on the amount of sun we get.

[veggiechicken]

I was pondering on this recently. Would an old towel, or blanket, with the end dropped into a bucket of water and the remainder resting on the bench work?

[Bigmallly]

I was pondering on this recently. Would an old towel, or blanket, with the end dropped into a bucket of water and the remainder resting on the bench work?

Anything that absorbs water will work VC as long it is not too high from the water. I think a foot max otherwise gravity would force it back down. I just couldn't get on with this method. I'm sure others may love it.

[veggiechicken]

Since I'm a cheapskate who experiments, guess what I'll be doing this summer (when we have one)
What if the water was higher than the bench?

[Aberdeenplotter]

it would simply syphon out

[Alison]

I've draped a towel into a sink full of water and onto the draining board in the past when I've gone away for a few days in summer. Make sure the towel is properly wet and the pots (which you put on the wet towel on the draining board) need to be reasonably heavy otherwise you don't decent contact for the plant to wick up the water. I do the same in the greenhouse but use proper capilliary matting there which I've owned for years. Works pretty well although you do need to make sure that the mat is properly wet.

[veggiechicken]

it would simply syphon out

I think BM said I was being Stoopid too but deleted it before I could agree

[Aberdeenplotter]

snot stoopid, just uninformed. You would soon have found out .

[Bigmallly]

I think BM said I was being Stoopid too but deleted it before I could agree

Not at all, I miss-read your post so my reply was inappropriate.

[veggiechicken]

But I would still have continued just to prove you all wrong....and not admit when I found you were right
Many years ago, my husband rigged up a toilet cistern in the GH and somehow set it to drip constantly onto the tomatoes while we went away for a couple of weeks. It worked too

[Bigmallly]

Did you ever find a use for the Belfast sink?..........Tangentising again.....

[veggiechicken]

Of course!! http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1058911

[Newton]

This is an interesting video about self watering......the capillary matting can be used as a wick........drawing the water up tothe soil.

Self Watering Buckets - YouTube

[redser]

Hi Folks,

I need to get some more of either or both of these watering devices and am wondering what other people use. I just cannot water really regularly, unfortunately work interferes.

Water matting has been my preference, but it is really vv expensive and does not last too long.

Is capillary matting worth? It it seems really thin. Does it last better? Is it possible to source something that holds more water that does not break the bank?

What do you use to keep the seedlings watered in your greenhouse trays?

Thanks.

I used capilliary matting last year and it worked out really well. I made a watering bench and didnt have to water pots and trays at all, apart from filling up the resevoir. You can chuck the matting int he washing machine when it get's too dirty. Aldi/Lidl will have it in the next week over here so check your local sites.
I read an article last year where a chap in Australia got the same result just using newspaper. He laid it down really thickly on a level bench and saturated it. Worked well and because you lay it down flat in a thick layer it didn't rot. He got a whole season out of it and then just composetd it when he was done.