Testing Out Affordable Self-Watering Pots (soil, pon, & leca) | Set Up + Results!
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2021
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I’m Fern! A 20-something gal living on beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada with my sweet lil doggo & around 100 houseplants. Plants have changed my life - I love tending to them and sharing the joys and discoveries of my planty journey online. I am passionate about all things living and I have been vegan for over 5 years - it was the best decision I’ve ever made. For those into astrology, I am a gemini sun, scorpio moon, & libra rising. I started out on social media with a focus on makeup/beauty/fashion and am not into it as much, but I do share on those topics from time to time. Thanks for stopping by!
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I very much like the style of content where you show how something worked out over time. Its gives a much better educational vibe than just a video that says let me try this new idea, they are supper excited about what they did, but nothing to tell me if it worked out in the end. I'm curious how this would work out with ferns and Calatheas that tend to be pickier with their water needs.
I have a calathea triostar in soil, and self watering pot. It is my happiest plant!!! I would say try it!
I have 6 different types of calatheas in pon and self-watering with distilled water. It makes life so much easier for me since I don’t have to water them separately with special water. And they are all super happy and have been for many months. I don’t run a humidifier and they have no crispy edges.
Any pot with a drainage hole, combined with a pot without a drainage hole, can be a self watering pot system. Any synthetic rope like macrame rope can be used as a wick. Also it's not necessary to always have water in the reservoir especially you're using soil. It's definitely possible to overwater a plant by keeping water in the reservoir at all times.
About 90% of my plants are in semi hydro mainly leca with self watering pots and the tops are always dry, so don’t worry about that. As others have mentioned moving your wick up will help. I do a layer of leca first so that it lies underneath the wick and the wick is higher. I would also keep in mind you moved your scindapsus from a super high humidity prop box to lower humidity in your room so that can explain the initial curling and floppiness of the leaves.
In selfwatering pots filled with pon or leca u need to water the plants from the top for the first 7 to 14 Days so they have time to adapt to the new 'wicking life'
Oh thanks for this info! I want to transfer my calathea in self watering pot with pon/leca and currently researching some info about this.
@@rukahazuki6650 Hi! Did you transfer your Calathea to PON? How did it go? I'm thinking of doing the same with my C. lancifolia (rattlesnake) but I'm a little worried that I might kill one of my favorite plants!
I also dislike the look of most self-watering pots so I started making my own because you really only need the cord, a nursery pot and some sort of pot/jar/vessel where the nursery pot can sit. You can do it with mason jars and other transparent glass containers to see the water level (they look really cool like that actually) or you can get fancy and get one of those sticks that tell you if there's need to fill up the water, they sell them separately.
For LECA, use the cord to wick higher. I haven’t done with scindapsus but for others i wick higher and have had success. Usually I’ll just make sure the wick touches a root or loop around the general area where the roots are so I know water gets up.
Thanks for the tip! Going to do this now! 👍
Yes this exactly what I was thinking!
I really appreciate and acknowledge the time spent on videos like this that are filmed over a few weeks time to have a lot of info placed in one video! It’s very hard to feel confident in a video of someone showing them trying something new but not knowing how it ended up for them. Thanks for the effort you put into this video!!🖤
Yes! I am super interested in content that spans over a few weeks or months. I like seeing progress--or lack thereof--and going on a journey of exploration, discovery, and reflection. 🙂 Plants have a lot to teach us!
I know this is two years later watching it but just started learning and watching, I definitely love this style of videos it helps me as a newbie. Love how you have your home with all your plants, it’s awesome. ♥️from the UK
Thank you so much 😊
For self watering pots with soil, I don’t fill the reservoir up all the way, I usually do a small amount, probably an inch or so (depending on pot size) and then wait for them to dry a bit before adding more water.
I also find that the fluffy microfiber wicks work a lot better for leca than the cotton wicks! My scindapsus took a while to adjust to leca and start growing, but now it loves it
This is super helpful, thank you!!
For leca, you can submerge in water overnight to ensure they are completely wet, or you can take the inner basket and hold it under room temp water (at the sink) to completely drench the leca as well, IME leca works better when they are wet to begin with which essentially triggers the capillary mechanism. I have also had the best success in mixing different sizes, there are tiny 3mm sized leca balls and the regular bigger sized ones and i found the tiny ones wick water better so if you sort of layer them up, the roots really like it and branch out a lot. I found success with Calathea in soil, because they like that constant moisture I guess.
The only way I’ve made a calathea happy was by using one of these self watering pots with soil! I imagine ferns would love it too.
I avoid the issue you experienced with LECA by holding the wick about halfway up the pot while filling. Basically bringing the wick up to root level so the moisture is available where the plants need it!🪴
Love this style of video!! Hope you’re settling in well with Olive 💗
Maybe in the LECA pot you can change the wick! I use Micro fiber mop strips! They are longer so you can string it more up towards the top of the LECA so the top is not so dry! I had the same pots and really enjoyed using them!
i’ve been looking at self watering pots and got overwhelmed with the options and sellers. this came just in time!!
The sphagnum isn’t actually full of algae, it’s actually just revived itself to a green colour! I love it when sphagnum comes back alive 🤩
Hi Fern, for the leca, I pulled the wick up from the inside of the pot so it's like sandwiched in the leca (I'm not good at describing stuff sorry!) I pulled it so it touches the leca in the middle of the pot. This way, water wicks up to the top of the leca keeping it moist. Hope that helps and it's not too confusing 😅
This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing!! 😊
I use self watering pots with soil but only with plants that love lots of water. All my ferns and my banana tree. My other plants don’t seem to like it as moist… or maybe I just removed them when I saw how wet it was… I also haven’t gotten into leca yet (nervous). I’m so interested in this experiment 🔬 🪴♥️
I love self watering pots. I’ve switched almost everything over to pon and self watering. I got some grey 5.5 inch t4u ones from Amazon that have the water gauge like the lechuza pots that were more expensive then then the ones you had but still not bad I think $30 for a 6 pack.
I do think that your Exotica leaves looked much happier at the end of the video. Maybe they just needed to adjust to the lecca. Great video 💚💚💚
Ooo I’m glad you did this! I have mixed feelings about self watering pots. But I’ve only tried them with soil. I wanna give it another go with leca!
I did not know what to expect! Can't believe the plants are so happy.
Glad you had fun doing this! As per the soil media, your mix is probably really airy and the roots get lots of oxygen that’s why it doesn’t rot even with it staying moist all the time.
Makes sense!!
Raise the wick in the scindapdus pot. It's not high enough so the leca isn't getting the moisture.
I've got my scindapsus in just leca/water. They did take some time to adjust but are doing fine now. I'm not sure how the self-watering pots are much different than just leca also. Maybe I'm missing something.
Thanks for this video and all the other videos that you have shared with us!!! I have close to 150 plants and I would say that maybe 80% of them are in self-watering pots. While we were dead in the middle of covid and I was able to be home most of the time, I was able to spend much more time with my plants and tend to them on a daily basis. Once I was told that I would be reporting back to the building, I began ordering self-watering pots because I knew that I wouldn't have the time or the energy to hover over them anymore. I'm so happy that I made the decision to do this. It cut my watering time by more than half and my babies are happy and healthy! I must admit that I don't have any of my succulents in them, and I don't use leca or pon. Just soil mixed with perlite...
Hello. I want to ask you about your plants in self-watering pot. Sorry to ask this because I'm new in this gardening stuffs. Do you have any calathea in self watering pot? If you have them , how do you take care of their watering to prevent root rot or soil too wet in the self watering pot?
I have few self watering pots when I started and used them for few months for my peace lily, Pteris tricolour and small parlour palm. They're among my first plants. My plants are happy for some time but suddenly they're declining and I repotted them in soil and out it outdoor( they're doing well now except one fern that can't be saved anymore). Because of this, I take a break from using it for a while but I want to use them again with my calathea in my room. If you have any advice about it, I really appreciate it.
@@rukahazuki6650 Hi... I have all of my calatheas, marantas and stromanthes in self watering pots. I very seldom water them from the top and when I do it's only like half of the amount that I would use ordinarily because the bottom portion of the pot stays damp because of the wick. Once the water dries from the bottom (I bought pots with clear plastic catch--pots so that I can keep an eye on them) and the wick is totally dry, I put more water in the bottom. I have been doing it this way for months now and yes, I have lost a few leaves, but no where near as many as I have gained and no root rot at all. Hope this helps...
Love testing things out videos! The biggest problem I had with self-watering pots was the abundance of fungus gnats. Not only was the topsoil perpetually wet providing a breeding ground for them, but I had swarms of fungus gnats coming out of the inner pot itself. I even tried using mosquito bits in the water hoping that would help and it didn’t. In the end I had to stop using them. But I loved their convenience.
Ooo this is actually really good to know. I've been contemplating trying a self-watering pot with my calathea but I've already had fungus gnats in my calathea in the past. Thank you for your comment 💕
I have been using self watering ceramic pot for an African violet for 3 years now. The pot only holds a small bit of water so the soil can still dry out between waterings. Works amazing. Maybe just put in less water to start so the soil can dry out some before next watering. Love this style of video over time. Love to see a true result. ❤❤❤
This is great. Please do more like this.
Fern, before I put a plant into leca or pon, I always let the roots sit in water for 24 hours first. Maybe this would be more successful for your leca plants? Great video as always 💚🖤💜
Ohhh maybe! Thanks for watching Natasha :)
@@wildfern I think what's prob happening is that bc the top layer is exposed, the water evaporates alot faster and bc theirs more surface area per leca ball (compared to pon). Iv always had trouble with hoya in leca bc of this But a way iv found around that is to add a layer of pebbles on top or spag to keep it from drying out! Hope that helps someone out.
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Very cool, informative, love the updates!!! 🌱❤🤗
Great experiment. You were very brave to experiment on a tortum. I think I held my breath for two full minutes waiting for the outcome. I like to use wicking for ferns. I have yet to try them for other plants. I prefer the outer pot to be transparent so I can see when I need to refill the reservoir. I use all kinds of vessels, including used Talenti gelato jars and vases/glasses I find at thrift stores.
Thank you for this! I’ve been loyal to Gardenix self watering pots for a few years but I always keep my eyes open for other brands whenever I need more for repotting🙌
Fern! I love alllllllll your videos so much! But I definitely really enjoyed this little experiment video! I especially appreciate the part where you show the outcome over time 💚🌿
Ahh thank you for the positive feedback! I need to make more like this 🙌
Love the vid and updates! Thanks for the hard work❤️ I have recently tried self watering pots w my leca plants and they seem happy!
I love these types of videos💕
I grow my most difficult Hoyas in these pots with Leca. They are amazing
Yes, the style of video is great! I love seeing plant progress over time, it's very gratifying. Also, I love self watering pots. I use them for my African violets and calathea, both of those like to be evenly moist in a self-watering pot is pretty much the only way to ensure that that happens. You can make your own self-watering pot with pretty much any plastic container and any other plastic container that it can nest in. You just have to buy the wick that doesn't rot
LOVE a good progress video. 👍🏼
I’ve been wanting a self watering situation for my pellonia so glad you posted this can’t wait for your consensus !!
Love this!! 💚 Haven’t tried self watering pots, but your experiment with them is making me want too try it. 😀
I use self watering pots with soil plants and my plants in them are very happy. Especially my purple passion plant, dude Is going bonkers. 💜
What a fun and successful experiment! Thanks for sharing. I'm gonna try this as well for my props and small plants..in Leca.
This was such a nice demo! 🙏🏽
Love love love this video! I just received self watering pots and feel much more confident going into it! Thank you! 💚
Love this video! So informative ☺️
Love it Fern! You seem so much more relaxed : ) Happy 4 u
I use these same pots with homemade pon (from your recipe 😊) and I’ve had great success.
I really enjoy this type of video. I totally geek out on educational videos because I love learning all I can about plants. Thank you for the great content 💚
They seem to work great with pon, I am definitely going to continue with it. And thank you so much for the feedback, glad you liked it 🤗
I have two exotica Leca pots with cuttings. The Leca always looks dry on top but the roots and growth have been amazing. Took a bit to get them rooted then put them in Leca.
Oh, this is so helpful! I think I need to get myself some self watering pots 😍 I read that round leca balls are not great for wicking and root growth, that it’s better if they are very irregular. But I really have no experience! I have tried growing both Hoya and aroids in only pumice though with really good results!
I definitely really enjoy this style of video! It’s really nice to see the progression of plant growth over time. I don’t see myself trying self watering pots anytime soon but it is nice to know that they can be useful!
Love this type of video. I like several updates within one video. I’m a ‘instant gratification’ type of person. 😋. I really enjoyed this experiment with different mediums. I’m definitely going to look into self- watering pots. Awesome video, Fern! 💚
I really liked this format & content. So interesting!
What amazing end results! So glad you didn’t lose the tortum ☺️ Definitely inspired to try these out. Love the low maintenance aspect. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks so much! 😊
Okay I totally dig this style of video! Very educational and exciting. My reaction was literally the same as yours on those plants you put in soil. Made me nervous right off the bat. Hope they continue to thrive!
That is pretty remarkable results. I have always been skeptical about these pots. When you showed the consistently wet soil, I thought for sure those plants were goners. Great video!
Right!! I still don't know what kind of sorcery this is but for now it's working great 😆
I was just thinking about getting some of these! Iv been putting some plants in pon and these seem great for pon! Love your content as always 💕 and im glad you have your own space again and are enjoying the small things. And I know you prob hear this lots but your so pretty! I love how comfortable and minimal your style is and all your tattooos!!! So so pretty. Hope you have a wonderful day!
It's the cute little choosing face for me. I love self watering pots. Perfect for thirsty plants and a sometimes depressed plant mom.
Ah yes so true!! And thank youuuuu 🤗
Thank you so much. I have 50+ hoyas and I am sooooooo busy watering them. Look like I have some works to do but less watering time :)
I loved this video. What a great experiment! I love that you used different potting mediums. Very interesting how they all worked out. I too am shocked that the soil can stay that wet and not rot the roots. 😲
I have very similar self watering pots. I have used with leca and soil. Both have done great!!! Leca is mostly hoya, alocasia and soil, mostly calathea.
Loved it I've been wondering about the pot myself so thank you!!!♡
Great video! I shipped many plants to my niece’s last year in self watering pots since they were beginner plant parents. I thought it would be the easiest way to get them interested in growing plants. All the plants were in soil. They have been thriving and they enjoy this no fuss way of growing plants!
I really enjoyed this video a lot seeing which one did best and if they were worth purchasing. I’d try them myself now.
I really enjoyed this video. I have one self watering pot for my Calathea rufibarba. I was having nothing but issues for two years w this plant. I tried everything to make it happy and nothing worked, until the self watering pot. Game changer! I now have green healthy looking new growth and am not getting anywhere close to the withering brown leaves I was getting pre-self watering pot. After seeing your vid and how well they seem to work on several different types of plants I'm strongly considering order more. Thanks for taking the time to film this, it was very helpful. 👍👍
I like these testing style videos! I also literally just made a DIY self watering pot for my polkadot plant, just to see if it'll help her stop being so dramatic and droopy. It's only been a few days but I can already tell she is SO much happier, I've never seen the pink color be this vibrant. I might have to order these pots cause they're MUCH nicer than the one I made out of plastic cups lol.
Tip: When I put plants in leca. I submerged the pot in water and the plant and roots just slide in super easy
Yes, thanks for testing, so cute 😁
My Pelliona does great with the water wicking method. I just use a well draining soil mixture with most of my plants in these type of pots. I feel I can keep up with my plants watering needs better. I use this method with all my Pilea plants too.
When I transfer pearlite or water props to Leca I fill the reservoir way higher the first time. I let it drink it up almost completely before filling up a normal reservoir. I have never lost a plant that way.
Eta: I highly prefer the ugly irregular leca over the more uniform spherical kind. I have had the same wicking problems with the smoother type.
Really fun experiment. Thanks. I love your hair with the blond and the orange fringe.
Finally someone make the video about this! I have been doing almost same experiment except with soil.. I do some top water on leca few times when I found out the top ones is too dry, my Hoya sunrise started to like it, but slowly progressed. Thank you for this video, is so useful for me.
This is great thanks for talking out loud so I can understand what you're specifically looking for and the concerns you had.
Hey! Thank you for the video. What a great topic!
So I will say I’ve also had success with self watering pots. I really love them!
I first tried them when I had an Alocasia silver dragon ans Alocasia black velvet that i was struggling with. I felt I really had nothing to loose and so I thought why not. Both are in a very chunky soil mix. Both were nearly rootless and dying prior and within a month turned right around and are now THRIVING!! I since added a few more Alocasia’s into self wicking pots and my African violets. Total game changer!
After doing really well with calatheas in pon and self-watering I started to experiment with some other finnicky plants that somehow either get over or underwatered super easily and tank really fast if they don't get the exact right amount of moisture at all times. So I put some rex begonias and peperomias in that setup and so far they're doing really well and growing surprisingly quickly. Fingers crossed, but I'm pretty excited about the progress thus far.
love this video! It was easy to follow and understand. thank you for sharing the set up and results; it helps a lot. Now i gotta get some of these pots =)
I definitely like this style of video, I like the beginning and updates all in one
I feel like it makes much more sense to use these pots for potting up props that are used to a really moist environment, since they’re already used to being surrounded by lots of moisture. I think a plant used to mostly dry soil would really struggle and possibly rot. Maybe I’ll try this myself sometime! Loved the video and appreciate that you filmed updates and results!!
I really enjoyed this style of video ! Thank you! :)
Hmm I have to say I think a maidenhair fern would do amazing in one of these pots in soil
I have a maiden hair fern in a self water pot and it is doing very well.
omg YES
Great video. Love this style and seeing progress over time. Very helpful
Glad you enjoyed it!
in the lecca pot, maybe if you get a longer string and pull it up closer to the top instead of just horizontal across the bottom of the pot, it may work better at wicking to the top. also, there is more oxygen in the bottom of those pots, so maybe that’s why the soil plants aren’t rotting ! :)
I think I will try that!! Thank you :)
I’ve never been interested in self watering pots for some reason, but I definitely want to test it out now!
I literally, just ordered a few of these self watering pots...I also, don’t like the white pots. I like black pots. I have a scindapsus exotica that was struggling in soil. The roots were tiny when I received them, so I ordered the tiny Leca balls and I am trying it out. I also, ordered liquid dirt and 2 elechomes humidifiers. If that Bisch doesn’t survive 🤷♀️😡😂. Thankful my hubby understands it’s trial and error 👍. I remember, I watched this video before and it repopped up on my YT 👏🏼👍👏🏼.
Do you keep your leca presoaked before using it? I've found that using leca that's already been soaking in distilled water before potting is best for making sure you're getting the constant moist effect. Dry leca doesn't seem to rehydrate well via wicking, so it doesn't stay moist. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it also pulled water from the roots.
That's a great tipp! Thank!
I've never tried soil with self-watering pots. as for the leca however it's completely normal for the top layer to be dry. A little tip (and I totally don't know if this is recommended or not) but I add pon to the base of my Leca plants. I sprinkle it on top to fill the large gaps that the Leca leaves and they seem to love that.
Hi Fern I am now about 90% self watering. I definitely prefer the Elho B self watering system over the Lechuza system. Using Pon for any pot up to 25cm and Leca for anything larger. Even though I do have pots smaller with Leca.
I find my plants thrive (sometimes too much) in Pon.
Makes life so much easier just checking to see they have water!
Never tried self watering pots before ! Cool video, very informative :)
I love this style of video, love to learn new info and that you did this over the span of weeks. I also agree on white pots, just doesn't have enough character, but I bet you could spray paint them if you wanted.
Would it help if you pulled the cotton rope further up into the leca, so that it wicks up higher into the substrate rather than only the bottom? And I love this style of content!!! So educational and interesting!
I wick water my African Violet and the soil would get pretty wet so I watched some videos that said to add extra pearlite to the mix. The info I got said to do a 50/50 mix of pearlite and soil but I think I even added more pearlite than that and my violet is doing great now. I have had it like that for a few months now and no problems.
Hi, I find if you want to use soil in a self-watering pot that putting an inch to inch & a half of pon at the bottom of the basket and then soil on top keeps the top 1 or 2 CMs dry. I have been using the same kind of self-watering pots as yourself with great success. Love your videos so keep them coming.
Fern: "For the most part I'm confused and pleasantly surprised."
Me: Same 🙌🏽
The leca is probably dry because there isn't much leca coming into contact with the wick. When I use leca I always leave a bit of the bottom of the pot with the plant in it touching the reservoir or allow the wick to go further up into the pot, not just touching the bottom.
Nice project! I think I will give these pots a shot :)
Awesome vid!
Love this video!
Yes I use self Watering pots I love them
Love this style content!! Also not so many care tip videos. Would love to see more of them too!
Yes love this! Thank you!
Hi Fern. W in a minute or two I started thinking. I've been subscribed to your channel for awhile now, but why have I not been watching your channel. Because I loved this video. Love experiment content vids. This one here is PERFECT. Camera angles are THE best. Showing exactly what you are seeing and saying match. Thank you so much.
I apologize for not watching more. I'll be doing a binge watch today. 😂 Thank you. I am ordering the same self watering pots 🌱❤️🌱
PS I was scared for the philo. Glad it worked.
Awe thank you so much!! So glad to hear you liked this one ☺️
I use these pots with my pon and my plants love them!! And I do too super low maintenance
I have a feeling that using leca with the self-watering pot might be a bit redundant because leca (in my experience) works the same way as the wick where it absorbs just enough water to sustain the plant. So the leca at the bottom absorbed the moisture from the wick and stayed moist even as the top half dried out. But the moisture in the wick stays even (so the ebb and flow remains equal) because of the leca at the bottom. You could try pulling the wick so it sits closer to the top of the pot so it can keep the leca properly watered there too?