Water science · Applied
Build a wick planter
Turn capillary action into steady irrigation.
Read the instructions without joining. A signed-in profile lets you save private observations and learning progress.
Before you begin
Gather your supplies
- Two identical containers with equal potting mix
- A safe water reservoir and cotton wick
- Kitchen scale, labels and water
Use what you have. Purchases are optional and do not affect learning rewards.
See optional suppliesCare and safety
Keep the reservoir stable and away from outlets. Use clean water and wash hands after handling growing medium.
Prerequisite
This activity builds on The wick effect. Read it first and use your earlier observations when working through this activity.
The experiment
A working wick balances capillary pull, material pore size, height and the water demand of the growing medium.
- Use your wick results to choose a material and depth. Build one reservoir-fed container and one identical comparison without a connected wick.
- Add equal dry potting mix and equal starting water. Weigh each complete setup separately.
- Keep both together and weigh at the same time for at least three observations over 24 hours. Record reservoir changes and surface moisture.
- Compare total mass loss with reservoir changes and growing-medium moisture. Moving water within a complete setup does not change its total mass; mass loss alone cannot measure wick delivery. Explain what the observations suggest and what remains uncertain.
Background reference: Virginia Cooperative Extension — Properly Watering Container Houseplants
These instructions are a suggested learning experiment from Seth The Evil. The reference explains the background; it does not certify this experiment or guarantee a result.
Opening the workspace does not start an activity or save a record. You choose when to start and what observations to save.