this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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Best way to regulate water retention? (slrpnk.net)
submitted 5 days ago by solbear@slrpnk.net to c/gardening@lemmy.world
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Last year I experimented with a self-watering system for some containers to grow primarily salads and potentially some herbs. They are placed in a way that makes watering a bit cumbersome, and I am typically gone for days at the time during Summer, so that such a setup is very useful to me. It consists of two containers: a top container containing a soil mix and a bottom container filled with water. From the top container, I have a couple of baskets filled with perlite dipping into the water that wick moisture up into the soil mix (I originally used soil for this, which ended up with some nice mold growth :) ).

This worked reasonably well, and I had some good harvests of arugula and some regular green salads. But I found the moisture level of the soil becoming too high, especially towards the end of the season when the Sun and temperature were not as aggressively evaporating the water.

The soil mixture I used then was a general purpose plant mix mixed with perlite. I was planning on adding even more perlite this year as an attempt to lower the average moisture level, or simply go down to the beach to get some coarse sand and mix that in instead.

Any other things I should consider?

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[โ€“] oeuf@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Adjusting the soil mix sounds like a good idea. Could you also have the upper pots dipping more shallowly into the water, reducing their wicking surface?

[โ€“] solbear@slrpnk.net 1 points 5 days ago

The way I designed the baskets in the end was to have holes to allow water to seep in only at the very bottom of the baskets. That way I can still make use of the entire reservoir, but reduce the amount of water that is in contact with the wicking material. This was a change from my initial design that had holes along the whole basket. This approach did reduce the overall moisture I believe (I mean, it should right?), but since it was later in the growing season with higher temperatures, I couldn't judge the effect very accurately.

I have tried to think up some way that would allow me to completely close of the water from the wicking material and reopen after it had dried out, but so far I've not had any luck with this.