How to make a wicking pot so your plants self-water | DIY Garden Projects | Gardening Australia
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2025
- Whether you’re going on holiday or get too busy to water your pot plants, we all sometimes have times when we wish plants could water themselves. Costa has a low-tech solution to thirsty pot plants that makes a fun project, too. It’s a wicking pot. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
You may have heard of wicking beds, which are designed with a reservoir or water in the base so the water wicks up through to the soil to the plant’s roots. A pot works on the same principle, but on a smaller scale. Like a self-watering pot.
The sizes can all be adjusted to suit the size of pot or pipe you have on hand.
What you need:
A large pot - preferably without drainage holes
An empty milk container (to patch any holes in the pot)
Silicone
Drill with large bit to match overflow pipe (see below) and smaller bit to make 2-3mm holes
An irrigation pipe elbow (sized to match drill hole - see above!)
1m x 2cm-wide diameter irrigation pipe (total length must be at least height + width of your pot)
1 irrigation pipe elbow to match pipe diameter
Gravel or scoria (10mm or smaller) - enough to fill the base of your pot
Geotextile/ hessian or other fabric - large enough to cover the inside of your pot
Potting mix (add compost/worm castings if available)
Plants
What you do:
If your pot has drainage holes, these need to be covered so the pot holds water. Costa recommends a patch of plastic cut from an empty milk container, stuck into place using silicone.
Drill an overflow hole about 1/4 of the way up the pot from the bottom. This allows excess water to run off so the plants don’t drown.
Fit the irrigation elbow into place. This can be turned down to allow water to flow out, or turned up to keep water in at a higher level.
Cut off enough irrigation pipe to sit flat in the base of your pot and drill a series of 2mm or 3mm holes along its length - this will be the water inlet pipe.
Cut another length of pipe that will reach from the base of your pot to at least the rim; if it’s a bit longer that’s OK, but not shorter. Attach this to the bottom pipe with holes in, using the second elbow joint.
Install this L-shaped pipe into the pot (pipe with holes at the base and longer pipe sticking out).
Fill the base of the pot with gravel or scoria rock. Rock crushed to 10mm or less is best. Add enough gravel to reach the overflow hole on the side of your pot.
Cover the rock base with the wicking cloth; you can use geotextile, shade cloth, or hessian. The idea is to stop the potting mix from getting washed into the rock base and blocking the infill pipe.
Fill the top of the pot with potting mix. Costa adds some worm castings and compost to his mix.
Add your plants!
Wicking beds are good for plants that like constant moisture, so Costa has chosen Vietnamese mint, Wasabi and common mint. Mint has a habit of taking over, so if you don’t use it regularly in your cooking, this is best left out!
Water plants from the top until they are established, then top up the water reservoir from the infill pipe; you know it’s full when the overflow pipe starts flowing.
Featured plants:
Mint ‘Common’ (Mentha spicata cv.)
Vietnamese mint (Persicaria odorata)
Wasabi (Eutrema japonicum)
*Always check species before planting: they may be environmental weeds in your area.
Filmed on Gadigal & Wangal Country in Newtown, NSW
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I have made wicking pots. I recommend buying a flyscreen repair kit so you can make a small flyscreen patch over the outlet pipe to stop mosquito breeding.
I was about to ask if this was a mozzie breeding ground... thank you for the tip
I did exactly this myself for homemade wicking beds!
🙌 thanks for this tip. You’re a legend
Good idea. About to get a pot going & the mozzies are really bad this year in Perth!
Don't forget the wicking part. By putting fabric beneath the gravel it can wick no matter the level. The video showed an edit of how the pot was lined, but if that fabric or soil isn't touching the water, it won't wick. You can also use an absorbent rope ran from the base up for the water to wick up and let the soil do rest.
Our strawberries thrive in wicking beds.
Yeah I wondered why pot in video won't really do anything more then just a saucer
Ohhh might do this with my strawberries in future!!!
Wicking pots are great! I was going to purchase one ready-made and realized how simple they are to make....and much cheaper than ready-made.
No I understand how it's working 😃😉 You explained the it very nicely 👍
Hello, 👋 I followed your instructions and now have a pot in place for my carrot seeds. I’m so excited!! I wanted to say thank you, you were so clear and concise. 😊
Great job!
I wouldn’t mix mint with anything else on the same pot, and also you might want to extend the fabric all the way to the bottom so water can actually still wick through once it drops below the cloth level.
Great idea. Have to make some myself.
Hi, thank you! Do you need to water the plants directly until they grow roots that reach the wicking or can they start taking up the water directly? Thank you!
This was a really interesting thank you for showing me this I will be trying something like this for my plants 🪴 😊👍
It seems to me that as soon as the water level drops below the wicking substrate the system will stop watering. The wicking material has to extend to the bottom of the water reservoir to be fully used. Did you even try this pot before posting it on UA-cam?
Great content. Thank you for putting g this video together.
amazing video❤❤❤❤
Great video thanks
Both of those varieties of mint will completely choke the wasabi out in just a couple months, it won't be able to compete with the vigorous roots of mint plants.
true
This is brilliant & just what I need to keep my herbs alive in Perth’s hot climate. Would a soaker hose work instead of the pipe with holes drilled all over it? I still have some leftover soaker hose pipe in the garage.
Hmm we haven't tried this! If it's the flat type of soaker hose the water might not run through as efficiently as a pipe but worth a shot!🌼
@ No it’s the round one you bury under the soil. I was using it for my rosebushes.
Wicking pots are great in the summer but not in the rainy winter season. As they can flood the pots and plants. I remove any plants before winter in a wick pot.
Isn't that what the overflow is for?
@@kasessionthat's precisely what it's for. I use these year round with no trouble. Long as the drainage hole is below the soil level, these are solid - especially in rain actually.
This video seemed to completely skip over the actual wicking part... doesn't there need to be a way for the water to move upwards from the reservoir to the soil? That geo-fabric would need to extend down into the bottom of the reservoir.
Love this method. Would the fabric create mold or mildew?
Geotextile fabric is designed for use in the soil and won't create a build up of mold or mildew. Hessian can be used too as it works in a similar way but it's an organic material so will break down and need replacing eventually.
And then how long can you go on holiday ? ..
Certainly not long in hot weather (1 day maybe 2), in cool weather maybe 4 or 5 days, perhaps a week at most. It will depend a lot on the type of plant though.
Wicking pots are awesome but a problem they can have is that they can oversaturate the bottom layers of the soil
Thank you for sharing.
Is it suitable for growing straw berry?
Yes, these are great for strawberries!
What other plants will be suitable for this?
pretty much all...except corn! Personally I'm going to try this with lebanese cucumbers, cherry tomato, leafy greens (spinach etc.) and climbing peas (will need a trellis behind the pot). What do you want to grow?
Use old swimming pool sand filters. Keep the stem and laterals in there.
💚
its crazzy that they dont sell pre made wicking pots at bunnings
Some years ago a fellow showed how to make a wicking pots from broccoli box;never any one on gardening australia ever gave credit to him,you always make it seem like it’s your idea,
What if he got the idea from someone else?
So um... Which fellow?
No irritation clips on the pipes?
I mean they won't be under any pressure unlike drip irrigation, I guess it's not really necessary
@@lauravanwensveen7951 yep true that.. 👍
Although I've found for drip and low pressure spray heads, you're not needing clamps for that either.
Awesome as usual. May I suggest we do a $1 raffle for all Grandmas to buy a ticket and the winner gets to shave your beard and give you a haircut? I am sure it will raise too much money!
One pot for thyme and lemon thyme?!
You can grow multiple types of thyme in the same pot. The bigger the pot the more they will spread without needing to repot regularly. Tip: prune often to keep them bushy!🌸
@GardeningAustralia Thank you! 😇