Gardening used to be limited to the ground, but that is no longer the case thanks to innovative self-watering planters. These planters allow you to grow almost anything, just like any other potted planter, but they are a practical and handy solution to keep your indoor and outdoor plants healthy even while you’re gone for a few days. If you choose high-quality self-watering pots, you can travel with confidence knowing that the plants will receive adequate water. These pots are particularly ideal if you lead a busy lifestyle but yet want to appreciate the beauty and calm that plants give.
Now that you’re persuaded to plant some fresh greenery with this self-watering system, you’re probably wondering how to incorporate it into your home, especially if you don’t have much area to work with. For this type of work, you would require wall planter ideas that not only serve the aim of introducing plants to your home but also work well with restricted areas, like the terrace of your residential apartment or the balcony walls. From a design standpoint, these planters are quite fascinating and open up the possibility of creating stunning live walls.
Self-watering Planter Materials
It goes without saying that the material used to make your self-watering pot should be of high quality, especially if you intend to leave your pot outside. It must be of sufficient quality to withstand all weather conditions and remain as good as new for many years. The majority of planters are constructed of tough plastic, but before you buy one, be sure it’s not made of toxic materials that leach chemicals into the soil. Self-watering containers made of ceramics and other durable materials are also available.
Growing food in plastic containers is becoming more popular, but is it a safe practice? What about the toxins that seep from plastics, do they get absorbed by the soil or the food? Are they hazardous to one’s health? While these statements are neither confirmed nor disproven, experts believe that BPA is a big molecule in comparison to the ions that plants absorb, so it is improbable that it can pass through the cell walls of the roots and into the plant itself.
Even so, if you want to be on the safe side, planters made from high-quality plastic and polypropylene materials are also available on the market today. Made from injection-moulded HDPE, UV and corrosion resistant, BPA-free, food-safe and recyclable materials, this type of self-watering wall planter is the ideal investment if you want to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs following the organic gardening principles.
The major focus of this type of gardening is to enhance the health of both the plants and the people who consume them, but it also advocates the use of renewable resources that preserve soil, water, and energy to improve the quality of the environment, which is why self-watering planters exist in the first place.
How Do Self-planters Work?
Due to the integrated water reservoir, self-watering planters make container gardening an easy and simple task. There are two major ways for self-watering planters that rely on capillary action to carry water from the reservoir to the pot. The first method involves placing a wick inside the container with both ends pointing in opposing directions. One end of the wick is placed in the pot, while the other is left in the reservoir.
The wick, which can be formed of thread or a capillary pad, draws water from the tank and helps it migrate to the container. The potting mix in the second approach is meant to sit within the water supply. Through capillary action, water travels from the bottom of the container to the rest of the sides.
The reservoir system works by filling a water storage tank, which is normally located at the bottom of the container. Excess water simply drains out since there is an overflow hole. Because the soil absorbs water from the bottom, as long as the reservoir is kept full your plants will get a regular amount of hydration given directly to their roots. Since the water is held away from the sun, it evaporates at a slower pace which results in less water loss than when spraying or hand-watering your plants.
There is also less risk of fungus and disease because you feed your plants directly through their roots. Before you buy one of these, learn about your plant’s water requirements. Not every plant will require the same quantity of water over the course of 7-10 days. So, before you go on vacation, make sure that the reservoir has enough water to last the entire time. If your plant requires a big amount of water, invest in a container with a large water reservoir. If, on the other hand, your plant loves dry soil, a medium or small wall planter reservoir would suffice.
Benefits of Self-Watering Planters
When watering your plants by hand, some water will be lost as it drains and, in some cases, evaporates. With self-watering wall mounted planters, the water is stored in a reservoir within and slowly released into the soil as needed. By purchasing these handy pots, you can limit the amount of water you waste, allowing you to adopt more eco-friendly gardening ways.
When you water a plant in a conventional container, the excess water drains out of the bottom hole or through the sides of the container. When extra water drains from the soil, the nutrients present in the soil are also lost. As a result, you have to replace the soil with fresh organic matter more often. This is one less thing to worry about with self-watering planters since the closed system retains the nutrients within the real environment.
A healthy root system needs regular and thorough watering. However, this raises the risk of water stagnation, which can lead to root rot in standard planters. Self-watering planters are also an efficient solution for this since they allow for continuous watering at all depths in the pot without the risk of water stagnation or root rot. Similarly, they relieve you of the stress of not watering enough or when needed, so you don’t get yellow leaves.
Finally, since one of the most common worries for most people who take up gardening as a hobby is over-watering or not watering enough, self-watering pots provide unprecedented convenience. In other words, you no longer have to think of yourself as a bad gardener or serial plant killer, knowing that the self-watering plant system takes care of the majority of the watering duties.
