Plunges

[Gerry Webster]

Obviously everyone's experience is different. In my deep plunges clay pots containing moist compost do take in more water from the sides if the plunge is flooded with  a hose & the water level allowed to stand near the top of the pots for about 5 minutes. Years ago I tried using a moisture meter & found it useless in gritty bulb compost - successive readings taken from the same pot were wildly variable.

[Alan B]

A relative beginner myself I am interested in all this but would like to ask a question.  I have (I think) got to grips with using a sand plunge myself for clay pots.  I have also used sand/gravel trays but what do people think about the relative merits of sand/gravel trays over capillary matting?  Like others I have seedlings starting to come along and when they are pricked out space will be a problem so have wondered about capillary matting with the small square plastic pots. 

[David Shaw]

Alan, I have never used capllary matting so cannot do a comparison but I would have thought that a grit tray, which I do use, is capable of holding more water?

[Anthony Darby]

When we had a functional school greenhouse I had capillary matting on three sides which had a wick into a small automatic cystern that worked like those marketed by Thomas Crapper. Two West and Elliots sell them and they just plumb into a water supply.

[Onion]

Alan
a question of understanding? You have pots with a gravel on the ground?
When you have this, you can not use capillary matting. The soil-mixture must reach to the ground of the pot. Without this you have no capillarity in the pot. The best plastic pots for this watersystem have not a flat ground. You need a pot with little feets, than the middle of the pot will pressed to the mat and the water can climb up.

[Alan B]

Thanks for your thoughts.  I will stick with the gravel trays as they are tried and tested as it were.