Water Reservoirs or "The Vacation Saver!"

Show me a violet enthusiast and I'll show you someone who doesn't like to take a vacation that is longer than three days for fear their plants will dry out during their absence.

One of the great things about violets is they are very adapt to being wick watered.  The following pictures demonstrate how to wick water a violet.

You'll notice that these 8 ounce reservoirs (saucers with lids) have a hole in the lid where the nylon wick is lowered into the water.  8 ounces of water will easily keep a plant in a 3 ounce Solo cup (2.5" pot) watered for 10-14 days.  In order for the wicking action to start, both the potting mix in the pot and the wick need to be moist.  This is easily achieved by slowly pouring tepid water from the top of the pot until it runs out the bottom.  Once the reservoir is filled with water and the potting mix/wick are moistened, the following picture shows what the end result will look like!

These reservoirs can be purchased through Cape Cod Violetry.  You can email them at violets@cape.com to obtain a free catalog in PDF.

Why are the reservoirs black?  I spray paint them black to prevent algae from growing in them.  It's a BIG time saver every month!