Bill - I think you got the explanation regarding wick. If the pot dries up - your wick is not working, if it is not - everything is OK. Lights - 600foot candles is about right on the surface of the standard leaves. 1000 will be a bit too much unless you reduce the hours. Some varieties have higher light requirements, some - lower. You will see bleached leaves and tight centers if it is too much - and floppy leaves stretching to the lights - if it is not enough. Example of a low light requirement - Ness' Viking Maiden. This is one of the best standard whites - frilly white flowers stay fresh forever, they do not brown easily etc., the plant grows symmetrically, beautiful grass green leaves. You need to keep it on the edge or under old half spent tubes - otherwise it bunches up easily. I think you will see soon the plants getting very grateful for your new wicking setup. Irina

Ha---I agree with that. 3 years ago I only had 2 daylilies--Chicago Sunrise and Mini Pearl. At the last count I had over 40. And it is all my Dad's fault for showing me a daylily catalogue he got in the post and asking me which I wanted!! I was very restrained to begin with (just buying Wisest of Wizards and Beat the Barons) but soon added more, and more, then I discovered Lily Auction and found I could have seeds sent to the UK, and so on------!

I'd love to see photos! Excellent! Thanks so much for taking the time. Now I know a few questions to ask :) I've got a bunch of those netted pots from orchids and pond plants when I bought them years ago, they've been around just in case. Do you use all netted baskets or a mix of them and other containers for the inner one? Wow, that Kerrii is gorgeous! Love the leaves. From doing some reading - Correct me if I'm wrong, I've never tried this and am very new - some versions, specifically Rays which I'd heard of, use one pot with holes toward the bottom, filled with media and plant so, when watered, only a small amount of water can stay in the bottom of the pot. I didn't try this system because that one pot couldn't hold the amount of water for the time I'd need without being huge and using a ton of media = financially a waste and I'd assume way too much is not a good thing for the plant. The system you're using, one I hadn't heard of, uses a solid outer pot and inner netted basket and possibly a decorative outer pot if desired? Again, correct me if I'm wrong. I see a water meter - have you found that really helpful or necessary? I realize it's probably helpful since it's tough to tell what the water level is. Any suggestions how deep to make the water if I don't have a water meter? Using 2 pots would keep the media in the inner one the right size for the plant. I assume that the outer pot could be as large as needed to start the water at a good height for the plant yet hold as much water as necessary for a length of time. From doing wick watering I've found that, surprisingly to me, the pot really doesn't have to be all that big since there is a constant draw of moisture. I'd assume this media would be the same? This media would probably work better with plants that need to dry a bit because I assume it will hydrate quickly if it goes totally dry. Wicking can be a challenge in that way because it can be hard to start up again. It's been horribly hot and dry here too, weird tho but our humidity is still very high. Not sure which is more unhappy, me or the plants!

One thing we need to respect is another's perspective. One grower might look at growing with the attitude that nothing is going to stand in the way of my reducing the effects of every limiting factor that impact my plants' growth and vitality. Growers like this tend to look at growing from the plant's perspective. Another grower might not be interested in entertaining the thought of changing anything, so long as the plant seems to be doing well enough. I've found this to be especially true if the chance involves more effort or expense - this is more a view from the grower's perspective - how it affects ME, rather than the plant. Neither perspective is wrong, they're just different ways of looking at things and ordering priorities. We all go through the same considerations, but some people come down on the plant's side & others on the grower's side. A prime example of this can be seen in the form of people arguing vehemently against the effort involved in finding ingredients and then making either the 5:1:1 mix or gritty mix. Almost always, the argument against comes from growers who have never tried either mix, and are content with the results they get from a from-the-bag mix because it's easy. Not all of us orders our priorities in that fashion. My good enough may be her poor; and good may in fact not be good enough for her. I know a lot of people like that and admire them for their desire for continual improvement. Rachel's question is a very good one, and her commentary clearly illustrates she's been thinking the issue through (from the plant's perspective) and looking for some input. Any teacher would give her high marks for that. I say often that our plants are already genetically programmed to grow to be beautiful specimens. The ONLY thing we can do to help is to be proactive in continually reducing the effects of ALL things that have the potential to limit growth/vitality. Remember, if everything is perfect except ONE thing, that single limitation can wreck the entire growing experience. One thing for Rachel to consider is that water in plunged pots behaves differently than it does in conventional container culture. That they are partially buried turns them into mini raised beds, hydrologically speaking. As long as they are not plunged into clay, the earth will quickly wick any perched water from the soil she chooses; so she has roughly the same potential for growth/vitality using soils that would otherwise be too heavy (water retentive) to be well suited to container growing as she does if using the gritty mix or the 5:1:1 mix. Since there is little notable loss in potential, based on her growing method, if using a heavier soil, we need to look to the interval between when the pots are lifted and moved indoors and when they're returned to the garden or beds and buried. Normally, there would be considerable concern over accumulating salts during the over-wintering period; this, as a result of having to water a heavy soil in small sips to avoid the soil being wet for any extended period. Since I believe she will be watering rather infrequently, it may not be a serious issue. Just a guess - if she's watering less often than every two weeks, I think she should be ok until repot time. Also, if she's willing to cheat the state out of a little rain water and use that to water with, it pretty much makes it a nonissue. I think Rachel's free to use a heavier soil if she wants to, and it shouldn't have any notable effect on her plants. If she has a suitable bark on hand - maybe something like a 5:2or3:1 bark:peat:perlite would be good - or even a bagged soil. The only real disadvantage to a peaty soil for this particular application is that it makes repotting more difficult. So - there's a little about perspectives and growing for you to consider. I hope there's enough there for you to set course with a little greater degree of certainty. Time to get out in the yard before it gets too hot again. It looks like another day that will be pushing 100*. Take care - thanks for the kind words. ;-) Al