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begonia2005

What should I do with my new AV-s now? Self-watering?

Begonia2005
12 years ago

I have recently bought two AV-s from the Pikes nursery and two from the grocery store - and now I am desperate to keep them in good shape and blooming. They are very beautiful right now because they just came from the store but I also know I am a newbie to houseplants and that this perfect picture won't last long.

I read up on AV-s, did my homework and I have done most of the things I read I need to do. Yet I still feel like I am not doing everything right.

  1. I took them out of those thin plastic containers they came in, placed them in a 4 inch solid plastic container that was sold by Wal-Mart as "self-watering" (with a protruting lip and good drainage at the bottom).

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Self-Watering-Planter-Set-of-3-Ivory/12511406

2. I added a bit of extra AV commercial mix to fill up the pot.

3. I have placed them on an Eastern window in bright yet indirect light (behind a sheer curtain).

4. I have been careful not to overwater them so far.

5. I placed two of them in a container (like a deep breadloaf baking tray with water below the lip) so I can create humidity). I plan to buy some pebbles, as widely advised.

However, I am not sure whether I have the right soil and how to continue with the watering habits given my busy schedule.

I read that the soil the AV-s come in is not necessarily the best and that the best is a combination of half AV soil with half perlite. Should I change the soil now to make it more airy or should I wait to do this in 5-6 months from now when re-potting time comes?

I also don't know how to continue watering. I read that watering from below is best for AV-s but it is not clear to me what I should do.

Those plastic pots sold as "self-watering" by Wal-Mart only hold a little water at the bottom. Should I fill the lip saucer with water and just leave it there (for self-watering) or should I discard all water after 30 minutes - as advised when watering in a regular saucer/container?

My MIL has some self-watering containers for her AV-s but those seem to be based on a completely different system/idea than what I got from Wal-Mart. They look like this ...

http://www.craftylady.com/ceramics/index.html

and the interior pot does not even have a hole! It's suppposed to absorb the water poured genberously in the exterior container - through the ceramic material!! I cannot even begin to imagine how enough water could get through the walls of the interior pot which also seemed glazed, but hey, this is how the pot is conceived and I am sure whoever made it knows a lot more about this than I do.

My MIL-s AV-s looked fine when I saw them today (only a couple of blooms, so not impressive) but fine. She says she only pours some water in the self-watering can every two weeks and that's that.

With mine, I could not get away with every two weeks because the water that the Wal-Mart lip saucer holds is very little anyway.

My question is: granted my plastic Wal-Mart container, how should I water? Fill the saucer and leave the water there (per self-watering) or discard the water out after 30 min (in which case it does not even qualify as self-watering).

I did leave the water there once and I notived that it was going away pretty fast, granted the container is small (4 inches).

Any advice would be highly appreciated as I am so new to this and quite helpless about this whole process.

Thank you so much!

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