The capillary mats were great to help with watering this season, but now they look pretty filthy  not to mention riddled with stray roots that grew straight through. I'll scrub the plant trays and eggcrate but am inclined to chuck out the mats and replace them next year. What do you do?

jtyler83, I would need about 30 of them and at over $50.00 each I wouldn't call them reasonably priced even if they do ship free. It may be a great product but It's not for many of us here. One more point, you are not allowed to self promote here. Vic58, I was using acrylic blankets from the Goodwill store, I would but 2 layers in the bottom of a flat. I was always concerned with detergents and would run our washer through a wash cycle with hot water before running them through a couple of times with plain hot water. I never had any problems but after a few months they looked like crap. I recently switched to industrial furnace filter material. It comes in rolls, and is kind of like an acrylic quilt batting (which you could also probably use). It is about 1 inch thick until it is compressed by the weight of the pots. It is bonded with the top layer being blue. The nice part is it is inexpensive, clean and you don't have to worry about where it's been and what it may have in it. It is easy to trim with a pair of sissors or a razor knife.

Gardener's Supply now carries what they call "English Capillary Matting" that might be just the right size for an apartment-sized project (3-yard roll @ $15 - follow link below). It doesn't say what it's made of, so don't know whether it's the same recycled polyamide fiber cloth that Patrick Blanc uses, but I'll bet it's good enough and affordable enough for the purposes of experimentation. I've also heard Blanc's irrigation cloth referred to as "synthetic felt", but again it is important to know what the actual materials are that make it. If you purchase this or some other capillary matting, it could also serve a dual function as indoor seed propagation mats for growing the plants selected for the living wall, particularly if one has budgetary concerns and can't afford to purchase all the plants from a nursery. There are also Accelerated Propagation Systems (APS)available for easy indoor propagation, as discussed here: http://www.conngardener.com/samples/propgate.html Sounds like a fun project. If you or anyone comes up with a supplier with larger quantities and sizes of the appropriate polyamide fiber matting materials (perhaps used for green roof installations or roof gardens as well?) then I hope you will share it with us all. Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Supply Capillary Matting

ok so I will remove the affected cups and take off the tray lid completely and let them air out. So if I am getting this right. When I first separate the babies, its ok if I put them in a sealed ziploc baggie to increase humidity. Then a normal plants just keep them in an open tray. My larger plants, or mature plants are also in a humidity domes, is that ok? I do have the vents open and vary it when I see condensation forming. They were in there over the winter, so I left them in there and they seem to like it. I live in the mid-atlantic area, so winters are fairly cool here. Is it ok if I leave them in there? Thanks Irina for all your help!! Cooks