AV wick watering reservoir contents.

6 years ago

My reservoirs for my AV plants often pick up small bits of debris, small amounts of algae etc. so i never really bothered to look to carefully at the water reservoirs. This weekend, I emptied and cleaned all the reservoirs, replaced wicks and potting soil as needed.

Now everything is clean and clear. Not. There is some sort of spooge clinging to my new wicks (acrylic yarn). A clear gelatinous looking substance. My guess is that one of more of the contents of my water is working against one another and creating some sort of cellulose fiber in the water.

Ingredients: well water, 1/2 tsp PH down, 2 drops of Dawn for dishes, 1/2 tsp of physan 20 and of course now, 1/8 + tsp Dyna Gro.

Any idea who the culprits are? I don't think its going to be problematic as far as the liquids ability to navigate the wick but what about the plants ability to absorb whatever it is in the water.

Additionally, I just cleaned all those reservoirs and now they look like I blended a piece of tissue paper into their water!

Ill take any and all ideas.

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Jeff Zenner
Original Author

6 years ago

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I find myself in a constant state of learning when it comes to raising these AV's. I seriously doubt that I will ever loose my herd to known russlers. Its those things we don't see coming that kick our butts.

There is something wrong here, how wrong is the question.

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Comments (14)

Rosie1949
6 years ago
I have had that gelatinous stuff but when my wicks develop algae. Once I clean everything off it goes away.

Don't know what it is,,,,anybody out there know? Rosie
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User
6 years ago
I've always wondered how you keep the water fresh enough? I live in a valley so it's mold and fungus city (a prime reason I don't wick). But all your plants always look beautiful Jeff, I wouldn't worry too much. :o)
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L.O. - everything is possible and AV definitely will grow OK in the soil with Ph 5.6. The problem is how it will change with time. Peat moss decomposes with humic acid as a part of the outcome - and Ph becomes even lower. At some point the ability to absorb nutrients, micronutrients and trace elements changes in way that the plant becomes semi-starved and semi-poisoned. If you do not repot a violet for a year on a wick - the soil will smell very sour, and the plant will be looking sad. If you start with low Ph - the time the soil is good shortens - so dolomite lime is usually a good additive to delay the process. If it is not a powder, but a mix of fine and coarse particles - it keeps maintaining the balance. About the bark - from the point of view of keeping the soil loose and well aerated - it is great - but - when it rots, it absorbs nitrogen - so you need to adjust your fertilizer to compensate for it. If you look at the orchid fertilizers - they have 2 types = for orchids in a bark mix - and for orchids in something else. Bark mix fertilizer looks like 30:5:5 - with an overload of nitrogen. It is possible to grow violets in a pure coarse perlite on wicks. I bet you need to flush it on a regular basis though. The idea is - you can grow your plants in different mixes - but there are always some adjustments to make. And every grower has his/her own secrets that work for his/her house, tap water, varieties they grow, humidity, elevation etc. So - why not. You try and tweak - and you will make a perfect combination for your conditions. About wild saintnpolias growing in the cracks of rocks with Ph 4.8 - First - they are wild and tough - second - their responsibility is to bloom and give seeds, not to look pretty. So if the seed ends in not the very cozy crack - it will still grow - and bloom. The bloom won;t be as abundant- and the plant will look stunted - but it will still produce seeds. While we want them to be perfect and bloom 10 months a year. Irina, the spoilsport
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Late 70's I think, long time ago. We advertised in the Violet Magazine if you have any old ones, also sold a 3 tier rack made or 100% western cedar with a shingle roof. It was called "Texas Growing Media". If you remember when the German Company came with that series of Violets, all looked the same with a different bloom color. They were bred to put up a bloom early for the big boxes. We came behind this with large, small, var leaf's and many, many colors and did really big business. When the German, help me with the name, first came to the US he bought a greenhouse in Nashville and wanted me to market his violets. His growing method was the table mat system. We preferred to market a varied plant, not that his were bad just sort of plain. Wicking was a big improvement but there was still the problem of to much water and our system took care of all of that. A lady just north of Knoxville grew a lot of interesting violets we used in our growing program. Really interesting story, she hired a young lady to work in her greenhouses that listened to hard, loud rock if you remember the time. So she decided that the violets didn't like the music? She had U. of TN Knoxville run some test with music. They found that the violets turned away from hard rock and turned toward soft rock. Also turned away from heavy classical and turned toward lighter classical.
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User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I was waiting to see other responses..I've had this but usually the water needs to be changed and the jars cleaned. When you wick a new plant do you wash the wick with soap and water? Not sure where I saw to do this..but I take some dish soap and quickly wash before potting.

Marina..might not be bad as you think..my home is usually high in humidity and our weather is too. I do have these cooling fans that are meant for cooling PlayStation boxes or cable boxes on my shelves so powdery mildew isn't much of an issue. Honestly thought the jars for the water reservoir would grow things but so far nothing.
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Jeff Zenner
Original Author
6 years ago
The process of forming these semi-solids only takes minutes, not the amount of time normally associated w algae or other naturally occurring spooges. I do soak my new wicks (lengths of acrylic yarn) in a solution of water w a cpl drops of dish soap in it before using. Maybe I should try rinsing them a bit in that solution. I do use a small amount of Physan20 in my water. Prevents algae but may be the root of my issue here.

At any rate, I am still experimenting and at this point, all the ingredients of my water are fine except my two drops of dish soap to my gal of plant water. With soap I have nearly immediate settling. Without soap, crystal clear. Im not sure I need the two drops of soap but I thought it might help insure wicking when water reservoirs are low. More experimenting for now.

I have backed off on the amount of water I add to my rock trays in an effort to curb that pesky powdery mildew. That stuff loves my minis. Mostly leaves the rest of my plants alone. I do the same thing you do Heather in that I have computer fans mounted on my plant racks. They run 24/7.
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irina_co
6 years ago
Since you already have Physan - why don't you spray the PM plants with it? It is a fungicide anyway, mild though.
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irina_co
6 years ago
And it is probably dish soap that gives you the murky water. Who knows what happens with it when it is exposed to the light and bacteria.
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User
6 years ago
Yeah I still battle PM on just a few plants..not as many
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Jeff Zenner
Original Author
6 years ago
Well, I have concluded my experiments and discovered that I am an idiot. The solids in the new wick water was definitely the dish soap and something else. Since I only added two drops of dish soap into a gallon of water, anything more than the two drops of unidentified spooge cannot just be soap.

I put the two drops of dish soap into solution by adding it to a small amount of hot water. This was then added to the remaining ingredients for one gal of water w/o any clouding or semi solids coming out of solution.

I should have guessed that something like that could happen given the characteristics of physan and PH down.

I have tried the physan for pm and it works fine. I have Ortho Rose and Flower spray also. None of that stuff is any good for plants w blooms. I almost hate to spray em when they're loaded with blooms.
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irina_co
6 years ago
I do not think it is necessary to add soap every time. If you soak your wicks before using - they will start OK, but adding more will eventually make the soil too wet... and it is not plant food anyway.

Nah - you are not an idiot - and do not say it ever. Screws the energy.

The properly planned experiment either confirms the theory or proves that it is wrong. "No" is an answer too.

Example - I can have a theory that adding soap to my water will make me healthy, happy and rich. After a month of drinking water with soap I would establish - healthy - no - I have a non-stop diarrhea. Happy - no - for the same reason. Rich - no, I spent a fortune on a toilet paper. Conclusion - soap in your water is not conducive to your health, happiness and financial growth.
Jeff Zenner
Original Author
6 years ago
Pretty funny. I guess everything is relative. I have a low tolorence level for stupid. Even more so when I find myself in that category.

I had a problem that I should not of had, spent more time than necessary to fix it and ended up back where I started. If I watched somebody who worked for me doing the same things, I would quite likely at least "think" he is an idiot!

The good thing is that I am quick on my feet and not likely to do any other dumb things for a day or two!
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irina_co
6 years ago
We live, we learn... Sometimes the idea is valid - sometimes it is not - but you learn from it more than from a positive result.
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Rosie1949
6 years ago
Irina, I love your analogys!!!!! Rosie
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Jeff Zenner
Original Author
6 years ago
Well said.
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AV wick watering reservoir contents.

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