I take a gallon can from food, punch some holes in the bottom with a nail, put the lid I removed to open the can over the holes, then fill a plastic bag with water and put it in the can. I have never found a plastic bag that would not leak, but if you do, poke a hole or 2 near the bottom of the bag with a pin so it will leak slowly. If your plants are in large pots like mine are (cut-off plastic barrels, usually), there is room to put one of these in the barrel. It will water your plants for almost a week if the pinholes really are pinholes.. If you want to decrease the amount of water your plants will need, such as during really hot weather, make some kind of simple shade over them before you put the self-waterers to work.

The self watering ceramic pots cause the soil to retain too much water, drowning the roots and causing them to rot. Also you cannot "leach" the soil in ceramic planters. I have some plants growing in them for years, big happy healthy plants. It seems to work better if I don't fill the bottom pot with too much water. I have also had to remove a plant or two from this type planter that I tried to grow in them and they were not happy. I also got a different type of two piece ceramic planter at a thrift store for 60 cents, the top planter is very deep (way too deep for an av) and has a lot of exposed area that is not glazed....I thought an episcia would grow nice in that, but the soil held tons of water cause too much unglazed area was soaking up water...it would be great for a bog plant though!, ha. Use what works for you..but a happy violet is going to look really nice and bloom a lot.

As far as what growing medium to use, I would suggest coco fiber (also called coco coir or coco chips). It's made from coconut husks, and It's a very good inert growing medium. It has excellent wicking capability's, as well as water retention capability's. It also provides very good aeration to the roots. It provides better aeration to the roots than peat moss (as long as you don't over saturate/water). Depending on your growing containers, and the size slats/holes in it would make a difference weather you uses the coco fiber or coco chips. Coco fiber has a smaller particle size, and is similar to peat moss in size. But coco chips has a larger partial size, and is more like the size of small wood chips for BBQ. Their both the same material (coconut husks). The baskets I use would allow too much of the coconut fiber to go through the slats/openings, so I prefer the coco chips over the fiber. Coco chips or coco fiber is almost always the same price. And because the particle size of the chips is larger, it also tends to provide better aeration to the roots than the smaller coco fiber partial size. It also has the same water retention capability (it's the same material). As for the wicking effect, as long as the growing medium touches the water, it will wick up moisture. But how much depends on basically two things. One is the type of growing medium, and the other is how much of it is submerged in the water. And going that rout, you will probably need to keep a close eye on the water level. Too wet, and you suffocate the roots, and too dry and they have other problems. That's why most people that use the wick system use a regular wick (some type of absorbent cloth). That way if the water level gets to low, the growing medium still has a way to wick up moisture. It just gives them more leeway in moisture control.

Whenever I water my plants, I've got containers that are slightly larger, that I'll place the whole pot into. Then I'll fill it all the way up to the soil level and let the plant soak for a half hour. After that, I'll let the pot drain. When you do this, you'll notice how "brown" the water is. This is when I'll pour some fresh water into the pot, letting it slowly flush away the dirty water until the water coming out of the bottom runs much clearer. This helps flush out any excess fertilizer salts and other dissolved solids, preventing them from accumulating in the soil and building up into higher concentrations over time. Provided that the soil doesn't hold on to too much water, and isn't too compacted, preventing the plant's roots from breathing properly, you can't technically "overwater" it. A plant isn't going to absorb any more water than it actually needs. Sure, there are some exceptions to this, such as desert plants. But many houseplants come from our rainforests, where they can get rained on on just about a daily basis. However, the conditions in our homes aren't like the conditions of these habitats. So we have to adjust our care accordingly, while doing our best to provide the conditions that these plants are used to in their native environments. I read all the time about people that're having problems with their plants and then dousing them with fungicides, pesticides, and sometimes homemade concoctions, in order to try and mitigate the many issues that their plants may be having. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against using these treatments whenever they're necessary. But if people took a little time to understand their plants' most basic needs and then do their best to replicate them, you could easily avoid most of the problems that cause these issues in the first place. I don't even remember the last time that I've ever had to use a fungicide, pesticide, etc. In fact, I don't even think that I even own any of these products. Which is surprising, considering the number of plants I have, with new ones always following me home all the time, haha. The "Plant Spa" self-watering pots help tremendously in keeping my plants happy and healthy. I'm sounding like a spokesperson for them, lol, but that's only because these pots work great. They're the only ones I use for the vast majority of my plants. From those that love lots of water, to those that don't. I find that even with the bottom reservoir filled up with water, the plants still soak it up rather quickly. For the plants that don't need to be watered as often, when I do water them, I'll let the water drain away and I'll empty out the reservoir as well. I find that it also comes in handy for keeping any plants from leaking onto other surfaces, catching what little excess water that may come out of the pot later on. That was a problem that I used to encounter quite often, back when I still used ordinary pots.