Need Help with First Wick Irrigation Setup

Hey all,

My 4 Super Lemon Haze seeds just popped today, and after 3 years, I finally want to try some kind of auto-watering.
Wick irrigation seems like the simplest method, so this will be my first attempt.

I typically start in 300ml plastic pots for about 10–14 days, then transplant into 8L fabric pots.
I bought some wicks off Amazon and ran them through the bottom of the pots.
My plan is to have a water pump fill the orange tray (the reservoir), then drill 4 holes in the gray tray—one for each pot—and run the wicks through them.

My main question:
Should I leave the wicks only at the bottom inside the pot, or should I run them all the way up through the soil to the top?
Also, are there any other issues with this setup I should watch out for?

Later, I plan to do something similar with my 8L fabric pots trying to immitate the AC Infinity watering base.
I put a tray/bucket below each pot and have a pump fill up the buckets.

Any advice from folks with wick experience would be much appreciated. Thanks!

If the soil is compact enough, then the wicks to the bottom, should work.

I use an earthbox. The soil is the wick, and it works pretty good.

Hollatchaboy said:

If the soil is compact enough, then the wicks to the bottom, should work.

I use an earthbox. The soil is the wick, and it works pretty good.

Click to expand...

I add about 30% perlite and when I transplant into 8L, I also add about 20% coco.
Ive heard the soil should be aerated enough because of the permanent moisture.

Guess Im going to have to find out.


This is improvised just to see if it works, I covered the open area with some plastic foil so that the water
doesnt just evaporate.

Are you trying to make a sub irrigated planter? If so, just read thru this thread..... scroll to the beginning though. I just posted the first link to the thread, that I found.