How to make a wicking pot so your plants self-water | DIY Garden Projects | Gardening Australia

You may have heard of wicking beds, which are designed with a reservoir or water in the base so the water wicks up through to the soil to the plant’s roots. A pot works on the same principle, but on a smaller scale. Like a self-watering pot.

The sizes can all be adjusted to suit the size of pot or pipe you have on hand.

What you need:
A large pot - preferably without drainage holes
An empty milk container (to patch any holes in the pot)
Silicone
Drill with large bit to match overflow pipe (see below) and smaller bit to make 2-3mm holes
An irrigation pipe elbow (sized to match drill hole - see above!)
1m x 2cm-wide diameter irrigation pipe (total length must be at least height + width of your pot)
1 irrigation pipe elbow to match pipe diameter
Gravel or scoria (10mm or smaller) - enough to fill the base of your pot
Geotextile/ hessian or other fabric - large enough to cover the inside of your pot
Potting mix (add compost/worm castings if available)
Plants

What you do:
If your pot has drainage holes, these need to be covered so the pot holds water. Costa recommends a patch of plastic cut from an empty milk container, stuck into place using silicone.

Drill an overflow hole about 1/4 of the way up the pot from the bottom. This allows excess water to run off so the plants don’t drown.

Fit the irrigation elbow into place. This can be turned down to allow water to flow out, or turned up to keep water in at a higher level.

Cut off enough irrigation pipe to sit flat in the base of your pot and drill a series of 2mm or 3mm holes along its length - this will be the water inlet pipe.

Cut another length of pipe that will reach from the base of your pot to at least the rim; if it’s a bit longer that’s OK, but not shorter. Attach this to the bottom pipe with holes in, using the second elbow joint.

Install this L-shaped pipe into the pot (pipe with holes at the base and longer pipe sticking out).

Fill the base of the pot with gravel or scoria rock. Rock crushed to 10mm or less is best. Add enough gravel to reach the overflow hole on the side of your pot.

Cover the rock base with the wicking cloth; you can use geotextile, shade cloth, or hessian. The idea is to stop the potting mix from getting washed into the rock base and blocking the infill pipe.

Fill the top of the pot with potting mix. Costa adds some worm castings and compost to his mix.

Add your plants!

Wicking beds are good for plants that like constant moisture, so Costa has chosen Vietnamese mint, Wasabi and common mint. Mint has a habit of taking over, so if you don’t use it regularly in your cooking, this is best left out!

Water plants from the top until they are established, then top up the water reservoir from the infill pipe; you know it’s full when the overflow pipe starts flowing.

Featured plants:
Mint ‘Common’ (Mentha spicata cv.)
Vietnamese mint (Persicaria odorata)
Wasabi (Eutrema japonicum)

*Always check species before planting: they may be environmental weeds in your area.

Filmed on Gadigal & Wangal Country in Newtown, NSW
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[LA-jqur]

I have made wicking pots. I recommend buying a flyscreen repair kit so you can make a small flyscreen patch over the outlet pipe to stop mosquito breeding.

[robbiedicker]

Don't forget the wicking part. By putting fabric beneath the gravel it can wick no matter the level. The video showed an edit of how the pot was lined, but if that fabric or soil isn't touching the water, it won't wick. You can also use an absorbent rope ran from the base up for the water to wick up and let the soil do rest.
Our strawberries thrive in wicking beds.

[AnnieCason]

Wicking pots are great! I was going to purchase one ready-made and realized how simple they are to make....and much cheaper than ready-made.

[gardentours]

No I understand how it's working 😃😉 You explained the it very nicely 👍

[gailivory]

Hello, 👋 I followed your instructions and now have a pot in place for my carrot seeds. I’m so excited!! I wanted to say thank you, you were so clear and concise. 😊

[paulschroeder]

It seems to me that as soon as the water level drops below the wicking substrate the system will stop watering. The wicking material has to extend to the bottom of the water reservoir to be fully used. Did you even try this pot before posting it on Youtube?

[maddieforster]

Hi, thank you! Do you need to water the plants directly until they grow roots that reach the wicking or can they start taking up the water directly? Thank you!

[rukhsanabibi]

This was a really interesting thank you for showing me this I will be trying something like this for my plants 🪴 😊👍

[scallywags]

Wicking pots are great in the summer but not in the rainy winter season. As they can flood the pots and plants. I remove any plants before winter in a wick pot.

[Ineluki_Myonrashi]

Both of those varieties of mint will completely choke the wasabi out in just a couple months, it won't be able to compete with the vigorous roots of mint plants.

[shinjiikari]

I wouldn’t mix mint with anything else on the same pot, and also you might want to extend the fabric all the way to the bottom so water can actually still wick through once it drops below the cloth level.

[hoarmike]

Great content. Thank you for putting g this video together.

[susanlisson]

This is brilliant & just what I need to keep my herbs alive in Perth’s hot climate. Would a soaker hose work instead of the pipe with holes drilled all over it? I still have some leftover soaker hose pipe in the garage.

[tubes-lut]

Use old swimming pool sand filters. Keep the stem and laterals in there.

[mrdeanvincent]

This video seemed to completely skip over the actual wicking part... doesn't there need to be a way for the water to move upwards from the reservoir to the soil? That geo-fabric would need to extend down into the bottom of the reservoir.

[kyfisher]

its crazzy that they dont sell pre made wicking pots at bunnings

[ahnamar]

And then how long can you go on holiday ? ..

[girlbizcj]

Love this method. Would the fabric create mold or mildew?

[learningfatherhood]

What other plants will be suitable for this?

[ianwilliams]

Wicking pots are awesome but a problem they can have is that they can oversaturate the bottom layers of the soil