Judith Smith writes
On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:32:29 +0100, K wrote:

Judith Smith writes

Sorry to post again - but I am quite desperate.

I watered them to day - stood in about half inch of water - but I did
have to watch carefully to make sure not too wet.

How big are the plants at the moment?

Tiny seedlings I keep moist but not wet - they don't use a lot of water
so it's not difficult to do. From about 3 inches onwards I give about
1cm depth of water in the top of the pot, this drains through into the
tray beneath but is reabsorbed by the soil over the next couple of
hours. Then I water again when the top of the soil is dry but before the
leaves are drooping (though the occasional root droop doesn't do lasting
harm).

Standing in water for any length of time is a bad idea. The most I'd let
them stand in water is a couple of days (eg if I'm going away for a
couple of days and the forecast is for warm weather).


Between just coming through to 1.5inches - seem to vary from type to
type.

In that case, water enough to get compost moist, drain away any water
still in the tray after an hour or so, keep them in good light but out
of direct sunlight if possible so that they stay moist for as long as
possible, and definitely don't allow them to get to 'droopy leaf' stage
before rewatering ;-)

I've never tried capillary matting so no idea how well that would work.

--
Kay