Thanks all for your responses. Keep 'em coming please. I ended up modifying it a bit. Brought the plants out as per @fidgetbones advice. I have shielded the plants from sun with heavy bins. Plants around the bucket, a small tear in the bucket as overflow, water drop coming in every few seconds. The wicks are just touching the level off of water. This would help maintain the level. In case of high sun🌞 or heavy rain⛅💧🌊 I hope.
Can I ask if all the soil in the pot becomes wet, not just the area around the wick? I find different soils spread water in very different ways. Maybe the pots are small enough and the soil is right, to wet the whole pot. I have seen versions online that use actual, thick candle/oil wicks (along with others that use cut up tee shorts, wide shoe laces and the like). It would be interesting to see how different materials wick differently.
But it seems like your system is working well for you. Out of interest, why do not submerge you cloth strips in the bucket and only have them near the surface?
I think you are thinking of a syphon, KT53. A wick works slightly differently. Same as a pot standing in water tray, the soil acts like a wick and the water gets sucked up.
I'm thinking more that the wick is more likely to dry out in the heat if the water is working against gravity.
@KT53 my previous contraption ( initial photos) was working overtime and filling up an empty pot with little trickle. I think the capillary action continues as the plants are at lower level than level of water, behaving as a siphon. Hence, @Fire, all the pot was getting wet/ drenched, so reduced the length of wick in water to just touching the level and created an overflow hole in the bucket.
Thanx for the thought. I've just tested the scenario of level dropping by taking a dry wick and putting in bowl of food coloured water. The second the wick touched water, capillary action started. And for the level dropping, the garden sprayer is dropping a drop of water every few seconds. Fingers crossed.
Posts
I ended up modifying it a bit.
Brought the plants out as per @fidgetbones advice.
I have shielded the plants from sun with heavy bins.
Plants around the bucket, a small tear in the bucket as overflow, water drop coming in every few seconds.
The wicks are just touching the level off of water.
This would help maintain the level. In case of high sun🌞 or heavy rain⛅💧🌊 I hope.
I think the capillary action continues as the plants are at lower level than level of water, behaving as a siphon.
Hence, @Fire, all the pot was getting wet/ drenched, so reduced the length of wick in water to just touching the level and created an overflow hole in the bucket.
I've just tested the scenario of level dropping by taking a dry wick and putting in bowl of food coloured water. The second the wick touched water, capillary action started.
And for the level dropping, the garden sprayer is dropping a drop of water every few seconds.
Fingers crossed.