[Greenbuilding] Wicking material

RT archilogic at yahoo.ca
Fri Apr 12 17:15:13 CDT 2013


On Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:36:40 -0400, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn  
<info at ecobrooklyn.com> wrote:

> best wicking material to pull the water up??

> Clay? Rock wool?

The Roxul mineral wool product "Drainboard" is marketed as a material to  
be set against the outside of a foundation to relieve hydrostatic pressure  
and facilitate drainage so it would seem unlikely that it would be a good  
choice as a material where capillary rise is desired.

Clay ? Probably too slow for the intended purpose.

When I was  student, I lived in a farmhouse about 40 kms from campus so  
during Christmas break when I went home to visit my parents it was  
difficult to find people who could stop in to water the plants while I was  
away.

I used sheets of newspaper folded/rolled into "ropes" with one end sunken  
into a water reservoir and the other into the soil of the pots and the  
plants would drink as needed via the "straw".

But the old full-sheet newspapers weren't anywhere near 5 feet in length .  
Probably 3 ft at most. And I had the water reservoir at somewhat the same  
level as the plants.

I suspect that cotton rope, the tightly braided variety (like sash cord  
except larger diameter) may work but I'm not sure about the 5 ft rise  
part. A quick test would answer that question.

But I have to wonder why the wicking-watering would be needed.

Are the building's occupants really so lazy that watering some plants is  
too onerous a task ?

I'd be inclined to rig up a water wheel powered by a stationary bike and  
require the building's occupants spend a few minutes each day at the  
Living Wall pedaling to pump water up to a reservoir at the top of the  
wall where it would trickle down to feed the vegetation.

The CO2 exhaled by the fat-burning bike pedaler would also be beneficial  
to the plants.

But I suppose, for those lazy New Yawkers who find lifting a watering can  
too onerous, that might be too much to ask, in which case, I suppose that  
I'd be looking at a solar-powered water pump.

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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