[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
< A r c h i L o g i c at Y a h o o dot c a >
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