Get rid of the ceramic self watering pots. If you must use a self watering pot, try Oyama's. They are plastic and work well, however wicking your plants works infinately better.
Fred in NJ

The ceramic self watering is tricky. Usually the draw up too much water. The soil has to have a lot of perlite so the soil does not hold too much water and rot the plant. You are lucky your plants are dry and not wet. If it was much used, the porus part probably filled with minerals and fertilizer salts. I have actually gotten a small ceramic drill bit (hardware store) and made a hole in some of the planters my aunt made for me, I ran yarn up into the pot and wick them....still need extra perlite though.

Since these pots belonged to you grandmother, I am sure you do not want to get rid of them. Why not just use them as a decorative cover up for a regular plastic pot?

DM collects AVs so I decided for an Easter splurge,I would purchase all new ceramic watering pots. They did not do as claimed. No water came through to the soil. DM ended up losing a few of the plants, but has now repotted back to the same ole same ole tried and true type pots that she used for years.

Good advice to repurpose them for something else since they have a sentimental attachment to them.

Best of luck.

oh my gosh that is what has happened to mine,,, they all started die slowley but they all did I went from about 8 plants to now down to 2 and one is on deths door i bought the special wick watering mix with tons of perlite they would be too wet or too dry no happy in between, I think I am going to try a wicking pad that a local violet grower uses he has used it for years, I am just sad all the money spent on them to have them all die on me I almost gave up untill I read your post now I think I will try again:)

Testament to the difficulty most people have with these pots. I know, there are some people that have had one in this type of pot 'for years' and it does okay, but that is a very small minority. If you want to use one as an experiment, fine with me, but the odds are your plant will not thrive without a lot of trial and error pertaining to potting mix.

My advice to anyone that asks about these pots is always NO.

Barbara

Hi,
This is a warning about community matting. If one plant has a bug, you can almost guarantee that all will get the same bug with capillary matting.
Fred in NJ