Abstract: A controlled release hydraulic watering system for either an individual plant pot or for a plurality of potted plants. The system utilizes a porous terra cotta water-receiving reservoir which, through permeation, can distribute water either into an individual potted plant at a controlled release rate without over-watering the plant contained therein or onto a capillary sheet and horticultural matting used in an irrigating tray containing a plurality of potted plants providing a proper amount of water to the tray for watering all the plants contained therein. The terra cotta reservoir may include an exterior side wall covering of horticultural matting, silica sand and a plastic sheet.

Abstract: The irrigation and sub-irrigation of plants in containers having holes in the container bottoms are achieved while conserving large amounts of excess water through the use of a plant support bench having special floor lining that includes capillary matting and a pair of capillary sheets disposed above and below the matting. A wick system in conjunction with a closed conduit provides for the return of excess water through apertures defined in the bench bottom into closed conduit system and prevents evaporation of the excess liquids as it is returned to a storage reservoir. Each wick is comprised of horticultural matting and preferably encased in a capillary sheet to ensure a maximum transfer of excess water. A closed irrigation system is provided that conserves water by preventing evaporation and prevents contamination of the water supply that is being stored for reuse.

Abstract: The subirrigation of soil in a container for container-grown plants is accomplished upwardly through an opening in the container bottom by placing the container on the upper surface of a capillary sheet in the form of a sheet wettable plastic having a multiplicity of capillary openings therein and by disposing the capillary sheet so that its undersurface directly overlies in unbonded face-to-face contacting relation an essentially continuous and substantially smooth wettable surface presented by a substantially flat member comprised in a support bed for the container as, for example, by a sheet of plastic overlying a substantially rigid member or by a substantially rigid slab comprised in the support bed and feeding an aqueous liquid into the interface between said surfaces as through feeder tubes by gravity or by capillary travel from a reservoir disposed below the interface, whereby the so fed aqueous liquid becomes distributed by capillary action to any portion of the capillary sheet directly underlying a

Abstract: Irrigation of a body of soil or other plant-growing medium appropriate for growing plants in hothouses, florist shops and the like is controlled by interposing between the body of soil, which may be in a container having a water-permeable bottom, and a body of water-receptive material to which water is supplied, preferably at a controlled rate, a capillary sheet of impermeable and preferably opaque plastic having a multiplicity of regularly spaced capillary openings therein through which water migrates in travelling from the water-receptive material into the body of soil. The water-receptive material may comprise and preferably consists of a silica sand catalytic plastic sheet having on one side thereof a coating of silica sand particles interspersed by a network of capillary spaces that are conducive to lateral spread of water supplied thereto, said silica sand catalytic sheet also being beneficial in installations wherein a body of soil is in direct contact therewith.