Ornamental Value Change of Some Foliage Plants by Wick Watering

The method of wick watering is being applied for container culture of home vegetable, because effort, time for nutrition and water maintenance could be decreased. But wick watering did not have much of a case in indoor plants. Because the principle of watering is to supply enough when the topsoil is dry than continuous water supply. However, when we grow pot plants, the difficult things are as follows : watering point, amount of watering, watering times and flowing water from drainage holes. This study was conducted as an approach for solving above problem. Change of ornamental value as each plant treated by indoor wick watering was measured in this study, in order to investigate the possibility for indoor culture of ornamental plants which wick watering was applied, for introduction as decoration factor in living space. The plant materials for this study was 17 such as Zamioculcas zamiifolia, Dieffenbachia 'Marianne', Ardisia pusilla 'Variegata', Chlorophytum bichetii, Syngonium podophyllum, Aglaonema commutatum, Anthurium andraeanum, Codiaeum variegatum, Chamaedorea elegans, Tillandsia cyanea, Fatsia japonica, Heteropanax fragrans, Humata Tyermannia, Peperomia obtusifolia, Ficus pumila, Philodendron 'Lemon Lime', and Hoya carnosa. These are representative indoor ornamental plants which are used for small pot plant frequently in South Korea. The average condition of indoor experimental environment was 171.8 Lux for light, was 24.7°C for temperature, was 50.9% for humidity. Five estimators evaluated ornamental value with 0-10 point about 3 plants of same species once a week from Sep. 3, 2010 to Jan. 7, 2011. Generally, ornamental value of almost plants had increased from the point of 2nd, 3rd weeks after the plant was placed than the beginning of placement. And ornamental value was the highest for about 5weeks from 5th week to 10th week. Ornamental value had decreased from 11th weeks, especially Syngonium podophyllum and Dieffenbachia 'Marianne' decreased significantly, and Dieffenbachia 'Marianne' declined rapidly at 17th week. Ornamental value of Dieffenbachia 'Marianne', Codiaeum variegatum, Syngonium podophyllum was under 5 and Zamioculcas zamiifolia, Chamaedorea elegans, Heteropanax fragrans was maintained above 9 at 18th week that was the last week of evaluation.