rayon mop strand irrigation system

[MrFancyPlants]

I am trying to plan for my 2+ week vacation coming up and bought a rayon mop head and attempted to rig up an irrigation system. I water my plants once or twice a day and am quite nervous about depending on anyone else to do the watering, so I though I would give this a shot since there is a potential to use a reservoir to extend the amount of time that the plants would require attention. My goal is that my friend could check on them and top off the reservoir every week or so.
Has anyone had any luck with this system?
Ive read in a couple places that the reservoir has to be higher than the plant you are watering and vice versa. I have a week or two to try it out, but it looks like keeping the water up high might send too much water down the string like a syphon?

 

[edprocoat]

Why not buy a simple watering timer and hook it up to a misting water hose? You can set it to water for 1 minute to 2 hours twice a day.

ed

 

[MrFancyPlants]

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg031557203792.html

Here is an interesting article I found regard soil/water dynamics. It looks like I was doing it wrong by elevating my water supply. A combination of these bottom wicks and a vase flipped upside down full of water should be enough to get me through 2 weeks. And I can use my new wicks to drain extra water from the pots when I am done.

I like Al's rational explanations, and he seemed to be on the cutting edge of "modern" substrate for almost ten years ago.