[shawnintland]

The capillary mat is some sort of plastic product, I believe. It is manufactured for use as an air conditioning filter material, among other things. It has to be cut with scissors - you can not tear it because it is too strong and it's very light weight. I was searching for it in big rolls (2 m. x 100m) to use in creating some "living walls". Finally I also found it in black color which works better for my usage than the normal white. Yes, I think that cocofiber matting would work the same but I think it would have to soak quite a while to become soft enough to be able to 'push' the pots down into it. You want there to be a very good 'bond' between the media in the pot and the capillary mat so the plants can draw up as much water as they need.

Arvin, I don't think I could ever get down to a plant-less porch, don't worry! I cleared it out last week to a point where I could see 75% of the floor, more than I had been able to see in over a year...that was 8 days ago - today I can see maybe 30%! It doesn't take long for me to refill the area.