- Thread starter
- #81
I love this image Deev
Off we go!Thanks Weff! How are your new babies coming along?
Couldn't Resist A Christmas Auto Grow
- Thread starter Carmen Ray
- Start date
Off we go!
you can do most things in a crock pot that a MB or instant pot does. it becomes a much longer process with several more steps, a lot more mess, and an oven decarb is a must.
make sure to book off a couple days to complete it if you go the crock pot route. you also have to watch it like a hawk for the entire cook. there's no walking away. stand there for 8+ hrs.
the only thing crummy about the VG is the %rate. most oils sit about 85 - 90% effective rate, the VG sits about 75%. i usually offset the %rate with a little more bud.
the MB machines sit at exactly the same %rate if you follow the instructions. the only difference is the 200+ dollars you saved buying an instant pot over an MB.
The magic to the SIP is not bottom watering but rather the air gap which your pots don't have. So I would say, no, not safe to leave them sitting in a puddle of water while you're away.
A better alternative would be a quick and dirty swick. Here's how I'd do it:
Find a short piece of some sort of cordage that will wick water. You could use a shoelace, or thin polypropylene rope, thin slices of a cut up t-shirt, something like that. I'm not a fan of cotton for a long term set-up but it will be fine for your short period away.
Make sure whatever you choose can wick water by putting one end in a glass of water with the other end a few inches higher. You should see water make its way up gradually to the top. For the test I'd use a tall glass with water in the bottom inch or so and the top of the wick draped over the glass rim.
Once you're confident your chosen material can move water you can insert the top end up into your pot. Your call, but you could either transplant your existing plant into another pot with the wick already in place, or stuff the end up through the drain holes in the bottom up into the pot maybe an inch or so with maybe a knitting needle or BBQ skewer.
Then place the pot with its wick dangling out the bottom over a bowl of water so that the wick settles on the bottom of the bowl but with an air gap between the bottom of the pot and the water. With enough water in the bowl, your plants will keep watered for quite a while.
Then find some way to suspend the pots over the bowl of water with the wicks to the bottom of the bowl and you're dancin'. I'd probably use a couple of long handled wooden spoons to make a two railed bridge over the bowl and set the pots on them.
Do they list the ingredients? I'm guessing maybe fish or seaweed, or maybe even both!
ouch. completely the wrong time to be away.
i would expect those seedlings to suffocate and die under that approach.
don't use this "method". that's not how to water a seedling. i'd go through @Emilya Green 's way to water a seedling and follow that.
Longer for sure like Bluter said. And I'd put an old washcloth in the bottom of the crock pot to keep the glass off the bottom and fill it with enough water to surround the jar but not make it float.
the temps on a crock pot mean it has to use decarbed weed adding extra steps, and it's a longer process. an instant pot is like 40 bucks right now. that 40 bucks will save you thousands in headache and ruined bud.
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- #87
Thank you for the creative adaption to my crude efforts. I think I have found a solution. I stood the pots directly in water until they had wicked enough to dampen the soil throughout and then I removed the pots and set them on a towel to absorb the moisture from the bottom. I will see how long the water lasts in the pots. I am hoping this will work feeding the seedlings for a week. I think it should.
That's a good bit of information. I'm glad to know that! Thanks.
Thank you Bluter. I am familiar with Emilya's watering methods and I use them myself. I am not planning on bottom watering other than now, to moisten a hydrophobic medium and prep it for time away. My medium was dry and I wanted to evenly disperse water from the bottom up. My experiment taught me that it would be a bad idea to leave the pot standing in water unattended. I am happy that the soil is damp without being soggy. It should have enough moisture in it for a week, let's see. Humidity is low and heat is high this summer.
I heard a rumor you can also use them for cooking food. Not sure about that as I only use it for herb.
Yeah, OK, but there's no DIY build in your solution. Where's the fun in that?!?
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- #90
I'll put it on my list. I can happily continue with coconut oil in the interim. Priorities
Oh God Azi, I am so un-DIYified lol. I had an idea anyway, and that was to place a cake cooling rack over the saucer and make a fabric wick as you suggested. However, Bluter's response made me think twice. I don't think it would be wise to leave the babies unattended in self-watering soil for a week.Yeah, OK, but there's no DIY build in your solution. Where's the fun in that?!?
Make sure when you pull them out of the water that you tip them 45* or so to lower the perched water table. Doing so will drain excess water whole leaving the soil moist.
I think @bluter 's comment was along the same lines as mine in that leaving them sitting in a puddle is no Bueno. But the wicking concept is well established and that is similar to how a SIP functions.
Well, you haven't been growing that long. The DIY stuff is half the fun! Well, maybe not half, but you know....
That's a great solution! See, you do have the DIY gene. Pretty soon you'll be going to the kitchen and hardware stores and looking at everything wondering how they could be repurposed to grow better herb.
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- #94
Maybe I change my mind before I go. I'll see how quickly the water is sucked out of the soil by the weather. If it is too quick I will wick.
Lol!I heard a rumor you can also use them for cooking food. Not sure about that as I only use it for herb.
It actually did a great job cooking ribs for my dad's birthday.
A thin strip of felt works really well as a wick.
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- #97
Ok good. One of these days I'm going to get you to make my FAA (Fish Amino Acid) instead which is the best of the best organic fertilizers.
Depending on how the commercial products are made they may be lacking in some of the most beneficial goodies, like fish oil. Many of the commercial products strip out a lot of stuff to sell separately and use the leftovers for the fertilizer part.
But not mine! Mine uses whole fish, bones and eyeballs and everything. Really good stuff. But definitely a DIY thing since you're unlikely to be able to buy it anywhere and it would be pretty expensive even if you could.
you just might get away with that. i'm not sure it'll re-absorb back in to the media without direct contact though.
you should get a good 3 - 4 days without having to really do any wick set up. the danger is that they take off and out grow the available moisture and media space during the time. a wk to a seedling is going from baby to twelve yr old.
i really have to try make actual food in the thing. i set it up for my weed cooks and have left it there ever since lol.
i used to do everything in crock pots and rice cookers. never again. the instant pot is too easy and more effective.
i infuse olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable glycerin, grape seed oil, butter, and a 50/50 mix of butter/coconut oil all in the instant pot with the same recipe and measurements. you can't fuck it up. aside from the straight butter you'd have to be illiterate and drunk to make a mess of it.
i'm actually worried the wick would work too well, adding enough moisture to cause suffocation.
maybe dm me the recipe or post it. i really need to use this thing for food some time.
that's better than terry cloth. just more expensive.
fun fact : if you dial it in you can control the amount it supplies by the width / thickness of the cloth.
post it up somewhere. we gotta get you a jotm or something. at least for your sip thread.