Radogast 2 - Return of the Clones

I should be asleep as well, but I seem to have lost the ability to go to bed alone. I wait until I'm falling asleep at the iPad. :laughtwo: Tonight I took a nap around 9 and woke up around 11, so here I am still at it at 3:22. (Sigh) When he finally gets home I don't know how I'll transition. I'll be getting up after he falls asleep and working all night.
 
You 2 have come up w/a good plan. I did up 4 3-gal pots for a friend yesterday and used a similar recipe. I added to big handfuls of coarse sand to the mix. Good soil always contains some sand. I've heard worms use it like chickens use gravel in their crop.

It's hard to imagine a more abrupt volte face in a garden.
I'm so excited by all this good news.
 
Rad, You might want to choose a shallow tub for SWICK, at least more shallow than the ones your soil is in now. It seems to me those tubs are so deep not much air would get to the bottom which could be a great nesting place for insects and or mold and mildew issues. I have to admit that I have never done a SWICK and there might be a natural deterrent in the perlite ;)
 
xtrchessreal said:
Rad, You might want to choose a shallow tub for SWICK, at least more shallow than the ones your soil is in now. It seems to me those tubs are so deep not much air would get to the bottom which could be a great nesting place for insects and or mold and mildew issues. I have to admit that I have never done a SWICK and there might be a natural deterrent in the perlite ;)
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Actually, deeper simply means less attention need be paid on a daily basis. I haven't seen or heard anything about mold, mildew or insects, and we're going back years of documentation. There's so much movement to the water that it's not a stagnant system at all.

You should try one sometime xtrchessreal. What do you grow in?
 
Ranger275 said:
You 2 have come up w/a good plan. I did up 4 3-gal pots for a friend yesterday and used a similar recipe. I added to big handfuls of coarse sand to the mix. Good soil always contains some sand. I've heard worms use it like chickens use gravel in their crop.

It's hard to imagine a more abrupt volte face in a garden.
I'm so excited by all this good news.
Click to expand...

When I built my original soil I had all these little bags of leftover Japanese river sands from Dale's bonsai adventures. I felt so giddy being able to include them. I believe, as you Ranger, that every good soil has some sand in it. The surfaces, I'm always looking for more diverse surfaces for water to collect on and micro beasties to hide in.
 
I can't afford changing my system out even though I would like to. I use #3 pots with Happy Frog and add Flora Nova nutes every other watering throughout blooming. I rotate the plants by hand everyday in a 75 Sqft room. A SWICK system would be nice but the amount of room needed and the extra weight would prohibit the rotation unless I built a system to rotate all the plants automatically or with ease. And, that addition would be even more costly for me at this time. It would have to be all in at once for me and I can't afford that. Plus I have a height limit, fans, lights, and floor pipes that act as obstacles to move around in ;) I could do it for Mothers since they just sit there :) It gets down to 55 F on the basement floor in the winter I wonder if SWICK would help as an insulator or if the evaporation would act to make it even colder? Hmmm Well I guess I could experiment :Love:
 
xtrchessreal said:
I can't afford changing my system out even though I would like to. I use #3 pots with Happy Frog and add Flora Nova nutes every other watering throughout blooming. I rotate the plants by hand everyday in a 75 Sqft room. A SWICK system would be nice but the amount of room needed and the extra weight would prohibit the rotation unless I built a system to rotate all the plants automatically or with ease. And, that addition would be even more costly for me at this time. It would have to be all in at once for me and I can't afford that. Plus I have a height limit, fans, lights, and floor pipes that act as obstacles to move around in ;) I could do it for Mothers since they just sit there :) It gets down to 55 F on the basement floor in the winter I wonder if SWICK would help as an insulator or if the evaporation would act to make it even colder? Hmmm Well I guess I could experiment :Love:
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A lot of the guys on BlueJay's thread began using a layer of lava rock in the bottom of their pots to insulate from the concrete floors. They haven't noticed any difference in growth rate between pots with and pots without, but as an insulator it worked well. I would expect the same buffering of cold would be expected with the perlite.

I understand about the expense. There will come a day when I stop spending all our money on my garden. I'm sure of it. :laughtwo::green_heart:
 
Hey Rado,

Anyone know where COorganics went off to? He may not be journaling here, but you know he's going to be journaling somewhere. I want to follow that guys grow still. If you hear from him, let me know where he went off to please. I've so much to learn still :)
 
SweetLeef said:
Hey Rado,

Anyone know where COorganics went off to? He may not be journaling here, but you know he's going to be journaling somewhere. I want to follow that guys grow still. If you hear from him, let me know where he went off to please. I've so much to learn still :)
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I'm really bummed CO left with a fast goodbye. I wouldn't be the one to notice him other places, I only end up on another board if Google or DuckDuckGo takes me there.

I feel partially responsible for his leaving, as I was posting that I wished he'd back off the pressure on D.P. And it ended up escalating to the point where I suggested the mods put them on a short vacation.

To the extent that I spoiled his 420 board experience and helped him leave, I apologize to you, CO, and the 420 community.
 
Ranger275 said:
You 2 have come up w/a good plan. I did up 4 3-gal pots for a friend yesterday and used a similar recipe. I added to big handfuls of coarse sand to the mix. Good soil always contains some sand. I've heard worms use it like chickens use gravel in their crop.

It's hard to imagine a more abrupt volte face in a garden.
I'm so excited by all this good news.
Click to expand...

I am :yahoo: VERY :yahoo: pleased with the about face. It was feeling like a firing squad.

4 of 8 clones have roots poking out of the rockwool. I'll be potting them within a few days.
 
xtrchessreal said:
Rad, You might want to choose a shallow tub for SWICK, at least more shallow than the ones your soil is in now. It seems to me those tubs are so deep not much air would get to the bottom which could be a great nesting place for insects and or mold and mildew issues. I have to admit that I have never done a SWICK and there might be a natural deterrent in the perlite ;)
Click to expand...

I tend to agree they are deep enough to restrict air flow.

I tend to over water, followed by under water.
I was really looking forward to SWICK.

I suppose I should just spend $100 on perlite for the flowering room floor.
 
I don't see how they could restrict airflow. The irregularities of surface area on the perlite should keep them from compressing in such a way that air flow would be compromised. It's pure physics that causes the wicking action. The water will find it's way up, and as it percolates up through the grains of perlite it picks up oxygen along the way. I wouldn't hesitate to use the tubs you were thinking of. Make your life easier Rad. There are some sizable SWICKS out there.
 
Radogast said:
I'm really bummed CO left with a fast goodbye. I wouldn't be the one to notice him other places, I only end up on another board if Google or DuckDuckGo takes me there.

I feel partially responsible for his leaving, as I was posting that I wished he'd back off the pressure on D.P. And it ended up escalating to the point where I suggested the mods put them on a short vacation.

To the extent that I spoiled his 420 board experience and helped him leave, I apologize to you, CO, and the 420 community.
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He was already on his way out Rad. He found other communities with stronger LOS roots and was more comfortable with like - minded gardeners. He's happy with that decision. This just gave him the push he was looking for.
 
SweetSue said:
I don't see how they could restrict airflow. The irregularities of surface area on the perlite should keep them from compressing in such a way that air flow would be compromised. It's pure physics that causes the wicking action. The water will find it's way up, and as it percolates up through the grains of perlite it picks up oxygen along the way. I wouldn't hesitate to use the tubs you were thinking of. Make your life easier Rad. There are some sizable SWICKS out there.
Click to expand...

The tubs can restrict airflow because they are 2 feet deep and I was only planning on 4-6 inches of perlite. The entire pot would be below the rim of the tub.
 
Cut the tub
 
Radogast said:
The tubs can restrict airflow because they are 2 feet deep and I was only planning on 4-6 inches of perlite. The entire pot would be below the rim of the tub.
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I see. Yes. Yes they would.
 
Or Drill holes in the upper half of the sides
 
SweetLeef said:
Cut the tub
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Didn't cut well with reciprocal saw action or metal snip action.
It only likes a one way grinding motion.

I'm better off spreading the 32 sq ft floor with 6" of perlite in the existing 8" deep "flood table" floor. I am only balking at paying for 16 cu ft of perlite when I really want pumice (regionally unavailable.)
 
what if you cut tomato cages to the correct hight, wrap them in screen and fill them with the perlite and set the pots on top of those, inside the tub.

Or mound the perlite. It should still work I would think.

The Pillars of Swick
 
SweetLeef said:
what if you cut tomato cages to the correct hight, wrap them in screen and fill them with the perlite and set the pots on top of those, inside the tub.

Or mound the perlite. It should still work I would think.

The Pillars of Swick
Click to expand...
:rofl:

Rad, are you opposed to the idea of using individual basins or enamored with the idea of a community reservoir?
 
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