SWICK & Organic Soil: A Continuous Journey

[lazylathe]

The Mighty Mini Tangerine Dream...

Broke the last inch of the taproot off but planted her anyway to see what happens.
Grew slowly but steadily and self topped herself at the first node.
For 12 hours she sits on a bucket so she can get light, poor little girl!
She has been happily flowering away when I noticed this interesting bud formation!

A polyploid bud!

 

[lazylathe]

Still talking away to myself in the thread and grow room! At least no one argues with what i say or do!
Guess it does have some perks...

At around day 40 from flip and things are starting to shape up now!
A few of the dodgy seedbank have thrown a few cal/mag issues on a leaf here and there. All the other plants are perfect so not sure what their problem is.

The one Barney's Farm Amnesia Lemon has thrown some odd leaf coloration's on the odd leaf, quite pretty!

The worms in the bin were fed again as they were hungry! Need to pick up a bag of organic compost to give them something to do.

The worms in the pots were also fed and I found this at lights on tonight. Makes me happy to see the worms thriving in the pots! Also visible is the small grass shoots that are in all the pots. Also had a cool mushroom in one for a few days.

Canopy shots are difficult due to the baffle the seals the door to prevent light from entering the grow room. The room is wall to wall full and nowhere to stand for a good shot.

And a few bud progress shots!

I need to bring another light into the room to take better pics. The QB's are just too bright for the camera to compensate. Time to do some reading...

 

[lazylathe]

Around 9 weeks from flip and things are still going well!
After some research and forum searches and looking at my buds, I have decided to not used the Advanced Nutrients Nirvana anymore.
This is due to the fact it has made most of my beautiful compact buds fox tail like crazy...
Went back to my organic kelp instead but will buy some fishy organic stuff for the next grow.
I also bought a small bottle of Humboldts Golden Tree, stuff smells awful and is pitch black, not sure what it did if anything except make the grow room smell like poop!

The new light is filling in the right side nicely and the plants look much happier now.

I have also had to start bondage on the ladies as a few branches fell over from the wieght of the cola's!
Sorted that issue out last night during their weekly watering and SWICK fill up!
I mix up a bucket of nutrients, pH it and the smaller fabric pots receive around 1,5 Liters of mix while the large ladies receive 3 Liters of the mix.
They then get to suck up their own water supply from the SWICK, it is working amazingly well!

After this grow I will be shutting down for a while to do some much needed maintenance and updates on my grow room.
I need to add more airflow around my plants at all levels and I will use the cooler basement air and an inline fan that distributes the air through pipes inside at varying levels. I have seen this done somewhere and have a rough idea in my head, so we are good to go!
The lights will also be reconfigured for a more even coverage with the COB's between the QB's.

But for now, we watch, wait and water...

And Billy the Punk Rocker continues to grow!!!

 

[lazylathe]

The finish line is in sight!! 2 more weeks or so to go!
One of the Amnesia Lemons decided to hermie for some reason....Picking off nanners!

 

[lazylathe]

11 Weeks since flip and another week or two to go!
The buds are all rock hard and super swollen and just covered in crystals!
The smell outside is quite intense as they killed my small carbon filter in no time at all. LOL!!
One of the ladies started to show some cal/mag deficiencies so that was added tonight again to the watering routine.

Some of them are still foxtailing, better now than before...Quite pretty these straight spires of bud!

Some nice fall colors are starting to come through now as well! Very pretty plants this time around, especially the strange black one. Not quite sure what is going on with her.

Billy the Punk Rocker chick is still doing her thing! Strange creature for sure.

The darkest plant I have ever had. Not sure what it is...

BF Amnesia Lemon close up.

Alpha Dog (Tuna Kush type)

BF Pink Kush

Reeferman Pink Kush, this is my absolute favorite plant to give a small squeeze on the buds and smell my fingers!
It's addictive!! And to think I was going to trash her because she is the runt...

And the bad news for last...
Even though I have a massive oscillating fan in the grow room it is still not enough air movement.
I found this out the hard way unfortunately.
A few nights ago i was checking the girls and noticed the biggest Tangerine Dream in the back corners top cola looked a bit off... It looked a bit fuzzy.
I lost the three biggest top colas in one foul swoop.
Added another fan at canopy level immediately! They all seem good now!
By removing those colas I have exposed the lower sections to more light and those buds are filling out nicely now!
So not a great loss but still not happy about it...

Playing the waiting game now...

 

[Hash Hound]

looking real good lazylathe

I'm giving a SWiCK experiment a shot and so far so good. No perlite needed.
this is an insert from a old SIP I had with a piece of an old bag being used for the wick. It will hold 3 qts of water.
Also experimenting with 2/3 my soil blended with 1/3 Pittmoss, a peat substitute made from old newspapers.
The company got funded by Mark Cuban and two others on Shark Tank.

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• Hash Hound
• Aug 16, 2020

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• Hash Hound
• Aug 16, 2020

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• Hash Hound
• Aug 16, 2020

 

[lazylathe]

Been a bit scarce for a bit due to work taking all of my time...
Saturday was harvest day!! Over 10 weeks of flowering has put these girls into some serious cloudy trichome territory!
The one Amnesia Lemon was fairly amber as well, so a good knockout for night.

I also pressed some early harvest bud into rosin and it is gooooood!

This will be the end of this continuous journey as the grow room is being shut down, the house prepared and we are moving once again... This time to the beautiful mountains of British Columbia!
I am sure I will continue this thread in a few years time again...
Sucks but life will be better out there for us.

The last pics of the room at full flower, just before harvest.

And a few bud shots as well...

Trimmed the smaller ladies first...

All hung up on 2 walls in the basement.

One wall

The other side

One of the Amnesia Lemons went into the HerbsNow dryer. I modified mine by taping off a lot of holes on the bottom as it blew a gale out of it. So far so good! Slow drying and very sticky and smelly!

The last 4 plants were just cut and hung to dry and today I trimmed all the fans off and all the bigger leaves.
Hung up again to continue drying for a few more days and then jar time!

Will update with dried and cured pics and report on quality!

 

[Hash Hound]

awesome grow lazylathe. do you ever add anything to the water for the swick?

Mine using the plant riser I posted above is working great so far, probably more wick than swick, but there's no wick in the media. I did a tea from the top once. other than that it's been bottom water and once water with a little Cal Mag in it. right now the container holds 3 qts water and it's drinking 1 qt a day. And it seems if I wait a day, it sucks up the quart it missed too and I can add a 4th qt within an hour to get back to level

 

[CBDMed]

@Azimuth , @ReservoirDog , @Bill284 , @Emilya Green , @cbdhemp808 , @Buds Buddy , and who am I missing?

Hi Lazy!!
May we please crash your party? Hahaha.
We are all talking SIP over on other threads, I see you have an interesting setup!
I hope to read and catch up soon!
Great to find this thread!

 

[CBDMed]

Haha, oy, it looks like I got too excited! This thread is two years old! (Oy.....)

 

[Carmen Ray]

Still talking away to myself in the thread and grow room! At least no one argues with what i say or do!
Guess it does have some perks...

Hi @lazylathe are you still growing here? I've just started a Swick as a complete novice and I would like to learn from experienced Swickers. @el gringuito and @Hash Hound are you still Swicking? A couple of growers suggested a new Swick Club thread that can provide an ongoing forum for discussion about Swick. What thoughts?

 

[Hash Hound]

Still swicking here @Carmen Ray

I'm using a different plant riser than posted above. This one is a little higher and sturdier.
Doesn't get much easier than swicks and my method eliminates using perlite.

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• Hash Hound
• Aug 29, 2022

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• Hash Hound
• May 22, 2021

 

[Carmen Ray]

Still swicking here @Carmen Ray

I'm using a different plant riser than posted above. This one is a little higher and sturdier.
Doesn't get much easier than swicks.

swick plate (2).JPG

• Hash Hound
• Aug 29, 2022

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• Hash Hound
• May 22, 2021

Hi Hash Hound, pleased to meet you What is the object that you are using as a plant riser? Do you have wicks coming off that square piece of cloth? I have so much I want to ask. How long have you been swicking?

 

[Hash Hound]

Hi Hash Hound, pleased to meet you What is the object that you are using as a plant riser? Do you have wicks coming off that square piece of cloth? I have so much I want to ask. How long have you been swicking?

Nice to meet you too Carmen
I got those risers on azon, $7 each in think.
You can see the wicks coming off the square on the left and lower and there are two on the other corners. I cut it from an old grow bag. If I think a plant is staying to wet and not drinking much I lift two of the wicks out of the water.
I've been swicking or sipping for about 2 years now.
I'm glad to help, ask away

 

[Carmen Ray]

Nice to meet you too Carmen
I got those risers on azon, $7 each in think.
You can see the wicks coming off the square on the left and lower and there are two on the other corners. I cut it from an old grow bag. If I think a plant is staying to wet and not drinking much I lift two of the wicks out of the water.
I've been swicking or sipping for about 2 years now.
I'm glad to help, ask away

Thanks! Have you a preference between SIP and Swick? Why is is called Swick? What is the origin of the word?
Are the risers actual plant risers?

 

[Hash Hound]

Thanks! Have you a preference between SIP and Swick? Why is is called Swick? What is the origin of the word?
Are the risers actual plant risers?

No real preference but with the swick I can load up a 7g bag with amended soil feed a tea or two and water only.
I just turned 70 and I like easy growing.
Two summers ago I used a wick and sip for two tomatoes and they were twice the size of the plants in the garden and both preformed equally great.

I think the S added to wick refers to using a substrate for the wick, I originally learned about it from Sweet Sue who posted she learned it from Noobwannb on another site. I adapted it without the perlite. Technically mine is more wick, but since I don't have the wick up in the soil I think it leans toward a swick. All wicks and swicks are sips

My first experience with wicks was 30 years ago with a 1g Rubber maid planter with a wick. I grew a plant under 2 Sears 4ft florescent grow tubes. It grew a great pant and I've had the wick bug since then.

I use wicks in 2g pots and the plants always seem to do great

Yes those are actual plant risers

 

[Carmen Ray]

Yes those are actual plant risers

What else do you think they can be called? I can't find any online in South Africa. Do you think an upside down pasta strainer would work if I can't find the real deal?

I think the S added to wick refers to using a substrate for the wick

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Hash Hound]

I don't think a pasta strainer would be stable. You could use a shallow tote and just put holes in the lid for the wicks and set the bag on top.
Depends on the reservoir you are going to use. Making or finding something shouldn't be to difficult.

this is actually called a pot elevator

Amazon.com

 

[Mike Wright]

Hope all is well in your world.

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.