LaquerHead
Well-Known Member
I do however want to do what its gonna take to grow a monster. I only plan on doing 1 plant to speak of at a time so I definitely want to veg it out and make it a monster. It will have 400w of vero29 all to itself
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This is something I've went back and forth with many times in my head and I think I'm just going to plop my seedling directly into my soil and practice careful watering methods. Doesnt transplanting disrupt soil in a no till?
That makes sense and has kind of been my thinking as well, transplanting seems to have a lot of benefits if done correctly. Just wasn't sure how to work it in as I havent heard to many opinions on the matter!
Hey all, I just got done reading this whole thread, and i'm sold on SWICK! Thanks to SweetSue and everyone else that's been chiming in on their experiences.
I'm going to put together a setup in perhaps the next week, I currently only have one girl in a 5 gal felt grow pot by Black Magic. Soil is also black magic (aged bark, coco, bat guano, perlite, peat moss, volcanic ash, worm castings). The soil seems pretty good for a premix and light. I think it will work with this setup. I just watered today after 4 days to dry it out, and noticed that even when taking my time watering, there were still dry pockets around the edges. I dug down and the roots were hardly there so I hand mixed in wet soil to hopefully get the roots wanting to get out to the edges. It was transplanted to the 5 gal from a 1.3 quart pot 12 days ago so perhaps this isn't too insane.
My point is - does the SWICK uniformly water the entire container, or is this still something I should address with my soil? I was trying to get the plant to show signs of under watering but it was looking happy as ever even with a light pot. I'll be traveling for a week around week 7 of flower, so being able to depend on the SWICK will be crucial to my harvest. A bit OT I'm also open to suggestions for a wifi camera for a grow tent in case I see problems and have to pick up the bat phone for help...
pictures are always nice
What an excellent thread, I registered purely to say thanks for this brilliant method/idea! I have a couple of questions, as I plan to integrate this into my grow.
I am using 1 gallon fabric pots, (small plants, more strain variety, only a very small grow space) starting in solo cups and transplanting around day 10-14, actually transplant day is tomorrow (ish). After top watering for a week or so to establish the plant, I plan to switch to the SWICK. I have a deep grow tray, not entirely sure of the measurements, but I can find out! I use the Autopot method usually, and was going to place the Autopot AquaValve into the corner/the middle of the tray with a cover on, alongside all the perlite for the SWICK with the idea that the valve would encourage a natural wet/dry cycle (especially during veg), only refilling once the tray was dry, and also automating the refilling aspect of things.
1 - Does this sound like it will work, first of all? Any reasons why it wouldn't?
2 - My mix is 55/45 perlite/soil, probably a bit excessive but too late now. I have no perlite or clay pebbles at the bottom of my pot, but I am assuming this isn't needed as it is in the Autopot system? (although remember the 1 gallon pots if that makes a difference!)
3 - Does perlite require re-wetting once it dries or will the wicking via the Valve be sufficient for this?
4 - Would this method mean that any babies not making the cut to big pots from transplant could still have a shot at life in their solo cups? Hand watering solo cups is such a hassle!
Thanks so much everyone!
Edit: I did try and find the answer to this first before posting, after reading every page, but I'm still not 100%. Also, sorry for resurrecting an old thread if it's not meant to be done!
milkmann.
Don’t worry about trying to read all that. Someone’s always around to answer a question.
I like your idea about the wet/dry cycle in veg. Please document with pictures if you can so we can see how it works for you.
In my opinion there’s a point in late veg when they’re going to tell you to keep water coming, and you never want it to go dry after the first week in flower.
I’m so glad to meet a new convert to SWICK. I now grow in hempy, which is a passive hydro adaptation of this method, in my mind at least. If I ever switch back to soil all my pots will be on SWICK.
I’m also a fan of small pots. You can increase product and get a delightful variety to the canna pantry. Best of luck. I’ll do my best to check in on you, if a journal pops up. If no journal is planned feel free to drop occasional photos here.
@greenjean thank you for that detailed response! I have been trialing the system with clay pebbles instead of perlite, due to the above reasons mentioned (algae/water level etc) with the pots resting on the pebbles so they're not sat in water. Seems to be working well so far, but a few days will tell me more once there have been a few fill/dry cycles. IF roots start coming out the bottom I'll get some of their root control sheets to lay under the pebbles.
Will post some pictures later on this week
Hello y’all!
I followed this thread when it was current and found the theory intriguing. When I finally decided to give it a go last fall I dropped in and found it long dormant so I moved on.
For kicks and giggles I peeked at it again today and saw it had been resurrected in the past few months. Thanx milkman, greenjean and sweetsue.
In the event that there are still a few swickers out there, I’d like to share some of the trials and tribulations, failures and successes I’ve experienced in this adventure.
My incentive to try this system lyes in the fact that life often demands I be an absentee gardener for as long as three weeks at a time and occasionally even longer.
I’ve been an exclusive user of coco/perlite from my first grow and have become very comfortable with this medium and unwilling to change. The watering/feeding system I used entailed top drip emitters, a pond pump and timer. This system worked well MOST of the time. It seemed failures always occurred while away, unfortunately. Emitters sometimes became clogged and the pond pumps crapped out a couple of times. On another occasion, the timer went wild and stuck in the on position, pumping out all the water and eventually burned up yet another pump. Time for an alternative system!
I’ll be back to share my experiences in adapting this system to suit my lifestyle needs. In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to drop in on my new journal. It’s devoted to finding the parameters of success with the minimum expenditure of funds and time and developing a semi-autonomous grow system. It’s been relatively slow to evolve because life seems to often get in the way but I will do updates regularly.
To be continued........
Thanx, Sue. Yes I’m using it presently. This is actually the fourth garden I’ve started with the swick system. Unfortunately, the first two succumbed to initial learning process. I’ll share some details in some upcoming posts. The last one worked out very well and this one is off to a roaring start.
Thanks @Bucudinkydow it's not often I get a mention. Although I still say @SweetSue deserves all the credit for building this monumental thread. I look forward to seeing your progress because I like to see how people vary SWICKs and sub irrigated systems. I was always a fan because it's so easy and it made so much sense when I started off in an apartment. I got to take my work trips and not be afraid about all the moving pieces of other watering systems. Keep it up and keep it green.Hello y’all!
I followed this thread when it was current and found the theory intriguing. When I finally decided to give it a go last fall I dropped in and found it long dormant so I moved on.
For kicks and giggles I peeked at it again today and saw it had been resurrected in the past few months. Thanx milkman, greenjean and sweetsue.
In the event that there are still a few swickers out there, I’d like to share some of the trials and tribulations, failures and successes I’ve experienced in this adventure.
My incentive to try this system lyes in the fact that life often demands I be an absentee gardener for as long as three weeks at a time and occasionally even longer.
I’ve been an exclusive user of coco/perlite from my first grow and have become very comfortable with this medium and unwilling to change. The watering/feeding system I used entailed top drip emitters, a pond pump and timer. This system worked well MOST of the time. It seemed failures always occurred while away, unfortunately. Emitters sometimes became clogged and the pond pumps crapped out a couple of times. On another occasion, the timer went wild and stuck in the on position, pumping out all the water and eventually burned up yet another pump. Time for an alternative system!
I’ll be back to share my experiences in adapting this system to suit my lifestyle needs. In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to drop in on my new journal. It’s devoted to finding the parameters of success with the minimum expenditure of funds and time and developing a semi-autonomous grow system. It’s been relatively slow to evolve because life seems to often get in the way but I will do updates regularly.
To be continued........