SWICK Watering Systems: Letting The Plant Water Itself

[lazylathe]

Week 7 of 12/12 has come to an end and things are improving slowly, as is the case with soil grows.
The cal/mag issue has slowed down and is almost fixed. I think I over-reacted and dosed them a bit high as I have some tip burn on a few plants.
I am letting the SWICK dry out now in preparation for harvest in a few weeks time, only adding very small amounts of water to keep the top layer slightly damp. Pots are still moist and I gave them their final watering tonight.
This included organic kelp, microbial mass and a diluted compost tea for a bit extra for the last bit of flower.
On one plant I trimmed the top 4 pistils off each top cola to test the back-building theory and the buds are turning into nice compact buds.

The ladies also received their final thinning out tonight. I went around and removed and nasty looking leaves and ones that were blocking lower bud sites. Each time I do this, I find that the buds get even fatter. I remember reading that this technique could cause the plant to go into a sort of protective mode and boost the flowering and resin output.
We will see what the buds look like in a weeks time!

I find it strange that 5 plants from one seed packet started to yellow at the same time while 2 others have stayed a vibrant green. Strange genetics! Cannot wait to run some genuine known genetics!

Neatened up and ready for their last few weeks!

Looking nice and clean under their skirts! I also like how fat the buds are!

These next 3 buds are all from supposed Pink Kush seeds, 3 plants.

And lastly the vibrant green Godfather OG, still full of pure white hairs!

That's it till next week!
Loving the SWICK and will be using it and fine tuning my use of it for my future grows.
My pots are perfectly watered at all times. I can dry them out by raising them off the SWICK or letting it dry out.
Painless grow with zero watering issues, now I can focus on just improving my grows!

 

[HaremMasterOG]

.. had omitted the OP's quote.. next post corrected that..

 

[HaremMasterOG]

Hello HaremMaster. Actually, I haven’t found the ratio to be that critical. Initially, I was shooting for 60/40 coco/perlite but recently I’ve been doing roughly a 50/50 without being overly precise.

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Good luck!

.. just a couple weeks away from starting up next grow on my new SWICK system, and concerned about adjusting pH of the water when filling the reservoir. It's my general understanding from research on Coco grows using organic dry amendments that the target pH for watering is 5.9 to 6.5, so I want to maintain that pH range in my SWICK Reservoir. So, as you are already growing in Coco, I was wondering if/how you have been adjusting the water pH filling your Reservoir?

 

[Bucudinkydow]

.. just a couple weeks away from starting up next grow on my new SWICK system, and concerned about adjusting pH of the water when filling the reservoir. It's my general understanding from research on Coco grows using organic dry amendments that the target pH for watering is 5.9 to 6.5, so I want to maintain that pH range in my SWICK Reservoir. So, as you are already growing in Coco, I was wondering if/how you have been adjusting the water pH filling your Reservoir?

Sorry, HaremMaster, can’t help you there. I haven’t checked my ph in nearly 4 years! I’ve got a meter (somewhere) and used to chase the correct level back when I was an FNG to gardening. Readings were so inconsistent I finally gave up and just let it rock and roll. I see I’ve still got a bottle of ph up in my cabinet so I suppose my ph must have been (and probably still is) low. I’ve always used unfiltered well water and FloraNova Bloom and never experienced a problem. Wish I could have offered more assistance but........

 

[lazylathe]

.. just a couple weeks away from starting up next grow on my new SWICK system, and concerned about adjusting pH of the water when filling the reservoir. It's my general understanding from research on Coco grows using organic dry amendments that the target pH for watering is 5.9 to 6.5, so I want to maintain that pH range in my SWICK Reservoir. So, as you are already growing in Coco, I was wondering if/how you have been adjusting the water pH filling your Reservoir?

With my SWICK I have been filling with straight R.O. water or dehumidifier water.
I have a BlueLab meter but have not used it this entire grow!

For coco I used 5.5 to 5.8 for veg and went up to 6.0 to 6.3 for flower.
How you will manage that in a SWICK...You are our pioneer!!

I chose organic soil and SWICK due to the entire lack of ever needing to check pH!
The ecosystem takes care of everything.

 

[HaremMasterOG]

Cool beans.. thanks for the replies, guys. I figured out a solution to my pH control challenge with Coco on SWICK.. being the tap water here is consistently excellent, as the city uses UV treatment for bio control instead of chemicals, and pH is 7.0~7.2 range, I already know the nutrient uptake problems that pH level will cause in Coco. So, given that I prefer to use much less costly organic dry amendments (Gaia Green), I will be using the following fertigation schedule..
1. Using two large 20L plastic carbouys, fill SWICK reservoir with water pH'd to 5.9
2. Pre-planting media amendment: 4tbsps 4-4-4 dry organic nutes per gallon of media, sufficient for 3-4wks vegging nutrition prior to flipping (pperiod) or autoflower
3. Place planted 1 gal grow bags on saucers in position on top of SWICK, thoroughly and evenly (slowly) top-water with pH 5.9 water to ensure uniform wetting/activation of nutrients.. to run-off/drip-stop, to prevent reservoir fouling.
4. Remove saucers, ensuring good contact between bottom of fabric grow bags and moist, level surface of perlite, thus activating the passive, semi-automatic (only periodic bulk refills and level adjustments required ;-) sub-irrigation SWICK system.. yay!
5. 3 -4 days before flip (pperiod) or autoflower pre-flowers showing..1st top dressing: 2TBSP/gallon media, consisting of 1 TBSP ea. of veg(4-4-4) + bloom(2-8-4).. once again top-watered over saucers, as previous
6. Flower Week 3-4: 2nd top dressing: 2TBSP 2-8-4 per gal Bloom nutrient, once again top-watered over saucers, as previous..
.. and that's it (hopefully) all the way to finish.. no other supplemental teas or tonics.. except, perhaps, a few weekly foliars and reservoir/top-water pH adjustment to optimize plant health or to deal with any deficiencies or toxities that may crop up (perish the thought)
.. also considering adding a bubbler to the reservoir to help enhance root growth/health/overall-plant-vigour..

.. thoughts/feedback, fellow SWICKers?

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Sounds like a well thought out plan. UV treated water!?! How fortunate you are!! Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[HaremMasterOG]

Will do.. any thoughts on adding a bubbler to the reservoir? given that my perlite bed is 6" deep, and plants can stay evenly moist by drawing their water from 2" below their bags to the bottom of the reservoir - i.e. my SWICK effectively providing a 4" water column if plants were allowed to drink it dry, and assuming their total daily water consumption rate to range from 8L (2 gal) per day in early Veg to 16L (4 gal) per day at their peak consumption rate in Flower, and further presuming continuous irrigation was their only requirement, by my calculations, then, they can access the entire reservoir volume of 144L... Therefore, the longest I time I could go before needing to refill the reservoir would be, 144L div by 8L per day, for 18 days.. while the shortest time would be half that.. 9 days. I read somewhere that water may lose much of its dissolved oxygen content over that range of time so, hence, the thought to aerate the water with a bubbler, either constantly, or periodically using an interval timer. Do those with experience know if that would he be necessary? a better practice to help fully optimize plant health?? overkill??? Thoughts????
p.s. 'spose I could just test it by leaving for max duration, but I'm afraid it might be unnecessarily risky to do so.

 

[Bucudinkydow]

A bubbler won’t hurt anything but I don’t view it as a necessity. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone using it in conjunction with a coco/perlite medium. It’s difficult to over saturate coco. Aeration of the root zone is where it shines because there’s always going to be minute air pockets.

My basin is self-replenishing with the use of a float and a drum for the reservoir. I’m often absent for as much as 3 weeks at a time and haven’t experienced any noticeable problems linked to lack of aeration of the water.

 

[HaremMasterOG]

A bubbler won’t hurt anything but I don’t view it as a necessity. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone using it in conjunction with a coco/perlite medium. It’s difficult to over saturate coco. Aeration of the root zone is where it shines because there’s always going to be minute air pockets.

My basin is self-replenishing with the use of a float and a drum for the reservoir. I’m often absent for as much as 3 weeks at a time and haven’t experienced any noticeable problems linked to lack of aeration of the water.

Thanks for that feedback, BooCoo.. from grow to grow, i'm definitely aiming to simplify, not create extra work/expense.. glad to strike efficiencies gold in the SWICK setup.. providing I can maintain similar yield and quality of previous grows, I'll be on this train for the long run.. and happy to share the experience for others' benefit, alongside all you fine folks that are helping laying down the first tracks

 

[lazylathe]

Had a bit of a mishap a few weeks ago... Playing with my dog and she scratched me right across my face and slid over my right eyeball... Serious OUCH!!
I could not tolerate light so the grow room was out of bounds for a while!
The SWICK saved my grow as my wife was easy to instruct as to how to add water, just had to do it once.

Here is a sample I quick dried, very tasty and potent!

And some shots of the grow!

And some nug shots! All nice and dense!!

Sunday will be trimming and chopping at the base to hang dry for a week or so.
Everything that does not have sugar on it will be removed. Keep all those lovely heads for vaping!

My easiest grow ever thanks to the SWICK!
Loving the organic water only route!

 

[lazylathe]

As promised, today was harvest day!
I am also finding that as I travel this road, I am constantly learning things.
Today, after the harvest of course, I read that the best way to dry a plant is to chop it off as close to the ground and hang to dry with all it's leaves on. This causes a slower and more even dry. And here is why...

When we cut off the leaves on a wet plant, you are exposing the cells to the atmosphere and this causes them to oxidize very rapidly which causes the harsher taste.
Live and learn! Next grow will be whole untrimmed plant hanging time!

Today was their last day in organic soil, this started on the 26th of October 2019 with making my soil, then the germinating disaster started on 1st November 2019 until 23rd November when I discovered the perlite cup method and had success!
They had about a month of vegging and were each topped once to produce 2 main colas and then flipped to 12/12.
On the SWICK bed since 4th January 2020 and watering was never an issue!

Trimming took a solid 5 hours as I kept the plants small for this test run, so it was not too bad.
They smell like gasoline and earth, just what I love!
All plants have been hung to dry in the grow room with a heater set at 18C and a small fan.
Temps are 18 to 19C and RH is 45 to 50%.

One down.... The first one always feels like a major accomplishment!
Surprisingly most of the Pink Kush plants actually had pinks and purples in the buds, hoping that is a good sign!

The one plant has developed this pretty dusty purple color and intense smell!
Buds were not very tight though but packed with resin!

Trimmers treats! A nice little load of scissor hash! I try and handle the buds as little as possible and hold the stem to do most of the trimming. You can see the pinky/purply color of the hash.

All hung up in the grow room to start the slow dry process. They should hang for 10 to 12 days, then into paper bags for about 12 hours and then into jars and burped etc....until cured!

And as always I seem to have a few casualties in the nug department...
Scissor slip deaths.... They get to dry in a box in my office and will be sampled first!

I will update again once they are dried and in jars. I might even weigh this harvest! LOL!

I have also topped up my worm bin with about a foot of used soil and added delicious food on top to get the worms to do their magic! I now also have a second bin of soil and worms... Will have to add more to keep those worms happy and thriving.
Next grow is going to have some amazing soil!

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Fantastic, man!! It’s such a treat to see a first time grower bring a crop to successful fruition. I enjoy seeing the “grower grow in experience” more so than the progress of the garden. Kudos to you and congrats!!

 

[HaremMasterOG]

Sounds like a well thought out plan. UV treated water!?! How fortunate you are!! Keep us posted on your progress.

Now that @lazylathe has finished his harvest (congrats!!), I felt it high-time to update my fellow SWICKers, including our esteemed @SweetSue, on my first sub-irrigated SOG run, now @ F21(flower week 3.0, veg'd approx 1 mo prior)..
~media~50:50 coco/perlite in 1gal fabric containers
~ferts~organic dry amendments, top-dressings, root tonics, foliar sprays. ~preventative pest-management~predatory nematodes.
~irrigation~high quality tap water, pH'd 5.9-6.5,
gravity fed 0" to 2.5" level in SWICK tray (4.5" perlite depth) @ constant 62.8F reservoir water temp.
12 different strains growing from clones and seeds, resulting in significant differences in height and rate of flower development.. however, strategically positioning plants under 4 separate LED lamps enables independent lamp height adjustments maintaining 16-18" (optimum for my lights, 4x240W draw/lamp~960W ttl) separation from canopy, for safe and consistent development/maturation, together with a one-time supercropping of the stretchiest strain, gets the job done.
First bloom top-dress @F17, last bloom/finishing top-dress sched'd for F34.
When the going gets tough, the tough keep growing (happily)!!!

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Looking great, HaremMaster! Thanx for sharing your new adventure. Hoping you find the results as rewarding as we have.


Good luck.
BCDD

 

[lazylathe]

@HaremMasterOG

Looks fantastic!!
Hope my next grow looks like yours!!!!

 

[SweetSue]

Guys.... whoa!

Excellent work, on all fronts.

@lazylathe, so glad to hear your SWICK saved the day when the unexpected occurred. I take it you’re healing well? Big congratulations on the harvest.

​

@HaremMasterOG, gosh, golly gee.... that’s a pretty reservoir you got going. I see a stellar harvest following the period of time when you’re trying to contain all that inside a confined space.

You’d asked earlier about increasing oxygenation, and I just wanted to point out that the wicking action of the perlite appears to do just that for you.

It’s so satisfying to walk into this room and see it so well-attended without my constant shadow, and it’s supremely rewarding to have helped popularize a system that has already saved so many gardens from possible disaster.

 

[HaremMasterOG]

F38/FlowerWeek5.3 Update

After letting the SWICK bed dry down for a full 8 days, since F30, added final topdressing of Gaia Green 284 Power Bloom, top-watered that in with a root maintenance drench, and then foliar sprayed with a fermented kelp and bennies mix. With spring rains and warming outdoor temperatures, humidity inside the grow tent was rising into the high 60s, so I installed the dehumidifier to maintain mid-40s RH and temps under 80F days, and 60-65F nights until harvest, scheduled +/- May 26.
SWICK is now on cruise-control, until final fill about 12-15 days before harvest, over which time all the perlite in the bed, and the potting media will have dried down completely in preparation for harvest, drying, and curing.

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Looks like you’re headed for a great harvest, HM. Congrats. Looking forward to the harvest results.

 

[HaremMasterOG]

Looks like you’re headed for a great harvest, HM. Congrats. Looking forward to the harvest results.

Thanks, BC.. ya, I'm getting anxious to see how the 'tale of the scale' goes on this 1gal bucket, dry-amended, plus bennies, sub-irrigated, untrained SWICK grow compares to my previous, 7gal bucket, top-watered, CannaBio plus bennies, trained grow (15.5oz dry-trimmed bud from 4-plants)