SWICK Watering Systems: Letting The Plant Water Itself

SweetSue said:
I’m looking forward to that comparison of yields too. Under the right conditions I think SWICK holds the upper hand.
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Well, here it is, gang (you know who you are.. fellow-SWICKERS who've followed attentively on my 1st SWICK journal, embedded right here, in this thread)..
TALE OF THE SCALE IS:
600g dry-trimmed, cured flower from..
SWICK Grow.. specs & stats..
Surface Area: 15 sq.ft.
Plants (fr seed & clone): 35
Fabric Bags: 1 gal
Perlite Depth: 5"
Operating Water Depth in SWICK Res:
0-3" (50L/12.5gal)
Length of unattended, self-watering time: 2-4 Weeks (80% of plants developed root systems strong enough to wick for up to 3 weeks, solely from the adsorbed moisture supply remaining in the perlite bed after the free water column in the was allowed to be drunk-down to 0" (but, evidently, not depleted, which still allows for continued self-watering to take place.. for, easily, up to 2 more weeks unattended self-watering)
Peak water consumption: 25L per day, from stretch thru peak flowering (FWks 3-6)
Lighting/Efficiency:
720W true-draw x est. 0.8 runtime correction = 576W est'd actual draw, consisting of (up to)
12x50W 3500K COB full-spectrum LED..
+ IR-Far: 36×3W chips
+ UV-B @ 12×3W chips
TAKE-AWAYS:
600g/576W= 1+ Gram per Watt (evidently, 'club' membership-worthy?)..
..to be cont'd.. plant structures at harvest, StarBudPics, and more..
 
HaremMasterOG said:
Well, here it is, gang (you know who you are.. fellow-SWICKERS who've followed attentively on my 1st SWICK journal, embedded right here, in this thread)..
TALE OF THE SCALE IS:
600g dry-trimmed, cured flower from..
SWICK Grow.. specs & stats..
Surface Area: 15 sq.ft.
Plants (fr seed & clone): 35
Fabric Bags: 1 gal
Perlite Depth: 5"
Operating Water Depth in SWICK Res:
0-3" (50L/12.5gal)
Length of unattended, self-watering time: 2-4 Weeks (80% of plants developed root systems strong enough to wick for up to 3 weeks, solely from the adsorbed moisture supply remaining in the perlite bed after the free water column in the was allowed to be drunk-down to 0" (but, evidently, not depleted, which still allows for continued self-watering to take place.. for, easily, up to 2 more weeks unattended self-watering)
Peak water consumption: 25L per day, from stretch thru peak flowering (FWks 3-6)
Lighting/Efficiency:
720W true-draw x est. 0.8 runtime correction = 576W est'd actual draw, consisting of (up to)
12x50W 3500K COB full-spectrum LED..
+ IR-Far: 36×3W chips
+ UV-B @ 12×3W chips
TAKE-AWAYS:
600g/576W= 1 Gram per Watt (evidently, 'club' membership-worthy?)..
..to be cont'd.. plant structures at harvest, StarBudPics, and more..
Click to expand...

Show us more!!!!! LOL!!!! Early to the party!
I am also noticing that there can be zero standing water and the perlite stays damp far a few more weeks.
The fabric pots dry out a bit for the first few inches but the bottom section is moist, forcing the root system down and to expand.
I am loving the SWICK!!!
Think this round I have a handle on everything!
 
lazylathe said:
Show us more!!!!! LOL!!!! Early to the party!
I am also noticing that there can be zero standing water and the perlite stays damp far a few more weeks.
The fabric pots dry out a bit for the first few inches but the bottom section is moist, forcing the root system down and to expand.
I am loving the SWICK!!!
Think this round I have a handle on everything!
Click to expand...
Sure thing, LL.. more stats on my 1st SWICK grow..
Number of distinct cultivars grown: 11
Avg overall yield details:
17.1g per plant (incl only 2 runts in 35 plants);
54.5g per cultivar (11 cultivars)
largest yielding cultivar: 33.5g per plant (2 plants)
smallest yielding cultivar 8.3g per plant (13 plants)

☆STARBudz☆
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.. more BudPorn.. all from this grow..
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Timbo57 said:
Can I use my Mega Crop fert with this swick setup?
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yes. it would probably be a touch better with sips or other passive system. a swick is left open to air, and the res is not as easily controlled from a nute level perspective. it will work with little issue though.

i find it kinda funny how everything old has come back around. sips and swick enjoyed popularity over a decade ago, and is now resurfacing.
 
bluter said:
yes. it would probably be a touch better with sips or other passive system. a swick is left open to air, and the res is not as easily controlled from a nute level perspective. it will work with little issue though.

i find it kinda funny how everything old has come back around. sips and swick enjoyed popularity over a decade ago, and is now resurfacing.
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I was planning on using a diy sip bucket and filled with perlite, there would be a 1 inch air gap where the drain hole is from the net pot in the center. Would that work ok? and just slid the fabric pot inside.
 
so long as the res has contact with the grow media it should work. i run hempy in straight perlite and it wicks on it's own just fine.

hempy is a top water system though, it doesn't require a tube, but you could probably run it that way. i usually do a short flood and drain type feed in hempy, at shorter intervals depending on development.

if using straight perlite i'd just go hempy as it's near identical anyway, and is a bit easier.
 
Apologies if this has already been asked but i dont fancy reading all 34 pages atm . Does the water need to be phd? Im assuming the Ph wil change over time if it does. Also doesnt this make for a very humid grow room ?
 
Apologies if this has already been asked but i dont fancy reading all 34 pages atm . Does the water need to be phd? Im assuming the Ph wil change over time if it does. Also doesnt this make for a very humid grow room ? Also does think work with clay pebbles?
 
@nomadicsoul here is the newer SWICK thread, might get some answers there and half the pages to read

The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond

I'd like to invite some people to contribute to the development of this thread. Please feel free to contribute and invite others too: @el gringuito @Hash Hound @ReservoirDog @bluter @Azimuth @lazylathe @Pondwater Who else, people? :cheer:WELCOME TO THE SWICK CLUB:cheer: First off, I am a...
www.420magazine.com
I rarely ph and don't use a substrate. I use a plant riser with wicks draped over, it's easier and cheaper.

and a similar method SIPs is here. good Sub Irrigated Planter into

SIP Club - Getting Hydro/Coco Results In A Soil Based Medium

Welcome to SIP Club! There are an increasing number of us growing in SIPs (Sub Irrigated Planters) so I thought I'd start a community thread where we can all post pictures, links to our various SIP threads and have general discussions on theory and application of these incredible pots. I'll...
www.420magazine.com
 

Hello. I want to use a 95L cloth bag and it seems like the swick is the perfect self watering system. I did a word search for "sand" and there is no mention of it.

I watched the video above and they used a sand medium and it ended up being a great water mover. Any reason we mainly stick to perlite? The weight?


Also with cloth pots: Are the roots just destined to grow through the bag? Will the bags last more than just a couple of years? Is there a better material that acts as a good buffer and also absorbent?
 
Informative video. Thanx for sharing. Novel avenues that are somewhat divorced from accepted standards we’ve been using but some points look very viable and worthy of experimentation. I see no reason not to use coarse sand instead of perlite; cheaper and probably less likely to attract mold.

a couple of points:

1. 95l bag is enormous for our purposes. Continual moisture supply lessons the need of large root balls for absorption. I found the best size for my application was 3 gallon cloth bags.

2. I used shower basin membrane for my reservoir liner, similar to pond liner. Neither are considered food safe and the material in some are considered carcinogenic. I’m not sure but now curious as to whether or not constant contact with the water may be leaching some microscopic particles that the plants may be uptaking. I’m presently battling cancer and have become a bit phobic about things like this. My gardening has been dormant for a couple of years now but plan on restarting this fall. My plans are to use a couple of food safe (blue here in the states) drums, split them in half long ways and use them for my basins.

And, yes, a quality cloth bag is very resilient. I used the same bags for more than 5 years, generally 3 crops per year.

Roots are self pruning in that when they reach the perimeter they no longer grow when introduced to air bit will branch out and follow the interior of the bag. No better way to grow in my opinion.

Good luck with your project and keep us posted on your progress.

BCDD
 
Bucudinkydow said:
Informative video. Thanx for sharing. Novel avenues that are somewhat divorced from accepted standards we’ve been using but some points look very viable and worthy of experimentation. I see no reason not to use coarse sand instead of perlite; cheaper and probably less likely to attract mold.

a couple of points:

1. 95l bag is enormous for our purposes. Continual moisture supply lessons the need of large root balls for absorption. I found the best size for my application was 3 gallon cloth bags.

2. I used shower basin membrane for my reservoir liner, similar to pond liner. Neither are considered food safe and the material in some are considered carcinogenic. I’m not sure but now curious as to whether or not constant contact with the water may be leaching some microscopic particles that the plants may be uptaking. I’m presently battling cancer and have become a bit phobic about things like this. My gardening has been dormant for a couple of years now but plan on restarting this fall. My plans are to use a couple of food safe (blue here in the states) drums, split them in half long ways and use them for my basins.

And, yes, a quality cloth bag is very resilient. I used the same bags for more than 5 years, generally 3 crops per year.

Roots are self pruning in that when they reach the perimeter they no longer grow when introduced to air bit will branch out and follow the interior of the bag. No better way to grow in my opinion.

Good luck with your project and keep us posted on your progress.

BCDD
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thanks for the reply!

I'm sorry to hear about the situation but the paranoia seems well founded either way. It's a great point with that the basins could be leaching. I was looking into use rubber "construction" types. Other option is a type of hard plastic plant pots.

95 L is a lot but I'm trying to go for a 20 gallon TLOS system and 95L seems to be somewhere closer to the minimum size. The other option to all of this will be using blumats.

In the video the sand goes up a bit giving some hope of using a deeper reservoir. Since I'm new into the swick concept, what is the reason why larger containers might not be a good idea?

Good luck with the fight mate.
 
I was using coco coir and feeding nutrients through the swick system. My attempt was to use minimum sized bags to maximize number of plants. TLOS is a different animal and way out of my wheelhouse so ignore my recommendation.
 
Bucudinkydow said:
I was using coco coir and feeding nutrients through the swick system. My attempt was to use minimum sized bags to maximize number of plants. TLOS is a different animal and way out of my wheelhouse so ignore my recommendation.
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I'd say it's a great way to reduce some stress after the initial cost. I got a fiancee so we're still in the traveling before having a child phase in life. Being away a week at a time while knowing the plant is self watering and absorbing nutrients would be a relationship saver heh.

Btw, another of their videos visually shows what I'm looking forward to do. I think he said that it's at least a 7" deep basin of course sand with perforated garden tubing inside. He is also using a 95L bag.

 
I actually put a float valve in my basin that was fed by a 55 gallon barrel of mixed nutrients. As the basin level dropped by more than 1/4” it would automatically refill. I have a vacation home that I often frequent and didn’t want to let gardening interfere with my mountain trips. My garden was on autopilot as long as 6 weeks with no ill effects. A perfect system for the absentee gardener.
 
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