The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond

should I aereate it in case it wants to go anaerobic?

That's a pretty big reservoir. How long does it take for the plant to empty it?

Over a week right now. Hopefully its enough in full bloom.
The longer the water sits unused the more chance for bad things to happen. As long as there is water in the reservoir the plant has all it needs. Any reason you keep that much water in there if it's not being used?
 
The longer the water sits unused the more chance for bad things to happen. As long as there is water in the reservoir the plant has all it needs. Any reason you keep that much water in there if it's not being used?
Not really other than a full pail keeps the top of the soil lightly damp, but as it drops it accelerates so the sweet spot is below full somewhere. I will lower the water level 5 inches tomorrow.
 
Not me, at least not for a few years anyway. It should be someone with a few SIP/SWICK grows under their belt to eliminate that as a variable.
Ok I understand. One experiment at a time :) There is another science guy.... but he won't show us any pictures :cheesygrinsmiley:
Not really other than a full pail keeps the top of the soil lightly damp, but as it drops it accelerates so the sweet spot is below full somewhere. I will lower the water level 5 inches tomorrow.
This is very valuable info to me. I wonder if there is a way to keep a running summary of findings for people to read because knowledge like this often gets buried amongst discussion. Anyone have any ideas how we could do this? @Azimuth?
 
So 48 hours ago I moved my 10gal swickypot from one tent to another.

During the process I broke the capillary action when I lifted the pot. I restored that suction 24 hours ago when I noticed the wick mat go dry, by top watering to re-establish the connection.

It worked well and is drinking again, the reservoir has dropped an inch, which is 1 litre, so thats good however.....

When the pad dried out all the myco that had infested it from the burrowing root tips also dried and disappeared.

Today, 48 hours after severing the water action, and 24 hours after re-establishing it, myco is already growing back.

The plant however, has rebelled against the myco stress and is showing signs of stress in the leaves.

We shall watch and see what happens.

It has 24 more hours to start looking happier or it gets some fish ferts from the top.

20230128_050519.jpg

No more myco here

20230128_051526.jpg

But its starting to come back here.
20230128_051433.jpg

the leaves look stressed.
Screenshot_20230128_051806_Gallery.jpg

Heres a closeup of the same leaf.


So moving forwards I will make sure the pot starts in its permanent location.

Hopefully we find out if its male or female soon. I want some clones.

I have 2 tomatoes that need to be uppotted so they will go into 2 @VIVOSUN 7gal cube pots that fit in milk crates, and will get swickied, to see how it works with tomatoes.

As for the 1000ppm water in the current res from the runoff from re-priming, I will let it keep swicking it up and monitor the ppm in the res.

If ppm holds then its sucking the full mix.

If ppm climbs then the heavies like calcium aren't climbing the wick so mag may show as a deficit.

If ppm drops then I will assume its sucking heavies from the bottom quite well.

I will stir the res throughout the days.

Just the 9 litres I flushed thru to re-estabish the wicking took so much calcium out I see a slight mag def in the lower leaves already.

Interesting stuff.
 
Not really other than a full pail keeps the top of the soil lightly damp, but as it drops it accelerates so the sweet spot is below full somewhere. I will lower the water level 5 inches tomorrow.
Its already down that inch so lets just sit tight today instead of lowering the res, and watch.

These buckets are exactly 1 litre per inch so that makes it easy to tell its transpiration rates.
 
Not really other than a full pail keeps the top of the soil lightly damp, but as it drops it accelerates so the sweet spot is below full somewhere. I will lower the water level 5 inches tomorrow.
I'm not convinced that the entire soil matrix needs to be moist all the time. In my SIPs I get two very distinct root zones, one in the top few inches of the pot and the other down low around the reservoir and only connector roots in between, but that may also have to do with how I water.

I keep a mulch layer on the pot surface which I mist daily (twice a day in veg) and I monitor the reservoir level with a stick and make sure I replace what has been consumed, but I don't keep the reservoir topped off every day.

Maybe I'll try a round where I do keep it filled up and see if it makes a difference.
 
I'm going to play with various levels and see if I can find a sweet spot.

I am also contemplating different lengths for wicks so at different res levels more or less wicks are wicking to better control the gradient.

As long as a dry wick doesnt need priming it should work.

My pots are 15" tall, with an empty inch at the top, so a full res 2" below the pot bottom can climb at least 16" in wick and soil.

The pot has settled a full inch from re-priming so the tilth has been damaged.

I may have to recondition the soil with a dolomite res.
 
When the pad dried out all the myco that had infested it from the burrowing root tips also dried and disappeared.

Today, 48 hours after severing the water action, and 24 hours after re-establishing it, myco is already growing back.

The plant however, has rebelled against the myco stress and is showing signs of stress in the leaves.
Wow, nature really is astonishing. It's magical.
swickied, to see how it works with tomatoes.
I have wondered this myself.
Just the 9 litres I flushed thru to re-estabish the wicking took so much calcium out I see a slight mag def in the lower leaves already.

Interesting stuff.
Hm, that could also account for why I am seeing mildly similar in places on my plants. I wonder if it isn't a good idea to give calmag in the flush water?
These buckets are exactly 1 litre per inch so that makes it easy to tell its transpiration rates.
How did you work that out? Please show them to me again.
 
Wow, nature really is astonishing. It's magical.

I have wondered this myself.

Hm, that could also account for why I am seeing mildly similar in places on my plants. I wonder if it isn't a good idea to give calmag in the flush water?

How did you work that out? Please show them to me again.
I used an online cylinderical volume calculator to get total volume, then converted that volume from cubic inches to litres and divided total litres by bucket height. Its exactly 1 litre per inch on a 10 litre bucket thats 10 inches tall. doh! shoulda seen that sooner lol
 
1 litre per inch on a 10 litre bucket thats 10 inches tall. doh! shoulda seen that sooner lol
I need simplicity like this in my life :) There is no way I would even know that a cylindrical volume calculator exists or what data to input lol.
 
I just thought I'd give a quick update on my swick. I took all bonds off and the sticks were all damp and soily when they came out even though the top of the soil looks dry.

I've gently fiddled with the top of the soil to see if I can find feeder roots. I am not sure that I do. I will be interested to see how these roots compare to others I've pulled. The indoor ones, my first indoor ones, were not great looking but they were not unhealthy looking either.

So far, my plants are approximately half way through their development, and so far I've enjoyed using swicks because they have eliminated most of my stress about giving the plants enough to drink. They really do seem to be doing this for themselves.

They are tiny autos but I put that down to my treatment of the one, and probably the fact that I don't have a controlled environment. The one is an XXL but a tiny plant instead.

I will see this through before I decide, but so far I feel I'd like to try this again with slight modifications to my setup, influenced by what I am seeing here. Thank you.
 
I just thought I'd give a quick update on my swick. I took all bonds off and the sticks were all damp and soily when they came out even though the top of the soil looks dry.

I've gently fiddled with the top of the soil to see if I can find feeder roots. I am not sure that I do. I will be interested to see how these roots compare to others I've pulled. The indoor ones, my first indoor ones, were not great looking but they were not unhealthy looking either.
I get a nice thick layer of upper feeder roots, but I keep a mulch layer and regularly mist that layer daily. If your upper few inches are dry to the touch those types of roots won't necessarily form.

But I don't know that that's necessarily needed if you feed them from below. I topdress and so want to encourage the top feeder roots for that reason but if you feed through your wick they get what they need from below.
 
I get a nice thick layer of upper feeder roots, but I keep a mulch layer and regularly mist that layer daily. If your upper few inches are dry to the touch those types of roots won't necessarily form.
I remember you saying this. I have considered mulching with Rooibos, which is what my soil guy suggests, that or Lucerne Hay.

When I pulled out the sticks, they were damp all the way to the surface. I think the heat (the weather and the light) and the fan possibly make it seem as if the surface is drier, but scratch the surface and it's moist. I have top fed liquids a couple of times. The soil wasn't in the the least hydrophobic, so I hope the feeder roots are all over the pot. I really am looking forward to seeing them after harvest.
But I don't know that that's necessarily needed if you feed them from below. I topdress and so want to encourage the top feeder roots for that reason but if you feed through your wick they get what they need from below.
In fact, I think my feeding is largely going to come from the top and water from the bottom. It makes more sense to me that gravity beats capillary action in delivering the supplements to the roots. I wonder what others think about this.

It's just guesswork on my part. Idk.

I have been feeding bloom nutes from the res, but I gave them calmag, LABS and Seagrow once this week, from the top. So my food this grow is all in the soil with liquid supplements on occasion, and the only one that smells unpleasant is the Seagrow which is liquid fish stuff and I learnt early on that makes the res septic. I think it is a bit of both, really just feeling your way around what works when?
 
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