Gee64
Well-Known Member
You should try a comparison. I'm too busy right now, my tents are full.
The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond
- Thread starter Carmen Ray
- Start date
To get an accurate comparison they'd need to be clones.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
definitely
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Because if a single drop of water could flow down that path from the top clear down to be able to reach the source of water, then a root could follow that. In my system with a true air gap, that root would be air pruned before it actually got there.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
@Emilya Green do you happen to have a link to your SIP build? Sips are next for me so I'm collecting ideas.
- Thread starter
- #327
Ok, that makes sense. Thanks.
I can't Gee. I don't have the conditions required for such experimentation. I cannot use a SIP in my space. It is too big and too cumbersome for the top of my dining room table. That is why I chose the swick. The swick is easy to assemble or disassemble. It is just a simpler and more portable setup. I suppose it isn't important really. As you say they likely have different applications, this being an example.
- Thread starter
- #328
You see, now this is the kind of thing that encourages my interest to see a proper comparison of clones grown in the same conditions but one on a swick (with an air gap), and one on a SIP, hell maybe one on a perlite swick too for S&G! Don't you feel like doing a comparison of clones Cap?I’m doing one now and I have to say that so far my Swick is outperforming my Sip. CL
You sound a bit defensive with that comment, but I'll tell you why I prefer SIP.
I have had consistent success with my SIPs which I've built from 9oz up to 14 gallons, but had variable results with the SWICKs as I found it a challenge to match the wick sizes to the plants as they grew.
I like the single pot, self-contained set-up with SIP, at least the way I build them vs the separate container for the reservoir with the connector thread between them.
I prefer the action of a soil wick rather than a synthetic one. The rope wicks promote a constant and steady flow of water where the soil seems to act more on capillary action by simply replacing moisture that is used or evaporated.
As I stated in the other thread, there is a material difference between an air gap and air between particles of perlite. In the latter, as Emilya stated, the roots will populate the petlite layer as long as there is moisture to be found. This is quite different from the air pruning that occurs with a true gap. The air pruning promotes a different root structure further upstream vs the water seeking roots that continue on down to the reservoir.
Probably yes if the wick and plant size are matched correctly throughout the grow.
The dry perlite layer provides air, although not as much as a gap, but does not have the air gap qualities that I think make it superior.
I agree with the others that a side-by-side with clones would be a better way to answer your questions but I don't think it matters all that much. Both styles seem to grow good plants and we each have our preferences for the various different factors.
So, pick and choose from the various styles and grow your own grow. There are now many different build variations that have been posted that one should be able to find something they like to get started.
- Thread starter
- #330
Not defensive at all, merely scientifically curious. Thank you for listing your reasons for your preference. I hope that someone will do a clone experiment. I would like to see root autopsies and so on.
Ok, good. I will say that SIP is superior for me, but every grower has their own reasons for the choices they make.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Azi have you ever grown in cloth pots? Are the sip air-pruned roots by the air dome similar to the bag full of feather-duster roots you get in a cloth pot?
I have not. I bot a bunch but then discovered SIP and never followed through with them.
I will say that I get fine feeder roots filling my bucket from top to bottom. There is typically a short section of the main root that branches out into a half dozen branches but they all quickly morph into the fine feeder roots.
I will say that I get fine feeder roots filling my bucket from top to bottom. There is typically a short section of the main root that branches out into a half dozen branches but they all quickly morph into the fine feeder roots.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
OK thats pretty much my whole pot already, prior to swicking. Do you think all the air sucking in thru the sides of a cloth bag on perlite would produce similar roots to a sip?
These hard smooth water roots poking thru the bottoms are new to me. Do you get them at the bottom of your sips? Very smooth and round?
Gee64
Well-Known Member
They look like a puck of reeds at the bottom.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
it is all somewhere in my year long journal that is still going, but basically mine is a clone of the tote ideas that RD gave us in the beginning of all this.
Should be mostly the fine feeder roots with maximum branching I would think in the bags.
No, mine are are the fine hair-like roots.
I have to say so far I have found the opposite true but I’m still in the early stages. CL
Timbo57
Well-Known Member
I am growing 2 sips and 4 swicks at the moment. I have them in cloth pots sitting on top of perlite. The roots are filling the container holding the perlite. I can also see on my 2 sip buckets that roots are filling the res and I do have a 1-inch air gap. Leaning on sips for my next photo grow.