The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond

Timbo57 said:
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.
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Very cool Timbo👍👊 Are you running a journal on it?
 
Why not just post a link here for anyone who wants to follow you over?
 
I thought maybe you’d like to see an updated picture of my Panama. She really loves her @Prescription Blend nutrients. CL🍀 :morenutes: :Namaste:

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She's swicking up a storm GEE!
 
I linked this conversation about cloth pots from Gee's Gee Spot journal. I think there is a great deal to learn from this if you are interested in methods of sub-irrigation. Both Gee and Azimuth are well experienced and knowledgeable by now and have valuable things to add to the thread.
Gee64 said:
Its due to the fabric pots. The air exchange is 360 degrees so putting the bottoms under water leaves a lot of air gap in the side walls still.

To be honest, bottom watering makes watering much easier, sort of, and is definitely extremely compatible with aero-clones, but at the end of the day I see no difference in the overall plant.

The roots look different but thats understandable as the plant adapts to the location of the water.

I say "sort of" because I use 1/4 gal/hour dripper heads (4 per pot) when I top water and they are on a timer to come on 3 times a day so I have no wet/dry cycle when I top water.

I still haven't tried a true SIP yet so my mind is still open and I truely hope a sip will outgrow my regular routine and the swicking with perlite, but to be honest I don't see how a salad strainers worth of air intake can out perform a cloth pots air intake.

I think sipping looks dramatically better if you are a hard pot grower but not if you are a cloth pot user with a watering routine that keeps the soil evenly moist constantly.

I will be starting some Durban seeds in the next few days, I just have to see what the calendar tells me for a start date, and I will use a hard sip pot vs a 10gal cloth pot in perlite and we will see. I truly hope the sip will do better as better is better, but what I really want is a way to start a seed or clone directly into its final pot to avoid transplant shock.

My biggest problem is when I grow from seed my plants get way too big in the 56 days of veg, so having a plant that grows faster in veg really only causes me grief.

Don't get me wrong here though, bottom watering ensures a gradient that is pretty much perfect, and eliminates runoff that removes calcium and other nutes, so its better. Remember my runoff testing earlier? 1365ppm. Thats a huge waste.

If you haven't truly figured out top watering then its light years better.Period. If you are a new grower that isn't interested in science and only wants yield-with-ease then its the way to go. If you are using hard pots and top watering then switching to sip/swick will truly rock your world.

I'm not arguing that and I will continue to use it, but I suspect the life-changing results are for hard pot growers. Smart-pot growers already experienced that when they switched to cloth.

I think your idea of a soil sip pad to place a cloth pot on is what will prove to be the very best, as it gives you extra soil, but the proof is in the pudding.

Perlite beds work pretty darn well and you can see the water level thru the tub so you can tell exactly how much water was used and literally watch it go down which if you pay attention, and I haven't yet, but I will, will tell you exactly which part of the daily life cycle uses the most water. Knowing that will really help if you are a synthetic user as it would tell you when to feed and when not to feed.

Ph changes in synthetics so feeding when the plants aren't eating won't give you the correct ph a few hours later or possibly the next day when they really start to consume, or they may have a constant intake all day long and it doesn't matter.

Bottom watering has already solved 2 of my major hurdles. I can clone directly into a 10gal pot now with no stall or babysitting/spoon-feeding (I actually see an acceleration) and I suspect my 1.6 gal pots will go farther than they ever have with there being no runoff, so bottom watering is definitely better, but the overall health and what not of the plant itself is pretty much identical to my previous grows.

I have had giant featherduster bags of roots ever since I have switched to cloth pots. I will know for sure on a Durban grow as I know the strain intimately.

I will readily admit though that having to move a 10gal pot with a bed of perlite really really sucks. My pots with the perlite are probably 80 pounds each so thats a contentious issue, but now that I know I just need to plant the clone with the pot in its final resting place.

Overall bottom watering is way easier and extremely consistent, and I greatly suspect my soil will go a lot farther, I just don't think I will see a giant explosion of growth, I got that in 2017 when I switched to cloth.

But fingers crossed🤞, I love it when I'm wrong👊
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Azimuth said:
I think that's right. And, it's not a competition. Each grower gravitates to the style they prefer for a multitude of reasons. Your cloth pots may very well grow bigger plants than a comparably sized SIP. It makes sense that there would be more availability of air all around the pot.

All the high growth methodologies like Hydro, SIP, SWICK, and Fabric Pots all share common elements from ample availability of both water and air, and especially air to the roots. They each do them slightly differently but all do both particularly well.

From there we each dial in our own grows. I've said on many occasions that I'm not trying to maximize everything on my end. My space is too confined to grow much bigger plants than I already do, and I don't really need all that much to begin with.

My contention is that every soil mix grower needs to try a grow with one of these options at least once. Simply by changing the container you grow in and how you water (which is sooo much easier to get right) you almost automatically become a better grower.
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I hope other members find this summary as useful as I have.
 
No matter which route you choose I highly recomend you try it with clones done in the manner that is displayed in my signature link. I stumbled onto it and its hands down the best cloning into living soil results that not only have I done, but that I have ever seen.

Not only did the clones not flinch or shock, they literally started growing the same day I planted them.

They are 4.5 weeks into flower now and never lost a leaf or had a brown tip appear.

If you use clones and want to or already are sipping/swicking you should check it out.
 
CaptainLucky said:
And now we have an updated picture of my Panama in her Swick after being topped. CL🍀

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Cap she is looking great. She's quite a bushy plant. Are her leaves a little droopy though? Is it possible she might be sitting in a little too much damp? Remind me how you're wicking please? I'm wondering if you might not not need to dial back the wicking rate a tad?
 
Carmen Ray said:
Cap she is looking great. She's quite a bushy plant. Are her leaves a little droopy though? Is it possible she might be sitting in a little too much damp? Remind me how you're wicking please? I'm wondering if you might not not need to dial back the wicking rate a tad?
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I measured with a wood probe and it wasn’t wicking enough. I was only getting a little moisture about an inch from the bottom so I top watered it a little. I’m using a piece of braided fabric from a shopping bag handle about 5” long and it is @ the very bottom of the soil. CL🍀
 
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