I haven’t made my planters yet. So, you use em1 in your res and haven’t had trouble?
I used 20gal totes but im Switching to multi plant sip beds .
The totes work good, its just a peat wick . But the plastic degrades and breaks . Its just not ideal long term for this living soil .
I suggest getting some cheap ply wood and angle brackets . And wheels if you want to get fancy.
Line with 6ml vapor barriar from hardware store. Lay down pumice. Not perlite.
Perlite breaks down and floats. And makes alot of dust .. Im just not a fan And im guessing by the end if your first run youll have a layer of perlite dust at the bottom of your res.
After your pumice layer, put a layer of cheap landscape fabric . From the hardware store, then put your clackamas coots mix with 50% aeration and 25%castings/compost and 25% peat/coco - this is adjusted for sub irrigated soil, for better drainage
- but you can decide your own soil mix
And the rest of the coots mix./hyroots mix at the start of the thread .
Then 4-6 inches of dead leaves , straw, hay, grass, dead brown meterials .
The more greens you put in, the more hot composting will happen .... And the more bad guys get in
The more browns you use the more fungal your mulch layer will get and fungi breaks down much like a boss forming a beautiful mycelium mat and a fast humis layer .. Not to mention the boatload of other benfits the fungi offer From breakingdown cellulose in the brown meterials, to transporting water and nutrients to your plants , they aerate your soil and form complex intellegent networks with your plants .
With the sip make sure you put a good size fill tube, and drain .. It makes a vent to prevent stale air in your res, also no light in the res youll get slime. Go get a thru hull fitting from a boat shop. That way yoy can add a proper drain. Google thru hull fitting. Tthey screw tight and have a gasket on each side with a barb fitting to add a hose if you like.
And honestly i gave up keeping the res soaked/full all the time . Instead , learn to move your pots every day and get a feel for when they feel lighter,. Not dry by any means Ok.... But lighter like you know the res is empy for a day or two . And the pot isnt mega heavy any more might even be handy to have a dipstick for the res to make sure their drinking what theyve for befor you drown them again. If their not drinking, somethings wrong. Just wait befor doing anyrhing or change your environtment check for pests.
The way i do it , is in full bloom when their drinking heavy il give them a 2 liters of water with a splash of em1 or labs or aem
Then the next day the mulch layers getting dry so i might grab the sprayer and give a couple passes on the mulch. Also a good time to add things to be watered in like boksshi, malted barley, kelp, molasis, knf ferments, castings, compost. Not all at once. Just whenever you need at the time ok.
Next day the mulch is pretty wet i wont do anything .
Next day im kind of moving things around feeling how heavy ..
If the pots still heavy and the mulch is dry il wet the mulch a bit more to slow down water evaporation and this is the sweet spot ...
Where you can slow down the soil from evaporating for a few days i notice the most growth . Not soggy But not light either more aeration might help this.
When i tried keeping the res full with 2 inches of water all the time i got problems with slime and anaerobic smells its a touchy game playing the soggy soil game . The trick is if your keeping the res full all the time, overflow the res with new water every 2-3 days and plastic mulch or a thick mulch
But i suggest just monitering your water usage and switch between letting the res go dry and spraying your mulch while adding good castings and bokashi weekly/by weekly to keep your mulch colonized.
