Living Soil Wicking Beds

[JimmyJackCorn]

i use a layer of reflective insulation as mulch and polypropylene webbing to draw water up into the fabric pots from the reservoir. i've found to keep the soil level to half the height of the pot diameter, which when combined with the plastic mulch should produce a wet/dry ring (see picture) on top of the soil. top dressing at the first sign of flower produced a crazy upward root explosion last fall on my balcony, although by then i was watering from the top because i didn't put enough wicks out to make up for the extra water loss from being outside and the plants had gotten too big (after i realized i needed to top water) for me to try to add more

for a small indoor grow though wicking pots are awesome. i do all of my soil mixing and potting in the kitchen and bathroom. all i do in the tent is point a modified watering can/hose/wand thingy at the reservoirs to water. also it is nice because the plants can be easily moved from reservoir to reservoir

in flower though it is true watering is more frequent, although still better than hand watering. since i make a flowering soil mix there is no need to top dress, maybe only when re-potting mother plants. good thing about fabric pots is you can trim them down and still have enough left to fold over, and then unfold if you add top dressing, it's just about keeping the soil ratio to half height to width and the plastic mulch layer. although, as the plant grows, i found i can keep adding layers of soil to the top, and then i will add an extra wick to the bottom. this way i can keep a mother plant in the same pot for a while before repotting. plants go root bound in fabric pots different than in solid pots, if root bound is what to call it. more like, the roots overtake the viable soil in density in the root ball, and then things slow down etc and then time to add fresh soil

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Awesome post!

I never thought about a (wick dia) : (soil depth) ratio, but it makes sense. The guys over in the SIP thread have found that too much of a soil wick (or too many wicks) can introduce too much water to the whole planter.

I am having greater consistency in the soil now with my wicking bed since the soil is shallower than in my pilot project. There has to be a sweet spot--but it could be a range. I guess "listen to the plants" would be the advice there.

I also wonder if differently sized/graded gravel would wick differently in my setup. I mean--once a steady supply of water is introduced to the weed mat, does gravel size make a difference? Or is it just saturated and transmitting water as much as it can? In other words, is my soil depth ultimately limited in this design? Dunno. Thinking out loud here.

 

[DankTankerous]

Awesome post!

I never thought about a (wick dia) : (soil depth) ratio, but it makes sense. The guys over in the SIP thread have found that too much of a soil wick (or too many wicks) can introduce too much water to the whole planter.

I am having greater consistency in the soil now with my wicking bed since the soil is shallower than in my pilot project. There has to be a sweet spot--but it could be a range. I guess "listen to the plants" would be the advice there.

I also wonder if differently sized/graded gravel would wick differently in my setup. I mean--once a steady supply of water is introduced to the weed mat, does gravel size make a difference? Or is it just saturated and transmitting water as much as it can? In other words, is my soil depth ultimately limited in this design? Dunno. Thinking out loud here.

I definitely found that out the hard way. I can’t keep water sitting in the reservoir. I have to put enough water, for the soil to saturate and then no more. I built this one on my own. The diameter of the net pot is like 6” I think it’s too big for the container (12gallons), but knowing what I know now I’ll water it like I mentioned. I bought the Earthbox jr and used it my last grow. Never had to worry about the soil being too saturated, however this box I built, I definitely do. I’m not too worried, still easier than my bag pots.

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

I definitely found that out the hard way. I can’t keep water sitting in the reservoir. I have to put enough water, for the soil to saturate and then no more. I built this one on my own. The diameter of the net pot is like 6” I think it’s too big for the container (12gallons), but knowing what I know now I’ll water it like I mentioned. I bought the Earthbox jr and used it my last grow. Never had to worry about the soil being too saturated, however this box I built, I definitely do. I’m not too worried, still easier than my bag pots.

Would you happen to have any pictures of your box and net pot as you were building? Or after you pulled it apart at the end of a grow? No big deal, just trying to picture what you're saying. I guess I could also ask the dimensions of your box that's sitting on that 6" net pot?

I don't remember if you were involved in the discussion in the SIPs thread, but for a time all those folks were trying to narrow down the perfect wick size. I don't think a conclusion or formula was reached, but I remember a lot of good information coming up--and indications that the discussion would be resumed after gathering more information!

You also inspired me to finally check out Earthboxes. Looks much like what we're all putting together manually. Pretty cool!

 

[DankTankerous]

Would you happen to have any pictures of your box and net pot as you were building? Or after you pulled it apart at the end of a grow? No big deal, just trying to picture what you're saying. I guess I could also ask the dimensions of your box that's sitting on that 6" net pot?

I don't remember if you were involved in the discussion in the SIPs thread, but for a time all those folks were trying to narrow down the perfect wick size. I don't think a conclusion or formula was reached, but I remember a lot of good information coming up--and indications that the discussion would be resumed after gathering more information!

You also inspired me to finally check out Earthboxes. Looks much like what we're all putting together manually. Pretty cool!

hey let me get back to you on the dimensions, been busy

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

Pictures are two days apart.

Plant on the right is coming out of it. Great improvement! Plant on the left has had it worse all along, and may get replaced by the seedling. Leaves have white on them from a light DE dusting (some have been munched on).

I've taken to mulching with straight leaves. The pill bugs eat them up! Still hoping those clover plugs will take, for green roughage down the road.

I'm not sure how I will handle new soil in the future. I have considered cutting it with Promix or sphagnum, but I am cheap and want to source from my property! I may go the ROLS route (some ratio between it and this vermicompost-heavy stuff I make). What else might I source locally that's relatively inert yet retains nutrient-water: wood chips? grain hulls? plain ol' sticks that fall out of the trees? (I have gobs of those.)

Regardless, I did top off the reservoirs a few days ago. With this two-inch layer of leaves on the soil, the soil is staying fairly damp to its surface. Hopefully half the leaves mold while the pill bugs poop the other half!

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

So quiet in Organics lately!

Plant on the right is doing incredibly well (finally), so I trimmed and topped it. Left plant is just that: left.

The new seedling is doing hand-over-fist better than the other two did! Regarding the first two's slow initial growth, I am continuing to blame the new soil with its overload of humus.

Wicking beds continue to perform well. There's nothing like watering worries being replaced by perfect, constant delivery!

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

Coming along fairly well. Don't know what's going on with the left plant. Looks like iron deficiency, maybe locked out by other micros? I don't know. Seems more likely it's the runt of the litter. Still trending toward being replaced by the new sprout in the middle!

Waiting to transplant more clover until it's more robust! I recently learned pill bugs eat the stems of sprouts, right? Seen that with the first batch of clover I transplanted, too.

Did a second topping of the healthy plant, and I'm considering keeping all lowers cleared. We'll see how it shapes up, I guess. The reservoir is down about a gallon. I imagine the roots are past the fabric by now!

Mothers are chillin' in the back.

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

It's been two weeks since last post!

Plant on the right needs to be flipped, but left plant is still small. Looks like it's just hitting sexual maturity. So I went for it. 12/12 as of five minutes ago.

Left the left plant, per the trend. No topping, no training--at least not yet. Because of that culled runt and this new sprout, I will get an unplanned look at how these sisters grow when handled differently! One small tree, one big bush? Time will tell.

Struggling with pill bugs, but I think I'm getting the hang of them. The whole soil system is still balancing out, I imagine. Makes me excited for the next grow!

 

[DankTankerous]

It's been two weeks since last post!

Plant on the right needs to be flipped, but left plant is still small. Looks like it's just hitting sexual maturity. So I went for it. 12/12 as of five minutes ago.

Left the left plant, per the trend. No topping, no training--at least not yet. Because of that culled runt and this new sprout, I will get an unplanned look at how these sisters grow when handled differently! One small tree, one big bush? Time will tell.

Struggling with pill bugs, but I think I'm getting the hang of them. The whole soil system is still balancing out, I imagine. Makes me excited for the next grow!

Great job! I think pill bugs aren’t a problem after a plant has established themselves. They are really good for breaking down materials. In my SIP, pill bugs usually die out unfortunately.

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

Great job! I think pill bugs aren’t a problem after a plant has established themselves. They are really good for breaking down materials. In my SIP, pill bugs usually die out unfortunately.

Yes, my loose goal is to mulch with leaves and let the pill bugs do the fertilizing. My gut tells me I'll still need to topdress, since I'm not going all out with mulch (seems like I'd want to add more than just leaves, and have more than 17G of soil). I did scratch a cup of 4-4-4 into the soil of the big plant at flip.

But these little crustaceans bee line to the trunk of my big cannabis plant--I think because they have been conditioned to find food there. The small plant is left alone!

The small plant has been cleared of mulch around the stem all along, whereas the big one had leaves mounded right up to it (I think this was contributing to the pill bugs finding the stem as a food source--and once it was chewed into, they could all smell it).

Regardless, both plants are now surrounded with DE at the stem and are being left alone. I will treat all future cannabis plants how I treated the small one, and I'm hoping this will be a non-issue moving forward. (It hasn't been all that bad in the first place.)

Your situation is the opposite of mine. I couldn't get rid of them if I tried!

 

[JimmyJackCorn]

I think the plants are doing the "SIP hydro-grow" everyone talks about. The stems are splitting themselves they're growing so fast! I'm raising the light every two or three days now.

Getting up to a gallon of water every three days. Uptake is slowly increasing, but the SIPs make it ridiculously easy.

Pill bugs are managed, pistils are shooting out. I think I'm done with pruning/lollipopping/trimming--whatever you want to call keeping all flowering close to the LED sweet spot!

 

[GenericEnigma]

So, embarrassing thing--ah, this is JimmyJackCorn. I made a new account and disabled the old one.

Last night I was watching Reno911!. Super irreverent, yet ridiculously funny, show. In one episode there was a reference to the old folk song "Jimmy Crack Corn," which is, of course, where I originated the wordplay for my old handle. I had never heard that version of the song! Apparently it has some roots in Black slavery. No thanks! Somehow that slipped past my bat, and I will not be identifying myself that way!

Carry on.

 

[GenericEnigma]

Wicking bed is working great! I haven't discovered anything I can do to improve on the system, apart from further automation. But any more of that and it won't be as fun for me!

Plant on the left went into flower finally, just last night. The tent smells quite different this morning, very fruity and STRONG.

I'm raising the light an inch every two days now, but I can tell the stretch is starting to slow.

Plant on the right keeps throwing what looks like balls, so I've been plucking them--but I'm beginning to think they'll elongate and let out pistils, because some of the little node buds look similar to the balls and have done just that. Definitely keeping a close eye.

Mulched both beds with more leaves, buried the whole surface in an inch of vermicompost, and remulched with leaves. Lots of leaf mold forming, and the living soil is in heaven! Probably just water from here on out.

 

[GenericEnigma]

Coming along. Love to see the narrow long leaf traits!

Had a bad lockout issue and lost about a dozen leaves from each plant last week.

I top-water a bit to keep the mulch breaking down and I guess I created too much hydrologic pressure in the soil--which dumped compost tea, basically, into the reservoirs. When I changed out the water, ppm was at 800+ (140 from the tap).

With fresh water, they're back to doing well. Pistils are just starting to recede on the older one (right).

Really REALLY looking forward to harvest. Maybe by April.

 

[GenericEnigma]

This might be the last update here. Moving over to SIPS!

So the left plant got super stinky (I call it Mop Closet) and started throwing tons of bananas. I don't think it likes my heavy humus compost. I moved it out of the tent, but where I put it didn't have great access. So rather than fight the nanners, I chopped it early.

It's pretty stong, but only lasts a few hours. Very psychedelic. Chopped March 20.

The right plant is still going.

 

[GenericEnigma]

So I'm pretty excited about the right plant. It's pretty ripe, and the plant is fading out. SIP reservoir is full, but the leaves droop. Is it just old and tired?

I'll likely harvest this weekend. I'm very excited to try this one!

 

[Hollatchaboy]

So I'm pretty excited about the right plant. It's pretty ripe, and the plant is fading out. SIP reservoir is full, but the leaves droop. Is it just old and tired?

I'll likely harvest this weekend. I'm very excited to try this one!

Yea, that's kinda odd. She looks pretty much done. I wouldn't worry. You got her through flower. If you do a correct dry and cure, it'll all be downhill.

 

[Hollatchaboy]

So I'm pretty excited about the right plant. It's pretty ripe, and the plant is fading out. SIP reservoir is full, but the leaves droop. Is it just old and tired?

I'll likely harvest this weekend. I'm very excited to try this one!

Looks like she's foxtailing a bit? What week is she?

 

[GenericEnigma]

Looks like she's foxtailing a bit? What week is she?

Oh yeah, lots of foxtail! Chem4 x Choc Diesel, if that contributes. Got a couple dozen nanners on it, too--just plucked their bracts off (last couple weeks before all pistils discolored).

This one had the light switched before sexual maturity, but sprouted pistils about mid-January. About 11 weeks in proper flower.

 

[Hollatchaboy]

Oh yeah, lots of foxtail! Chem4 x Choc Diesel, if that contributes. Got a couple dozen nanners on it, too--just plucked their bracts off.

This one had the light switched before sexual maturity, but sprouted pistils about mid-January. About 11 weeks in proper flower.

I thought so. I have one foxtailing now myself. It's making it hard to determine when to chop.