SIPs wicking grow!

[sunseeker]

Well with spring around the corner my mind is in guerrilla mode. I have some 100litre grow bags I'm thinking to set up in the bush in individual wire cages. I'm planning to dig a small level hole of around 200mm deep and line with black builders plastic. Than fill bottom of grow bag with around 300mm of perlite cover with shade cloth than top the bag up with an organic soil mix of coco, compost, scoria, neem kelp and malted barley powder and of course mulch in with sugar cane. The idea being that the perlite, only the perlite sits in the water hole and wicks the moisture up to the root system and soil above. The shade cloth prevents the soil getting into the water below and making a stinky anaerobic pigs wallow. I'm hoping this works ok and enables a once a week trip to water, maybe wishful thinking. Also hoping it will stop termites getting into my bags too. Any ideas feedback or criticism welcome

[Gazza2001au]

Sunseeker check out my last picture in my diary its a setup i have used many years ago, u could run all perlite with a tiny solar powered aerator you'd be surprised how well it works

 

use something like this

Edited August 20, 2017 by Gazza2001au

[itchybromusic]

hey sunny 

cool stuff man 

i'll have a few sips on the go this year myself 

 

i'm not expert on building my own & not much of a diy'er but i do know there are some rules to wicking 

i understand this is a bush version & maybe you'll have to make do 

 

my understanding is you need an air gap between the water & soil , wicking point = you can use soil or a rope or something 

that sits in the water all the time & sucks up water constantly  , i've seen guys use net pots as wicking points , cut in the the , in your case shade cloth  

 

the other thing is a plastic cover as a mulch layer & mounding of soil / compost

 

the plastic keeps the moisture in & keeps the rain from top watering , the mounding is for

the rain as well , so it rolls off the top & doesn't puddle on the plastic & slowly top water 

 

biggest prob with sips is watering from the top , it's the quickest way to over water a plant in a sip 

 

i'll help where ever i can , checkout joegrow on youtube , he's a diy sip man 

 

goodluck mate 

[sunseeker]

Thanks for the reply Itchy, ok I see. So maybe I could make the grow bag sit up on bricks or something to suspend it just above the waterlevel and cut a small hole in the bottom of the grow bag and use a towel as a wick that is constantly in the water below. I'm thinking if the hole holds around 50litres it will keep soil moist for around a week, who knows maybe more. This would certainly save me buying a tonne of perlite and will leave more room in the bag for a good quantity of organic goodness. I here what's you are saying about covering the top, I will create a compost mound and put a piece of black plastic in a ring shape over it and tie it back down around the outside of the grow bag, than place a few stones on top to help with winds etc. I'm planning to do an early auto grow followed by a later photo grow, smaller plants but double harvest, might be easier to manage. Worth a shot I think it is all making sense in my head, thanks itchy Edited August 20, 2017 by sunseeker

[sunseeker]

I was planning to use this mix of yours I believe Itchy, anything I need to change from this and do you think this would work well as a wicking mix, cheers, wicked mix I reckon

[sunseeker]

Updated wicking system idea, I think this might work better

[sunseeker]

Sorry forgot to attach

[sunseeker]

Sunseeker check out my last picture in my diary its a setup i have used many years ago, u could run all perlite with a tiny solar powered aerator you'd be surprised how well it works

 

use something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qJTRsuV-s

thanks Gaz, cool idea but it might be better for the backuard than the bush, soil will be much more forgiving. I could see that working really well indoors

[itchybromusic]

yeah mix should work just fine , in this vid https://youtu.be/UbwN1MN2sjs Alan fills the earthbox 

with a soilless medium & waters around the cutting to start off the wicking system , then fills the rez

this means you need to keep the water filled in the rez as the dry soilless media wicks up the water 

quite quickly , filling the rez daily

 

when wicking beds are done right you can fill rez everyday & never over water 

 

i think you'll need to do what this guy dose in a greensmart pot by watering the top to start with & then 

filling the rez , once soil is moist & top watering has drained into the rez https://youtu.be/lSTDwrOfoeE

 

all sips have an overflow built in to the sip to maintain a , i think it's , 1 inch gap , 30mm , between the body

of the soil & water in the rez , so the body of soil is not sitting in water , only the wicking points 

 

 

i think cardrona on here has done a bit of sip building , might be worth the chat with him 

[itchybromusic]

in that first vid he uses growkashi which is a bokashi fertilizer 

it's poss , although i've never tried it , to use bokashi with some rock dust 

he also uses EM-1 in the rez @ 7.5ml per liter & foliars the same @ 1/4 strength weekly 

 

grokashi supplies all the minerals a plant needs for about 10 to 14 days 

he top dresses kashi to start with , this creates a bacterial mycelium which

pushes though the whole medium , every 2 weeks he reapplies the kashi 

& every second reapply he adds compost & or castings first & new kashi on top 

 

the bacterial mycelium finds the food & delivers it to the plant root system via the 

mycelium network 

 

don't know if you want to try that but thought i'd explain what he was doing in that vid