I decided to post this as I’m crowding another thread with my stupid questions lol. I’m running my first proper indoor, water only, no-till style organic grow. I’m in 10 gallon fabric pots sat on a layer of lava rocks in a big plant saucer. My environment is dialled in but my question is about watering. I’m currently keeping the lava rocks from drying out and using them as an indication as to when to add more water. My ladies are only 10 days old so I’m being careful not to drown them. I’m spraying the mulched top layer a few times a day to stop it drying out. I’ve saran wrapped the top 2/3 of the pots to help maintain moisture in the upper part of the pot. I assume the best practice is to have the top layer holding some moisture but not “wet” whilst the wicking part of the pot (bottom 6 inches) is proving the bulk of the moisture. I’m attempting to allow the biology to find its own levels. Does this sound like the correct approach? How much water can I put into the saucers without drowning the bottom of the bag? Can anyone enlighten me if they run a similar setup? I will find my own way for sure but any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks in advance from a 4x2 in the UK.
They make blumat carrots for soil surfaces that automatically water when moisture is low. Perhaps the easiest way with little attention. Scoob had these for his clone trays in one of his threads. I would consider larger pots too for no till, it would also help with keeping moisture, more mass.
Hiya bud, Ive been running sips for years now, I love it. I have a 3'x4' bed, 3' x3' bed ,5- 10 gal pots, 5- 7 gal pots. All fabric,sips. I keep trays moist always, the fabric drys quick so I never over watered. I top dress and water in with comfrey, compost ,aloe teas. I keep a 2" layer of prewet mulch ( straw,grass,leaves)on top. My big beds have gravity fed water, with auto fill to keep water in sip tray 1' below bottom of bed.
Blumats can be gravity fed with a reservoir or hooked up to a pressure regulator that screws onto a hose bib. I ran pex tubing into my room and hooked up a pressure regulator that uses the ceramic carrots to automatically water when ceramic begins to dry out. No electricity or timers the plant controls the water. Once setup they can be monitored daily.
I tried the bluemats but they were too inconsistent for me ,with gravity fed. Plus I only have 2 carrotts, more would be better,so I put one of these mini float valves in a little bucket, then to sip tray. Nice even watering .
Yeah the reservoir is the least preferred method. 40$ for a pressure regulator that is fed by your waterline in your house. I've had zero issues once I switched from a reservoir to the regulator.
Great input everyone, thanks. Judging by the feedback I definitely need some regular top watering. If my lava rock layer is 1 inch deep, how deep would the water ideally be kept? 1/2 inch?
I certainly don’t disagree with automated watering but I just prefer to manually water the SIPs to also spend some time looking the plants over and clipping any stray weeds. I use the box and bucket type planters so I’ve never run fabric.
If possible, use a deeper tray that will allow a 1" aerated layer of volcanic rock between bottom of fabric pot and water reservoir. Assuming that your rock is porous enough to wick water efficiently, this will provide more O2 to the root zone and reduce the frequency of manual watering required (due to more H2O volume in the tray). This setup is commonly referred to as a swick watering system and works great once dialled in. There are write-ups available here and elsewhwere using the search function. Enjoy!
Here’s how I think about it and do it. I have smart pots setting on lava rock. Day 1 you slowly hydrate the smart pot from the top and let the lava wick back up the run off. While the plant is small, you will need to top water in circles around the seedling. If you get run off, let it wick it back up. If you don’t, apply a thin layer of water. Like an 1/8 “ deep. What I like to see is my thin layer basically all be wicked up by the time I water the next day. I personally always top water my set ups, and add more water to the trays only when the plants are big. Again, whatever I have for run off, I want to see be gone by the time I water the next day. With really big plants, they may get top watered and the tray filled twice a day at peak water usage. Where as a qp sized plant may be fine with 1/2 a gal total once a day. IMO the key to good performance in these set ups is to have some dryback before watering. Of course if you need to be gone for a day or three, you can just fill trays as full as possible, it’s just not ideal, but beats the hell out of leaving the plants thirsty. HTH Cheers Os
Great info @Organic sinse thanks. I’ve added another inch of lava rock to bring it up to 2 inches. I think it’s been working ok already as I’ve already got roots growing through the bottom of my bag at day 13! I guess this is a good sign but I’m surprised she’s kicked off so quickly.
Sorry, had my serious hat on lol. I’m running out of homegrown so, as usual, sweating on the next harvest being a good one.
I’ve been searching swick and sip here in GC and it seems some people have trouble with roots in the sip. What potential trouble do they cause? Rot?
I’ve never had any issues with rot or anything for that matter. I have heard they don’t do well with synthetics and salts because of salt build up in the bottom. Cheers Os
@srfr I wanted to mention something else about watering the sips. When I talked about top watering, I didn’t really explain all of the ‘why’. Those roots that grow just below the top surface, they are the reason for top watering. I feel these are the roots that are especially important to water. They live in the most active part of the soil. It’s also where the top dressed amendments are really working well with roots. You don’t want to drop d it though. Allow for daily dry back once the plants are established. In my sip setups that have 12” tall pots, the lower 6” can be hydrated well via wicking, but the top 6” is what requires the top watering, or it will run dry. My pots are 10 gals, and pretty similar to what you run size wise. A good mulch helps a lot as well. The other reason I like top watering is I feel that it draws more air into the soil as the water runs thru the soil. Just a couple thoughts. Cheers Os