Hey been thinking about this. When you did your sourcing of the reducer, did you ever think about or look for plastic/pvc piping reducers?
Hey storz, I've been looking at the SIP info around. Some of the setups with tomatoes have problems with the roots creeping down to the water storage area so they put a layer of heavy landscaping fabic in between and the tomatoes still fed just fine but the roots didn't make it though. You may be able to cover your perlite bed and not have to cut holes to feed. I want to try the SIP with hydro. I've been thinking about it. Wouldn't it work with just perlite and no piping in the bottom? If it was solid perlite in the bottom feed tray that would negate the need for an airstone in hydro. Otherwise you would need an airstone in the water piping and you would have to drain the tray once a week to change the water and prevent toxicity buildup.
I got those cheap $9 self watering planters instead of the reducer. I'm just going to take the bottom part of the planter (reservoir) off. The reducers were kind of expensive and the store didn't have the right size in stock.
I just want to say how happy I am with this SIP design. It is so low maintenance, and delivers even and ideal moisture levels to the medium. @storz, you are the man. More people should try this. I'm also at the point where, if I read someone promoting wet/dry cycles, I roll my eyes. SIP all the way.
To be fair if you didn't have an SIP system the only way you can prevent overwatering in many mediums is to allow it to dry some between waterings so it's not like the wet/dry cycle is bad advise depending on your setup. You're just lucky in that since you're not top feeding by hand you don't have to over saturate when feeding to make sure the plant can maintain enough moisture until next time. If you had a large plant in a 5-7 gallon standard pot setup you can't help but use the wet/dry cycle unless you want to water it 4 times a day small amounts. I absolutely agree that having an optimal moisture level that is such that the plant can aerate at the same time is ideal. That's one reason why DWC hydro works so well and grows so rapidly. There's no wet/dry cycle. The plant is always moist, it always has feed and air. It's just that in most mediums that are hand watered that's not practical.
I hear you, T-Bone. But, often, I see folks recommending that soil become bone dry, suggesting that the root zone likes this. I think this is misleading at best. With fabric pots, where overwatering is much less likely, there is really no need to let things dry out so much. I also believe that if the soil dries out too much, you achieve chemical uptake imbalances causing problems. Anyway, I'm an advocate for storz' design. Luvin it.
landscape fab will NOT stop roots only the vegetative part of the plants or weeds. I looked it up before I wrote this so I am pretty confident on this
Thank you for the kind words. I really appreciate that. I think SIP takes a lot of effort out of the growing process. My 2 cents
I agree but all landscaping fabric is not created equal. There is stuff that's more heavy duty then others. In the article about stopping tomato plants roots from getting in the res it was stated specifically that it had to be very heavy duty landscaping fabric. I really don't see it stopping cannabis roots though. They're a little more robust then tomatoes.
You will really love it if you have to leave your garden for a week or more.(depending on rez size of course)
sorry guys I wasn't paying attention. If I don't get an alert from the site, I forget where I have been.
I have used all sorts of fabric from Landscape to felt to fine mesh. Roots go where they want to. Heck they even split and raise concrete so if there is a fabric that will stop them, please give me the specific info and I will get some. After the grow, I throw the fabric pot and the perlite out. Its cheap and easier to start over IMHO. Besides I don't want to wash everything to get the salt build up out.
I reuse my fabric pots. At first I would clean them carefully but after a while I thought why bother? I use promix/perlite with hydro nutrients. I flush at the end and I'll dust all the medium out of the pots. There's really not anything left to ruin anything. A small amount of fertilizer in the fabric won't hurt. I'll be feeding them more every day of their lives.. hehe. I use smart pots. Not sure if they're more well made then others that make them easier to reuse.