Soil wicking bed - which nutes?

buddss

buddss

Member
Hi

For my next grow i want to build myself some wicking beds with a soil top layer.
i'm a little bit confused now about the nutes. the beds are in some way half hydro, half soil... which nutes should i use here now?

cheers
buddss
 
buddss

buddss

Member
wow, cool. did not know about the SIP-stuff. I'm not native english speaking, this is sometimes a limitation by searching things:)
thanks a lot!
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Probably not a good idea with soil, due to excessive moisture. Probably get a lot of fungus growth, like molds. Any medium with organic material in it pretty much has to go through a wet/dry cycle, or at least wet/less wet. I tried a thing where I had the solution constantly wicking from a small container on top of the medium with paper towel, so similar to constant drip but using a wick instead of a dripper. It got a bunch of mold growing on it within a few days so I had to go back to daily watering, which was fine because the medium was mostly perlite, the organic material being the built up bits of dead roots from prior crops.

I pull out the root clods and reuse the medium, which eventually becomes a lot like a peat/perlite mix but using dead roots instead of peat. It actually works a lot better than pure perlite because it holds more water. I don't even empty the containers, just mix the medium around and pick out the clods. It's like "turning" garden soil. Weed roots make a very good grow medium with perlite actually, and it's free. I do leave the containers of medium sitting covered for a few weeks between crops, for the roots to decompose somewhat. They break up easier that way.
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
BobCajun said:
Probably not a good idea with soil, due to excessive moisture. Probably get a lot of fungus growth, like molds. Any medium with organic material in it pretty much has to go through a wet/dry cycle, or at least wet/less wet. I tried a thing where I had the solution constantly wicking from a small container on top of the medium with paper towel, so similar to constant drip but using a wick instead of a dripper. It got a bunch of mold growing on it within a few days so I had to go back to daily watering, which was fine because the medium was mostly perlite, the organic material being the built up bits of dead roots from prior crops.

I pull out the root clods and reuse the medium, which eventually becomes a lot like a peat/perlite mix but using dead roots instead of peat. It actually works a lot better than pure perlite because it holds more water. I don't even empty the containers, just mix the medium around and pick out the clods. It's like "turning" garden soil. Weed roots make a very good grow medium with perlite actually, and it's free. I do leave the containers of medium sitting covered for a few weeks between crops, for the roots to decompose somewhat. They break up easier that way.
Click to expand...
You can get ones that you dont water the soil. been around for a few decades at least.
http://www.decor.com.au/garden/self-watering-pots/
 
since1991

since1991

Well-Known Member
Use a heavy on the perlite or rice hulls heavy amended peat based soilless mix. Like 60/40 or even more perlite. Forget a real soil with organic inputs. Basically a passive wick hydroponics system. Ive done it before. Not in beds but pots with felt wicks buried in the mix and dangling down through the pot bottoms with slit openings i made with a razor knife and into the reservoir. Years ago. An aquarium air pump and air stone /tubing for maximum oxygen in the solution reservoir. Run your pH a little lower than a normal soil or soiless mix because your basically running a system now. 5.8 to 6.3 should suffice. Any full profile base nutrient brand will do. Just keep the EC lower than a true water based hydroponic set up. You have to experiment with wick materials , wick thickness, placement, & depth. But once you got it dialed in....WOW. You will know when you got it right because top growth will be explosive and roots will grow around and through the wicks touching the reservoir like the greedy bastards they are. Lol. Try it. Its been years for me but it sure does make for a forgiving an somewhat automated hydroponics system. Just be sure and use a big enough tank and keep it cleaned,aerated, cool and topped off.
 
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BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Those ultra absorbent shammies work well as wicks. I could only find orange ones though and the color would come out into the water. If there were white ones they'd work well, or maybe wash them with bleach or something.
 
buddss

buddss

Member
Hey guys, thanks a lot for the answers!

so actually i want to do bed-sogs. fully automated systems are not an options because several reasons. My first priority is simply a somewhat selfwatering system, but passive. so i dont have to water them all day every day, when they are in the full bloom.

i really want to do some soil mixture. i get the mold thing, but on the other hand, why is that acutally so? i mean, with a wicking bed we try to immitate nature. and a wicking bed in the garden is working fine as well. so it has to work somehow indoors with soil!
i definitely will use much much perlite:)

cheers!
 
since1991

since1991

Well-Known Member
You could try looking into greenhouse supply company's online. Not our hobby hydro shops but real deal ones. Capillary matting is actually used in some commercial greenhouses. You could prolly get a big roll of it for cheap.
 
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