The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond

[Carmen Ray]

Back when I was experimenting with SWICKS, I found it difficult to match the wick size to the plant. I had everything buried in one container so couldn't change things as the plant grew. At the beginning there was too much water flow for the small plant and eventually there was not enough for the larger plant and the roots just grew down the wick to help themselves. I've seen some recent designs that allow for a changing number of wicks which I think would would be much better.

But also, back then, I too was focused on the delivery of water. How much at what rate, and basically was oblivious to the air component.


It's back to the air. Sit a pot with a normal planting mix in a saucer you keep constantly full and you'll get root rot, so it's not just about the bottom watering. And yes, you can just do bottom watering, clearing out the unused water after say 15 mins and grow a nice plant but you won't get the expolsive growth you get when the multiple factors are all in play.

I remember you telling that story of how you found it difficult to dial in the wicks. It's not easy and it's not quick. It's fiddly and you have to watch constantly until you have it right. I doubled the number of wicks on mine from yesterday to today. I had five on each and now I have ten. I may have to take some off or even add on the one. I will check in a few hours again. Hash Hound encouraged me to concentrate on dialing in the wicks this grow. I think it is one of those things that you could eventually do in your sleep but in the beginning it is new and you are still getting the feel for it.

 

[Roy Growin]

Back when I was experimenting with SWICKS, I found it difficult to match the wick size to the plant. I had everything buried in one container so couldn't change things as the plant grew. At the beginning there was too much water flow for the small plant and eventually there was not enough for the larger plant and the roots just grew down the wick to help themselves. I've seen some recent designs that allow for a changing number of wicks which I think would would be much better.

But also, back then, I too was focused on the delivery of water. How much at what rate, and basically was oblivious to the air component.


It's back to the air. Sit a pot with a normal planting mix in a saucer you keep constantly full and you'll get root rot, so it's not just about the bottom watering. And yes, you can just do bottom watering, clearing out the unused water after say 15 mins and grow a nice plant but you won't get the expolsive growth you get when the multiple factors are all in play.

Hi Azimuth - but you can with coco/perlite because it cannot become saturated like soil/compost can so lack of Oxygen is never an issue

 

[Sparkey224]

Hey @Carmen Ray or @Azimuth . Im interested in SIP but have a ignorant question.
If there's no dry soil because of the SIP, do you guys think that might hurt trich production? I really like the idea for my area.
Any insight would greatly be appreciated.
Cheers and sorry for the interruption

 

[StoneOtter]

Hey Otter. I don't think either SIP or swick are defined by the wicking medium. They both use various I think. I think the soil wick model is the one that Azi proposed and that many members of 420 Mag are using to experiment with the technique. I think SIP is an umbrella term that encompasses all manner of sub-irrigated planters. I think that swick (SIP + Wick = Swick) is a type of SIP and Azi's build is a type of SIP and so on. Does that make sense to you, after-all this is only my opinion at this point. When more people engage on the subject I think we'll learn a lot more. Some are saying that the air gap in a SIP is what makes it stand apart. I find that an interesting observation because I think there can be and are air exchange layers to swicks.

Ok, this is more complex than it appears Carmen!

 

[Azimuth]

Hi Azimuth - but you can with coco/perlite because it cannot become saturated like soil/compost can so lack of Oxygen is never an issue

But with coco/perlite you have a much airier mix so better oxygen all through it. I think it more mimics the fabric pots in that regard.

But, I get your point.

 

[Azimuth]

Hey @Carmen Ray or @Azimuth . Im interested in SIP but have a ignorant question.
If there's no dry soil because of the SIP, do you guys think that might hurt trich production? I really like the idea for my area.
Any insight would greatly be appreciated.
Cheers and sorry for the interruption

Doesn't seem to. But I also do draughting so... not apples to apples.

If anything I think I get more trichomes. The plant is so healthy and big that there's just more surface area for them to exist.

I don't see much of a downside to growing with these things other than you might get bored since there's very little to do on the watering front, especially if you are used to watering over the course of hours. but I don't think any of the medical reasons I grow are affected negatively, and a healthy plant produces more goodness .

 

[Hash Hound]

And in what sized container?

in my 5g sip is drinking a quart a day. The res isn't that big, a little more than a quart and it starts coming out the over flow.
my 7g bag swick is drinking between a quart and half gl every day. The dish pan I use can take 1gl before it comes close to the swick plate.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Hey @Carmen Ray or @Azimuth . Im interested in SIP but have a ignorant question.
If there's no dry soil because of the SIP, do you guys think that might hurt trich production? I really like the idea for my area.
Any insight would greatly be appreciated.
Cheers and sorry for the interruption

Hey GvG,
Firstly, there are no ignorant questions ever. I am not sure I can give you a satisfactory answer because I am still trialing the efficacy of my swick setup. I think with bottom feeding you can see the watermark moving up the sides of the fabric grow bags so you have some indication of wicking action. Also if you put your hands around the bag of soil it it will be cool and damp to the touch if it is hydrated, The soil inside should be springy. I am constantly checking the condition of the pots to see how they wick. I also use a wooden skewer to check the moisture content in the soil.
I think there is less likelihood of the soil getting waterlogged from wicked feeding than from top feeding, because the water moves a lot more slowly by capillary action than it does with pouring.
I don't see how it can hurt trich production unless it is overwatered, poorly fed, underwatered or generally neglected.
What kind of pots are you using. I think that if the plant is determining how much moisture it needs in the soil for optimal growth, then you have succeeded in your quest.
@Hash Hound have you ever drowned plants with a wick in sub-irrigation? What are the chances of the pot getting waterlogged?

 

[Hash Hound]

@Hash Hound have you ever drowned plants with a wick in sub-irrigation? What are the chances of the pot getting waterlogged?

no I haven't and I would say it depends on the media and the wick

 

[Carmen Ray]

Useful threads that discuss Swicking.

I want to add some links here:

@lazylathe organic soil and swick

@SweetSue plants self-watering

@Pondwater SIP or Swick

I don't know how to keep a running list because my posts are not editable. The attached is an example of a grow in perlite swick.

 

[Carmen Ray]

@Hash Hound do you mind if I tag you when I have questions? I am getting a sense from seeing more journals surface relating to SWICK that in Sweet Sue's time SWICK was commonly understood to be using a perlite wick.
I have seen your name come up in her community journal on swick grows. Can you confirm that SWICKING in that era was a strictly perlite based system? That would mean models like yours were later innovations. Is that correct?
Would you be willing to link me up to an explanation of your build with pics if you have such, or even just post the pics in here and I will find a way to keep an active list of resources that can be edited and updated, including your build?

 

[Hash Hound]

@Hash Hound do you mind if I tag you when I have questions? I am getting a sense from seeing more journals surface relating to SWICK that in Sweet Sue's time SWICK was commonly understood to be using a perlite wick.
I have seen your name come up in her community journal on swick grows. Can you confirm that SWICKING in that era was a strictly perlite based system? That would mean models like yours were later innovations. Is that correct?
Would you be willing to link me up to an explanation of your build with pics if you have such, or even just post the pics in here and I will find a way to keep an active list of resources that can be edited and updated, including your build?

to my knowledge I am the only one not using perlite, stones, etc in a swick so I will stop referring to it as one.
I'll just start calling it a wick maybe it will eliminate half the confusion it seems to be causing.
Any more confusion and I'm going to refer to it as bmw, below media watering
or maybe UW for under watering, we'll see how much confusion THAT causes.

I wouldn't call it a build but this is as simple as I can explain it.
You set a bag on top of a riser and wick and fill the reservoir as needed.
I've posted this pic plenty of times

swick plate (2).JPG

• Hash Hound
• Aug 29, 2022

The first two rules of growing I learned were
1. only use half strength nutes. I've tried to adhere to that since day one
2. K.I.S.S I've tried my best to keep my style as simple as I can.

it doesn't take a lot of work to get this

P194 PC w5c.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 6, 2023

 

[Carmen Ray]

to my knowledge I am the only one not using perlite, stones, etc in a swick so I will stop referring to it as one.
I'll just start calling it a wick maybe it will eliminate half the confusion it seems to be causing.
Any more confusion and I'm going to refer to it as bmw, below media watering
or maybe UW for under watering, we'll see how much confusion THAT causes.

I wouldn't call it a build but this is as simple as I can explain it.
You set a bag on top of a riser and wick and fill the reservoir as needed.
I've posted this pic plenty of times

swick plate (2).JPG

• Hash Hound
• Aug 29, 2022

The first two rules of growing I learned were
1. only use half strength nutes. I've tried to adhere to that since day one
2. K.I.S.S I've tried my best to keep my style as simple as I can.

it doesn't take a lot of work to get this

P194 PC w5c.jpg

• Hash Hound
• Jan 6, 2023

Thank you HH, you're a star. I know you've posted the pics in several other places and I couldn't remember where to find them. Thank you for putting them here for us!
To the best of my understanding, that is the one of the biggest advantages of sub-irrigation wicking = SWICKING , it follows the K.I.S.S. style.
Look, I'm not sure if people will be willing to take the practical definitions on board, but I'd like to encourage the use of sub-irrigation wicking for swicking, and then later innovations such as yours are still swicks. If one can get it right, yours is way cleaner and less fuss than perlite. Isn't that what we are looking for here, innovation and improvement?

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Thank you HH for showing us these two models. I can't seem to find plant risers here in South Africa. I am not imaginative enough to think of alternatives. If anyone has suggestions, please make them here.

Sorry I mixed up authors of threads. Pondwater is the author of the thread I am thinking of.

The bottom of two liters with holes drilled should help if you cut the bottoms off.

And hello miss Carmen.

 

[Carmen Ray]

The bottom of two liters with holes drilled should help if you cut the bottoms off.

And hello miss Carmen.

So good to see you Happy! Have you ever grown anything, especially weed, by wicking the water from the bottom up? If you have, it would be great if you wouldn't mind sharing what you've done? I'm discovering a handful of journals by individuals who have sub-irrigated and judging from the numbers of people engaging with the SIP Club thread, it's a popular concept. It would be nice to get as much of that knowledge into one place so that people have a good bit of information to refer to

 

[Hash Hound]

Look, I'm not sure if people will be willing to take the practical definitions on board, but I'd like to encourage the use of sub-irrigation wicking for swicking, and then later innovations such as yours are still swicks.

not to be rude, but I already expressed my desire not to discuss names any more it's pointless.
Just start growing and everyone should call theirs what ever they want because we know what they mean.

 

[Carmen Ray]

not to be rude, but I already expressed my desire not to discuss names any more it's pointless.
Just start growing and everyone should call theirs what ever they want because we know what they mean.

Fair enough. I respect your preference not to discuss the definition of SWICKING and I will try not to involve you in any discussion on that theme going forward.

Perhaps an explanation for what I am trying to do here.

This was my experience and what led me to start this swicking thread. I was trying to come up with simple, low tech, easy to assemble sub-terranean irrigation feeders and it was Azimuth and Bluter who suggested that I should look into swick. They suggested I start a thread dedicated to swick. So then I started hunting online to see what I could find out about it so that I could use the technology for my own grow. Google comes up with precisely one explanation for SWICK and that is the Sweet Sue one, which is linked to this one already.

In other words, it would appear that the so-called Swick was invented on this site by the group of people who gathered with Sweet Sue. Of course nor is this important for practical purposes, but the origin of the term and practice is useful in describing its present value and characteristics.

Thus my afforts to try to demystify the word Swick and put it to practical purposes for all who come after us.

 

[Hash Hound]

In the middle of my first grow I stumbled onto a thread on another site, posted by one Noobwannb, showing how to set up. SWICK. Watering system. It's essentially a wicking system that has a broad surface of wicking material in a deep basin that your pots sit on top of. .......
Let's have some fun showing off our success and helping others make their lives easier and their plants happier.

Sue's first post on the subject.
By the way I've met SweetSue, she used to live across town. Great gal

 

[Carmen Ray]

Sue's first post on the subject.
By the way I've met SweetSue, she used to live across town. Great gal

I have done a different search, this time for Noobwannb and a whole bunch of weed sites popped up. I will have a better look now. When I searched for Swick it was only SweetSue's that came up. Thanks HH.

I don't know if this is allowed to be posted here. I apologize if not and can provide screenshots if preferred. This is the GrassCity thread where Noobwannb introduces his swick

 

[Carmen Ray]

I have done a different search, this time for Noobwannb and a whole bunch of weed sites popped up. I will have a better look now. When I searched for Swick it was only SweetSue's that came up. Thanks HH.

I don't know if this is allowed to be posted here. I apologize if not and can provide screenshots if preferred. This is the GrassCity thread where Noobwannb introduces his swick

Noobwannb calls it : Noobwannb's Self Wicking Smartpot ghetto setup and gives a detailed explanation of how it works.