Sip or swick my grassroots fab

[Carmen Ray]

never had issues with perlite since I haven't been using it for swicks.
I don't use any organics in the reservoir, I did once and is started stinking over night.
the top of my soil stays just wet enough. I use a moisture meter occasionally to check it.

Hey HH. I started a new thread for sharing Swick info. I put some links in it, to journals that deal with Swicks. I thought you had made a journal comparing SIP with Swick and now I can't find it. Have you got a dedicated Swicks journal? I was talking to el gringuito earlier and he'd like a URL too if you have one please.

 

[Hash Hound]

..... I thought you had made a journal comparing SIP with Swick and now I can't find it. Have you got a dedicated Swicks journal? I was talking to el gringuito earlier and he'd like a URL too if you have one please.

Sorry Carmen, no sip swick comparison. Just comments in other journals.

 

[Jaz]

The perlite and organic nutes (liquid fish fertilizer) had gone rotten in that reservoir so I have been trying to rinse out the perlite which is not working very well. I have drained it and left it in the sun. Hopefully the sun will bleach off the yucky smelling stuff.
Have you ever had this rot with perlite? Any ideas how to get rid of the stink?

Be careful about reusing soils, bags, perlite, etc.

There are various fungi/bacteria associated with problems like damping off, etc. and when you start a new grow in old pots/equipment, these germies will regrow in the new set up and give you the same problems.

Perhaps start with new perlite or at least put the old stuff in the oven and bake at a high enough temp. for long enough to kill off any bad bacteria - it will also kill off the good bacteria. I know people would do this to soils... apparently the smell is bad so if your other half is precious about the oven...

j

 

[Carmen Ray]

Be careful about reusing soils, bags, perlite, etc.

There are various fungi/bacteria associated with problems like damping off, etc. and when you start a new grow in old pots/equipment, these germies will regrow in the new set up and give you the same problems.

Perhaps start with new perlite or at least put the old stuff in the oven and bake at a high enough temp. for long enough to kill off any bad bacteria - it will also kill off the good bacteria. I know people would do this to soils... apparently the smell is bad so if your other half is precious about the oven...

j

Thank you Jaz. I've just been out to check the perlite now as a matter of fact. It smells fine again. I was considering putting it through a wash cycle in a tied up pillow case because I don't have time to make LABs so I'm going to go with it as is. I have amended and reused soil for this grow. I also reused one grow bag without putting in through a wash cycle first... I hope it's all clean enough. I was worried about putting the grow bags in the washing machine. I have inoculated the soil with microbes and mycorrhizae and I don't see any ill effect on the plants other than the calmag spotting.

 

[Treehouseman]

Thank you Jaz. I've just been out to check the perlite now as a matter of fact. It smells fine again. I was considering putting it through a wash cycle in a tied up pillow case because I don't have time to make LABs so I'm going to go with it as is. I have amended and reused soil for this grow. I also reused one grow bag without putting in through a wash cycle first... I hope it's all clean enough. I was worried about putting the grow bags in the washing machine. I have inoculated the soil with microbes and mycorrhizae and I don't see any ill effect on the plants other than the calmag spotting.

I wonder if the perlite would survive the wash cycle or if you wouldnt essentially just be creating a rock tumbler. The perlite dust would be clean tho lol

 

[Carmen Ray]

I wonder if the perlite would survive the wash cycle or if you wouldnt essentially just be creating a rock tumbler. The perlite dust would be clean tho lol

And you'd probably be right lol. Yeah I didn't think that one through but I didn't try it. The perlite is out in the sun, bleaching and alternately filling with rain water and greening... I changed my set-up completely. I went off the perlite and made a "swicky pad" and wicked via that. It worked very well for me that way and I will be doing similar this grow, starting Friday in fact

 

[bluter]

you can put perlite in an h202 soak and then wash it through to re-use it. use a colander or something else with a screen to wash it through.

 

[Jaz]

The perlite dust would be clean tho lol

You don't want perlite dust though, it can set like concrete in your soil; giving the opposite effect to what you want.

Some prefer the larger perlite balls saying it aerates better than the smaller granules most use and being large they don't degrade as fast.

j

 

[Treehouseman]

You don't want perlite dust though, it can set like concrete in your soil; giving the opposite effect to what you want.

Some prefer the larger perlite balls saying it aerates better than the smaller granules most use and being large they don't degrade as fast.

j

lol that was the joke. washing perlite in a washing machine would crush it. but at least the dust would be clean