Yeah, you're going to need more than 5 because once you go SIP you really can't/won't go back. I get it if you want to pace yourself, but really it'll be more efficient to build all the buckets at once.
I'm not so sure about the Air Gap being the secret to success. Remember, I forgot to drill an overflow hole in my buckets last grow. I filled that thing twice a day for a while & I'm sure I filled it to the top as a couple of times water even came out the fill tube. I always filled it to where the float was all the way up (FULL).
Kool ! Looking forward to your pics.
Ok, but once the plant drank enough of the water to recreate the air gap, the roots get a recharge of O2.
Emilya is great. She was my Grow Tutor more or less on a different site 5 years ago when I started growing. I have learned a lot from her. My 1st grow would have been a disaster without her correcting all my mistakes.... lol.Careful, I believe @Emilya Green frequents this thread.
I am still willing to believe in magic. I still believe in the wet/dry cycle in traditional containers. The mind flip that I needed to make was in realizing that SIP is not Wick... because I still have problems with a wick system. But SIP, this is devious, setting up two individual sealed levels of soil, one being a wick, and the top level with the roots providing suction that starts the magic. Once in bloom, this automates what I am doing manually, in trying to force more water at the roots. SIP works with the plant, allowing the roots to draw up what is needed, apparently all the way to the top spreader roots. This, I am happy to realize, will be an upgrade to watering from the top, which allows the plant to put the water where it wants it and gets a sometimes forgetful gardener out of the way.Careful, I believe @Emilya Green frequents this thread.
And nice to see you turn the tables and convert her over! She calls it the "dark side" but I think she's just compensating.
Years ago I tried a version of this with a polypropylene wick with not great results. It cycled too much water when the plant was small leading to an overwatered look. Then when the plant grew larger it wasn't able to keep up with what was demanded and the roots grew down the rope and populated the reservoir anyway.
Im defo trying this when the bank has filled up a little lol
So is it like hydro with the roots sitting in water?
The roots seem to stop at the top of the water level from what I seen at harvest. Didn't look like they actually went down into the water.
You can easily build your own diy for the cost of a 5 gal bucket with a lid, a 4" plant pot or salsa container, a short section of pvc pipe, and a few drill bits.
A combination. Soil roots above, water roots below.
That seems to depend on your connection medium. I use hydroton clay balls in my connector pot and the water roots completely fill it, but I saw Buds' pic of his recent harvest and the soil roots did seem to stop about at the water line.
The design I am using puts a cloth plant barrier between the layers. The roots can't pass the air gap but the suction they develop will cause the water to rise up through the barrier.
Do tell. What does the cloth sit on to keep it above the air gap?
With 5 gallon pails, either with the kit Doc has or if you DIY a 2 five gallon buckets, you will water daily for most of the grow. If you can DIY a larger rez, using a different shape, you can increase the rez size and start reducing watering days. My rez are 6+ gallons and 4 weeks I I refilled, but out of boredom, they were only 2/3 emptied. I anticipate in high-flower mode to be every third day filling.
Buds you can run all of your buckets off a main rez with a control bucket that dictates level with a multiposition float valve. Totally gravity fed, passive. Cost almost inconsequential. Never fill your buckets once. For 5x5's on slightly different levels didn't make as much sense for me. For you with many more buckets, much smaller reservoirs....
