The Everything SWICK Club: 2023 And Beyond

[Slapalottapuss]

Hey Slaps, that was my last grow exactly! I think there was too much perlite above the overflow hole in mine (because the water never wicked into the soil), so mine really seemed more like a hempy grow with a bucket of dry soil above it. That was a good thing or it would have tipped over if the only thing holding it down was perlite!

Can't complain since it turned out well, but I was hoping for the moist soil others get in SWICKs.

Build here. Plant here. Harvest here. Rootpsy here.

Hey Shed, that seems to be the problem with that type of grow. I use a 2” PVC with the bottom cut at a steep angle as a way to get the water and/or nutrients down into the perlite without wetting the soil. The key imo is in the very beginning to keep the soil dry forcing the roots out in search of water…. Finding it in the perlite reservoir to develop a good foundation and constant water source.. Then top water sparingly as if it was rain to encourage shallow roots to track down water there. It’s a fine balance. Too much of what they want in the reservoir-no need to look any shallower, too much water in the soil layer-no need to look deeper. Allowing them to dry staggered is what I found to be the best.

I’m totally jammed up in my tents now but I am totally interested in the swick and know it can probably produce the optimal balance of hydro and soil. Going to start collecting the parts I need lol.

Pics are a 3x3 tent 1 ChemD in a 5 gal — slapified hempy sip… I guess??

 

[InTheShed]

Hey Shed, that seems to be the problem with that type of grow. I use a 2” PVC with the bottom cut at a steep angle as a way to get the water and/or nutrients down into the perlite without wetting the soil. The key imo is in the very beginning to keep the soil dry forcing the roots out in search of water…. Finding it in the perlite reservoir to develop a good foundation and constant water source.. Then top water sparingly as if it was rain to encourage shallow roots to track down water there. It’s a fine balance. Too much of what they want in the reservoir-no need to look any shallower, too much water in the soil layer-no need to look deeper. Allowing them to dry staggered is what I found to be the best.

I’m totally jammed up in my tents now but I am totally interested in the swick and know it can probably produce the optimal balance of hydro and soil. Going to start collecting the parts I need lol.

Pics are ChemD in a 5 gal — slapified hempy sip I guess

Nice growth in there! My plant was bottom watered from day 2 after sprout so there was no problem getting the roots to find the water in the perlite. But whatever roots were in the soil never saw water after the upcan to the 5 gallon as it was watered directly into the perlite res daily (in a gap between the buckets, never to be wicked up! Like I said, no complaints but I do wonder what coulda been with feeder roots in the soil getting water and nutes rather than just the mass in the res.

 

[Pondwater]

Found auto pot valves online won’t these work in my sip bucket base ? Like really good
forums say auto pots are good and some say they keep roots too wet ? It’s kinda what we’re doing in a sip tho right ? I want them to controll the water and they even let the water fully empty before filling which I think is really good, will eliminate ph swings of keeping it constant too

i can get some cheap and wondering instead of filling 10 pot by hand daily I could use these to one res

 

[Pondwater]

This thing

 

[Azimuth]

Interesting. I'm not sure how it works, have to see it in action I guess. Seems like the concept is sound.

 

[Pondwater]

Interesting. I'm not sure how it works, have to see it in action I guess. Seems like the concept is sound.

Due to the little hole it holds a vac so until water drops to almost gone it won’t release the suck to fill back up when empty instead of just constantly keeping it full

 

[Jon]

Hi @Carmen Ray - I just spent an hour catching up here. I know nothing of SWICK. Great thread. I’m just gonna listen here. Lots of heavy hitters chiming in. Great stuff.

 

[Carmen Ray]

Hi @Carmen Ray - I just spent an hour catching up here. I know nothing of SWICK. Great thread. I’m just gonna listen here. Lots of heavy hitters chiming in. Great stuff.

Hi Jon and welcome to the community Swick thread. This thread moves at a slower pace than the SIP thread so please feel free to ask questions. Also it might be a good idea to tag the person you wish to ask. As you see, there are different solutions to the wicking method. Gee and I both found that our plants were not getting the calcium they needed on the swick, and that seems to be a common issue for sub-irrigated plants. So people are giving the plants additional calcium to accommodate that, and there is by necessity some top watering for all, as far as I understand it. There are also issues with roots growing into reses and so forth, causing the plant to drink water from the res and neglect the pot full of nutrition. This works well in a synthetic grow it would appear, but seems not to work with an organic soil. Maybe you want to play around a bit and see if you can find the optimal irrigation plan with organic swick

 

[Pondwater]

Hi Jon and welcome to the community Swick thread. This thread moves at a slower pace than the SIP thread so please feel free to ask questions. Also it might be a good idea to tag the person you wish to ask. As you see, there are different solutions to the wicking method. Gee and I both found that our plants were not getting the calcium they needed on the swick, and that seems to be a common issue for sub-irrigated plants. So people are giving the plants additional calcium to accommodate that, and there is by necessity some top watering for all, as far as I understand it. There are also issues with roots growing into reses and so forth, causing the plant to drink water from the res and neglect the pot full of nutrition. This works well in a synthetic grow it would appear, but seems not to work with an organic soil. Maybe you want to play around a bit and see if you can find the optimal irrigation plan with organic swick

They may drink from the res but if it’s wicking the medium is wet too ? Surely there just drinking all round and from the medium
For the ammount of roots in the pot as to in the res it looks alot eye but them soil roots are big when ya wash em out the pot at end
Are they not sucking up allover ?

I learnt long time ago calcium is king and the centre of everything plants cation action the lot , I doubled my calcium inputs therefore and pays off big time
Oyster shell I use as normal but then crab and gypsum fish n bone etc too

I learnt a cao spray from lime makes em lush overnight too I need to make some I feel I’m forgetting calcium this round lol had problems I’d fix with a spray and being poorly my mind neglected that and forgot so I’m happy for this post as I am off to give a ca mg kelp enzyme spray now and it will turn em around

 

[013]

Hey you all….. my name is 013 and I’m a serial swicker! It all started when the little woman caught me in the basement at 3 AM with the lights on swicking away. It’s been downhill ever since

first disclaimer… really crappy pics but here’s an outdoor swick placed in a small spring.

the last of my Wedding Cake clones, shes riding a 12 gallon smart pot with another 10 or 15 gallons of soil mounded around her. Yep, she’s really small for outdoors. I set her out late and she was never placed in full sun exposure. Had planned on moving her but life happens anyways I will defs do better on plant placement next year.

Dug out a hole in stream bed that’s tucked in behind a large rotten log to hopefully protect the plant during any high water events. Set the plant, filled perimeter with big stones plus more soil mix and wrapped it with 2 X 4 metal fencing anchored in place. The fence holds the added soil intact and deter deer from grazing

I’ve noticed that field mice have dug into my soil looking for fresh roots and tasty amendments in the soil mix. The remedy will be 1/2 inch square hardware cloth aka “cage wire“ layer on top next year and covered it with plenty of sand.

it’s my first outdoors and she’s going to be tiny so yeah I’m totes pissed about my poor choice of not moving her but we had other major fish to fry so um yeah, maybe next season if I’m still kicking.

I will say swick is where it’s at for outdoors, as long as you have the extra aeration in your soil mix done right- it’s no brainer to do swick in a water source. That alone eliminates the need for constant site visits for plant checks which is really cool from stealth growers perspective.

2B029912-9A64-443F-9986-61A7AB83D579.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

EB2BEC0B-A128-4DDA-95AE-31DFD33D6DA5.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

8CA42EBA-CA1C-45FE-9422-706FA85B613D.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

yields will be small but lessons were learned. can’t wait for version 2.0

So that’s it, thanks for looking!

 

[Carmen Ray]

Hey you all….. my name is 013 and I’m a serial swicker! It all started when the little woman caught me in the basement at 3 AM with the lights on swicking away. It’s been downhill ever since

first disclaimer… really crappy pics but here’s an outdoor swick placed in a small spring.

the last of my Wedding Cake clones, shes riding a 12 gallon smart pot with another 10 or 15 gallons of soil mounded around her. Yep, she’s really small for outdoors. I set her out late and she was never placed in full sun exposure. Had planned on moving her but life happens anyways I will defs do better on plant placement next year.

Dug out a hole in stream bed that’s tucked in behind a large rotten log to hopefully protect the plant during any high water events. Set the plant, filled perimeter with big stones plus more soil mix and wrapped it with 2 X 4 metal fencing anchored in place. The fence holds the added soil intact and deter deer from grazing

I’ve noticed that field mice have dug into my soil looking for fresh roots and tasty amendments in the soil mix. The remedy will be 1/2 inch square hardware cloth aka “cage wire“ layer on top next year and covered it with plenty of sand.

it’s my first outdoors and she’s going to be tiny so yeah I’m totes pissed about my poor choice of not moving her but we had other major fish to fry so um yeah, maybe next season if I’m still kicking.

I will say swick is where it’s at for outdoors, as long as you have the extra aeration in your soil mix done right- it’s no brainer to do swick in a water source. That alone eliminates the need for constant site visits for plant checks which is really cool from stealth growers perspective.

2B029912-9A64-443F-9986-61A7AB83D579.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

EB2BEC0B-A128-4DDA-95AE-31DFD33D6DA5.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

8CA42EBA-CA1C-45FE-9422-706FA85B613D.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

yields will be small but lessons were learned. can’t wait for version 2.0

So that’s it, thanks for looking!

Wow 013 what a great idea. I look forward to seeing how your experiment continues to unfold!

 

[Absorber]

Hey you all….. my name is 013 and I’m a serial swicker! It all started when the little woman caught me in the basement at 3 AM with the lights on swicking away. It’s been downhill ever since

first disclaimer… really crappy pics but here’s an outdoor swick placed in a small spring.

the last of my Wedding Cake clones, shes riding a 12 gallon smart pot with another 10 or 15 gallons of soil mounded around her. Yep, she’s really small for outdoors. I set her out late and she was never placed in full sun exposure. Had planned on moving her but life happens anyways I will defs do better on plant placement next year.

Dug out a hole in stream bed that’s tucked in behind a large rotten log to hopefully protect the plant during any high water events. Set the plant, filled perimeter with big stones plus more soil mix and wrapped it with 2 X 4 metal fencing anchored in place. The fence holds the added soil intact and deter deer from grazing

I’ve noticed that field mice have dug into my soil looking for fresh roots and tasty amendments in the soil mix. The remedy will be 1/2 inch square hardware cloth aka “cage wire“ layer on top next year and covered it with plenty of sand.

it’s my first outdoors and she’s going to be tiny so yeah I’m totes pissed about my poor choice of not moving her but we had other major fish to fry so um yeah, maybe next season if I’m still kicking.

I will say swick is where it’s at for outdoors, as long as you have the extra aeration in your soil mix done right- it’s no brainer to do swick in a water source. That alone eliminates the need for constant site visits for plant checks which is really cool from stealth growers perspective.

2B029912-9A64-443F-9986-61A7AB83D579.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

EB2BEC0B-A128-4DDA-95AE-31DFD33D6DA5.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

8CA42EBA-CA1C-45FE-9422-706FA85B613D.jpeg

• 013
• Oct 16, 2023

yields will be small but lessons were learned. can’t wait for version 2.0

So that’s it, thanks for looking!

Up in fork of trees is a good spot too no one looks up and less critters to eat your plants in SIP's

 

[Carmen Ray]

Up in fork of trees is a good spot too no one looks up and less critters to eat your plants in SIP's

What do you mean? I'm trying to visualize lol

 

[Absorber]

What do you mean? I'm trying to visualize lol

Sit SIP pot on a branch close to trunk and tie it to the trunk trim tree above plant to let light in

 

[Absorber]

What do you mean? I'm trying to visualize lol

Thats about 18ft up a tree

 

[Carmen Ray]

Thats about 18ft up a tree

Dude! How do you get water up the tree and how do you care for the plant and harvest? You're pulling my leg. That has to be a beehive or something. What is it?

 

[Absorber]

Dude! How do you get water up the tree and how do you care for the plant and harvest? You're pulling my leg. That has to be a beehive or something. What is it?

Its a SIP pot I climb up there nothing in it as of yet im about to put a plant in it .
You motivated me I've been meaning to get around to it and your comment pushed me so I could get a picture for you.
This plant will grow to be strong fending for itself a lot of the time

 

[Carmen Ray]

Its a SIP pot I climb up there nothing in it as of yet im about to put a plant in it .
You motivated me I've been meaning to get around to it and your comment pushed me so I could get a picture for you.
This plant will grow to be strong fending for itself a lot of the time

That's guerilla as it gets

 

[Absorber]

That's guerilla as it gets

Stops thieving pricks and the fuzz

 

[Carmen Ray]

Stops thieving pricks and the fuzz

I'm super impressed. I really am looking forward to seeing you pull this off. Is it worth the risk (falling and cracking coconut")? You daredevil you! You are going to climb water up there?