Good wicking material?

[Chucker]

I am experimenting this season with 1/4" polyester diamond braid rope in a SWC. My original SWCs used the pondlife baskets that the EarthTainers use. My new SWC is a much simpler design than my originals and I am trying 4 2' sections of polyester rope, half in the water, half in the soil area. My container is about 27"W x 18"H x 20"D. It's to early to give any real results, but it looks promising so far. At least the new container is using about the same amount of water per day as the originals with the wicking basket (so I assume that means they must be wicking something). Sometime soon, I will make a post about my new simplified container design.

[ArthurDent004]

Originally Posted by SIP Gro-Tubs

The artical was a good read, But, its about growing African Violets.

The article was only intended to provide information on wicks and wicking action like this one.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf11765839.tip.html

I'm sure you can use many different materials as wicks. I ran across a post where one person bought a mop head from Ace Hardware and used the strands for wicks.

I did come across the article below that shows how to use wicking fabric in 5 gallon SWCs.

http://greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com...irrigated.html

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by ArthurDent004

I did come across the article below that shows how to use wicking fabric in 5 gallon SWCs.

http://greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com...irrigated.html

I'm not knocking the use of a 2 bucket container system, but there is always a better mouse trap invented everyday. I, believe when you see how you can get by with one bucket, you will be using my better mousetrap.

I've been fabricating these systems for over 23 years. And yes I, started with a 2 bucket system for many of those years untill the idea with Coroplast came about. Its saved me money, and I'm sure it will also save money for you.

Also the materials that I, use are from trials and errors done. My systems have been in use for many years for my customers. Growing tomatoes for 3-4 months you can get by with using cotton for wicks, but cotton rots when in constant moisture, so when I, say go Polyester, the reason is that some of my customers have planters that are over 10 years and they never have had to replace wicks. Polyester doesn't rot in water.

5 gl buckets.jpg

It must be beyond my comprehension on how the 20-40 drainage/aeration holes work in a 2 bucket system.

1. Wicking water is a misnomer, you are actually wicking moisture since the soil-less mix when it gets to a certain saturation point will stop wicking. Its not like if its a internal water hose, so NO there won't be any drainage holes needed,

2. When using a plastic sheeting for the top, or a lid with holes further tells you that water from the top won't be an issue either, unless your in a flooded area, and then it will be the least of your worries.

3. Just how does air, penetrate a very moist soil-less mix, without any force of nature behind it? Remember this from school "Air goes thru or around an object in the path of least resistance" The bottom of the upper bucket is the most concentrated area of moisture. So NO, filling the reservoir doesn't mean that the air will be forced up and thru the holes in the bottom of the upper bucket. Thats not the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is the overflow hole, back up thru the fill tube, or between the sides of the 2 buckets.

4. So since you can't see the air, here is how you can see how this works.

a. Get 2 buckets, fill the top one with 3" deep of the same concentrated moist media and what a filled bucket would have, and also install the fill tube.

b. Have the 2 buckets sitting next to each other, ans the over flow hole has been drilled in the bottom bucket.

c. Get 2-3 sheets of newspaper, wad them up, light them on fire, drop the flaming ball in the bottom bucket, insert the top bucket into the bottom bucket, this will make the flames go out and produce a lot of smoke and you will be able to see the "Path of least resistance" of what the air would take in a 2 buxket system. After 2-3 minutes, fill the reservoir and you will see that Path in fast mode.

d. Keep a eye on the inside of the top bucket, and see how much smoke comes up thru your media mix.

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by Chucker

I am experimenting this season with 1/4" polyester diamond braid rope in a SWC. My original SWCs used the pondlife baskets that the EarthTainers use. My new SWC is a much simpler design than my originals and I am trying 4 2' sections of polyester rope, half in the water, half in the soil area.

Think about what you have done, the total square inches of the area of the cross sections of four 1/4" ropes, compare that to sq inches of surface area of a pond basket.

The crosss ectional area will be way less, so the wicking will be way far to less also.

Remember, the plants probably arn't very big now, wait till they are 3-4' high and just as round, with fruit. Do u think that those 4 tiny wicks will be able to keep up compared to wick capacity of a pondbasket??

Have some foresight. Yes, its ok for now, but what will the plants needs be in full production.

Its like a athlete that is going to run a marathon. Starting the marathon with a minimal amount of water in your system, What are his hydration needs during the run to win.

Terry

[ArthurDent004]

Chucker - I'm using 9" by 14" by 15" 5 gallon buckets for my experiment. I have two bare root strawberry plants in each SWC. My plants are now large enough to start drawing water from the reservoir. It will be interesting to see if my four 3/16 inch wicks will be able to keep the plants happy.

[travis]

Long strips cut from disposable diapers work great.

[Chucker]

Originally Posted by SIP Gro-Tubs

Think about what you have done, the total square inches of the area of the cross sections of four 1/4" ropes, compare that to sq inches of surface area of a pond basket.

The crosss ectional area will be way less, so the wicking will be way far to less also.

Remember, the plants probably arn't very big now, wait till they are 3-4' high and just as round, with fruit. Do u think that those 4 tiny wicks will be able to keep up compared to wick capacity of a pondbasket??

Have some foresight. Yes, its ok for now, but what will the plants needs be in full production.

Its like a athlete that is going to run a marathon. Starting the marathon with a minimal amount of water in your system, What are his hydration needs during the run to win.

Terry

Thank you for your input. It is just an experiment, and since they were just extra plants, I am ready to accept failure. As an engineer, it pains me to say that you never know till you try, but I have yet to find any data or equations for calculating wicking action based on type and size of wicking material, so I guess my only way to learn is to try. I am trying for a less-wet growing environment so I am hoping my polyester wicks will wick less water than the pond-life basket, although the very early results seem to show no difference at all. A lot of it probably has to do with the saturation point that you addressed.

Originally Posted by ArthurDent004

Chucker - I'm using 9" by 14" by 15" 5 gallon buckets for my experiment. I have two bare root strawberry plants in each SWC. My plants are now large enough to start drawing water from the reservoir. It will be interesting to see if my four 3/16 inch wicks will be able to keep the plants happy.

I will also be interested in how your plants do with four 3/16" wicks. Please keep us posted on the results, the more data the better.

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by Chucker

Thank you for your input. It is just an experiment, and since they were just extra plants, I am ready to accept failure. As an engineer, it pains me to say that you never know till you try, but I have yet to find any data or equations for calculating wicking action based on type and size of wicking material, so I guess my only way to learn is to try.

Yes, it was an experimment for me also 23 years ago.

No, there isn't any written or published data that I've found either

But, there is data that I have collected thru my R&D using different size wicks.

Examples:

1. Gravity has a big controlling aspect for wicks compared to the depth of the water reservoir. After 7" or more in depth of the reservoir the wicking will pretty much stop.

2. Wick diameter has another effect, the smaller the diameter the shallower the reservoir will have to be.

3. I, use 11/16" diameter polyester piping cord and it will keep the soil moist enough in about a 6" radius around the wick, by the time moisture goes out that far, the soil-less mix will be saturated next to the wick which will stop wicking.

4. But when I, use the last of my piping cord stock I'll be changing to Microfiber Udder cloths, which has the largest weight per sq, meter of 320 grams. Microfiber cloths have over 7 times more wicking pull than regular polyester, but both are made from the same resin. Also the Microfiber has shown promising results as to a greater depth of the reservoirs.

Terry Layman

[tlintx]

Originally Posted by travis

Long strips cut from disposable diapers work great.

Now that's an idea. I have a few 3s letover. You're not worried about the chemicals in there?


Tl

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by tlintx

Now that's an idea. I have a few 3s letover. You're not worried about the chemicals in there?


Tl

It's a plastic material called "Polyacrimide" Water Crystals same thing.

Also is used in a Magicans hat were they pour water in the hat, wait a few seconds, and then turn it over, ALA no water.

The water was absorb instantly by using powdered Polyacrimide under a liner in the top of the hat.

Terry

[jmichaelp]

I'm using rayon mop strands ($5 from Walmart for a replacement head) for my first SWC's. I have ten of them per 5 gallon bucket. So far with medium sized plants, this is working perfectly.

[ArthurDent004]

Sounds great. Keep us informed on your progress. What medium sized plants are you growing?

My strawberry plants are starting to send out runners that I need to prune so the original plants can become stronger.

[jmichaelp]

Originally Posted by ArthurDent004

Sounds great. Keep us informed on your progress. What medium sized plants are you growing?

Tomato & pepper plants so far.

I have the mop strands supported by a ring around the inside of the bucket so that the strands can't move or be forced down in the bucket. The ring is made from leftover bucket material, about 1" wide, & is adjustable so it can me moved to a higher/lower position in the bucket. Pressure holds the ring against the inside of the bucket. I have six mop strands along the outside (I had read somewhere that the outside of a container dries out more easily, which makes sense), about an inch from the edge of the bucket. I have four strands from the middle so they radiate out to the ring. As a result the strands are about 2"-3" apart. I'm using ten wicks because I read somewhere to use one wick per inch of the container diameter.

[ArthurDent004]

I bought some Burpees sweet pepper plant seeds from their container garden selection. I'm growing indoors so I only have room for one pepper plant.

[tlintx]

I converted some big pots into SWC last week. Using old cotton unmentionables cut into strips as wicks. My tests beforehand showed the material wicked well, and online research suggests a rise of around 15 inches.

End planting area is about six inches deep, with a reservoir about eight inches deep. For bunching greens, possibly some root veggies (also for greens). Maybe peppers later.

I cut paired slits in my shelf and threaded the strips through to make an X with a lot of soil contact. Seems to be working so far, and it's been hot, but not overly dry.


Tl