So, I am preparing for my first grow, and the other day someone showed me something that kinda blew my mind. I saw a diagram for a sub irrigation planter, and I immediately wondered why these things aren't all the rage already? Is there some kind of probl with them that I don't know about? Because to me it seems like this is the perfect solution to avoid having to water them and dose nutes every single day,soil compaction from top feeding, root rot and other health problems, cheap and easy to build.
Why aren't sub irrigation planters more popular?
- Thread starter Jhuck
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Hey jhuck,
Welcome to 420, sure the problem is that soil grown plants do not need to be watered every day, or every other day, or on a regular schedule. They need water when the plant has utilized all of the moisture content in the soil. For most soil types the plants need to experience both ends of the wet dry cycle, that is being fully saturated and then going to fully dried out. Gravity works so when the top inch is dry the bottom is still very much wet For soil grows a continuously wet soil deprives the roots of oxygen, weed grown in soil does not like wet feet….weed roots love oxygen but not exposure to light.
This might work for soilless grows like coco
Welcome to 420, sure the problem is that soil grown plants do not need to be watered every day, or every other day, or on a regular schedule. They need water when the plant has utilized all of the moisture content in the soil. For most soil types the plants need to experience both ends of the wet dry cycle, that is being fully saturated and then going to fully dried out. Gravity works so when the top inch is dry the bottom is still very much wet For soil grows a continuously wet soil deprives the roots of oxygen, weed grown in soil does not like wet feet….weed roots love oxygen but not exposure to light.
This might work for soilless grows like coco
And it probably works great for certain other types of plants I imagine. Haven't used coco so I have no idea it if would wick up or just basically be watering the roots on the bottom only.
Vegan4life
Well-Known Member
Some growers use Autopots... 
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The water just sits in the reservoir, not in the soil, there is an air layer between the roots and the water and the roots wick it up as needed. I have actually had some other growers since tell me they love their sip setup, I guess it just isn't more prevalent because it isn't common knowledge?
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- #7
So, I am preparing for my first grow, and the other day someone showed me something that kinda blew my mind. I saw a diagram for a sub irrigation planter, and I immediately wondered why these things aren't all the rage already? Is there some kind of probl with them that I don't know about? Because to me it seems like this is the perfect solution to avoid having to water them and dose nutes every single day,soil compaction from top feeding, root rot and other health problems, cheap and easy to build.
I have talked to growers since that swear by it, but I don't think you know how it really works, it has an air channel an insert, the roots never actually touch water, they wick it up as needed, and because you never pour water over the soil it never compacts, and it has an air reservoir between the roots and water, so roots will actually get way more oxygen from above and below this way, I am going to use a clear five gallon bucket, install a drain plug in the bottom, use the grobuckets inserts kits , that way I can flush and refresh and change nutrients any time as needed, and it will set me up to walk away for a couple of says without watering.
Some guys here use a similar system called hempy. But that is a passive hydro grow using perlite as a substrate.with a kind of reservoir at the bottom and feeding hyro nutes.
i grow hempy. both that and the outdoor hydro system i built for my mom work on the same principles.
it's all passive combined top / bottom feed hybrid hydro. google tomato buckets - same thing. the tech has been around forever. there's just a myriad of ways to apply it. folk keep coming up with more and more cool ways.
it's all passive combined top / bottom feed hybrid hydro. google tomato buckets - same thing. the tech has been around forever. there's just a myriad of ways to apply it. folk keep coming up with more and more cool ways.
Thanks bluter I thought I was u doing hempy. BTW got heaps of perlite left over from growing shrooms and thinking of going outdoor hempy with vegetables.
Ya, hempy is terrific for herbs and veggies. If you’re growing outside in a hotter, drier climate, you might consider mixing some vermiculite in with the perlite (up to about a third of the volume).
Here’s a current basil in perlite hempy and a three year old pepper plant (up-potted to the bucket used last year for GLGA).
Enjoy your day!
Here’s a current basil in perlite hempy and a three year old pepper plant (up-potted to the bucket used last year for GLGA).
Enjoy your day!
I have a buddy using them right now. But he puts his 3 gal. grow bag into the 5 gallon bucket to make sure things don't clog up. He swears it's like growing in DWC. I need to stop by there & check things out.So, I am preparing for my first grow, and the other day someone showed me something that kinda blew my mind. I saw a diagram for a sub irrigation planter, and I immediately wondered why these things aren't all the rage already? Is there some kind of probl with them that I don't know about? Because to me it seems like this is the perfect solution to avoid having to water them and dose nutes every single day,soil compaction from top feeding, root rot and other health problems, cheap and easy to build.
Yes & it's pretty much the same principal. Bottom Feeding.Some growers use Autopots...
There is also a tek (called Swick on 420 - do a search) where fabric pots are nestled into the top of perlite, which wicks up from solution below.
Nunyabiz
Well-Known Member
This is basically an Earthbox.
It needs a wick of some sort to allow the soil to wick up water to keep most of the soil moist.
These can work but they also can go anaerobic if you're not careful and attentive.
I think if I were to do something like this I would install a o2 emitter in the water reservoir to keep the water oxygenated and put some kind of thick mulch on top of soil or a plastic cover to keep the top of the soil moist so feeder roots don't dry up and die.
"Wet/dry cycle" is really only for shit soil that isn't aerated, gets compacted, gets wet stays wet.
If you have to do a wet dry cycle then you need to rethink your medium.
A good medium like a coco, living Organic Soil even something like a hempy need to be watered virtually everyday and doing so puts lots of dissolved oxygen into the soil and the roots have plenty of oxygen at all times.
The medium stays moist which is the sweet spot and no danger of killing feeder roots, root hairs and tips by sitting in dry soil or sitting in soaking wet soil for an extended time possibly going anaerobic and devoid of oxygen.
It needs a wick of some sort to allow the soil to wick up water to keep most of the soil moist.
These can work but they also can go anaerobic if you're not careful and attentive.
I think if I were to do something like this I would install a o2 emitter in the water reservoir to keep the water oxygenated and put some kind of thick mulch on top of soil or a plastic cover to keep the top of the soil moist so feeder roots don't dry up and die.
"Wet/dry cycle" is really only for shit soil that isn't aerated, gets compacted, gets wet stays wet.
If you have to do a wet dry cycle then you need to rethink your medium.
A good medium like a coco, living Organic Soil even something like a hempy need to be watered virtually everyday and doing so puts lots of dissolved oxygen into the soil and the roots have plenty of oxygen at all times.
The medium stays moist which is the sweet spot and no danger of killing feeder roots, root hairs and tips by sitting in dry soil or sitting in soaking wet soil for an extended time possibly going anaerobic and devoid of oxygen.
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Bear in mind I only plan on implementing this with soil in 5 gallon buckets, with a water reservoir in the bottom , a layer of air in the middle, and soil on top. Unfortunately I don't see my photos or my autos outgrowing a 5 this run. I just figured it will take care of the problem if me not always being around to water daily, without me having to buy a full on dwc Superponics system with a rez and a bunch of other stuff. This is just my stop gap solution to being around daily to water for now. Hopefully by the time I have big outdoor grows next year I will have a whole automated system that is reliable. If I was using the big tote system I would def use an ro emitter, a rez, a chiller. Do you really think a 5 gallon would need ro? I plan on drilling a drain hole in the bottom of the sidewall of the bucket so I can rinse out and change the water and nutes every 2 to 3 days or as needed. Think that would work out?
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Yeah, no the one I plan on utilizing will just be the 5 gallon. Buckets with one later of water, one layer of air, one layer of dirt I personally am just looking for a way not to have to water every day when growing in soil because that is all I can afford this run. Now next year I want to do some big outdoor grows and will be getting into the particulars of the bigger tote systems.
ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
Works like I hot damn. The air layer solves the ''plants don't like wet feet because there's no oxygen" problem by adding oxygen. It's still wetter than you would normally be comfortable with, but it's receiving enough dissolved oxygen content from the airgap to make up for the plant's use and other factors limiting the dissolved oxygen content of the water. It works, well, like a hot damn. Side by side with DWC it might lose by 1/25 point, but it will be guaranteed to make it to the finish line and the grower can't screw up, whereas DWC has daily opportunities for growers to screw up and in DWC when things go south they go right now.
