I was wondering if you could discuss your experiences regarding watering in organic systems. Does the "water-when-light" method work? Do you like blumats or constant drippers? If one used a dripper system, do you still allow any drying out? Or is a constant level of moisture preferred?
@ACitizenofColorado
Appreciate the huge complement, you're a good man among men
To revisit this a bit..
..currently don't use drippers or blu mats.. although I suppose I dislike cords and wires.. so to each their own..
I have tried lots of different ways and sizes but prefer to
employ various styles of SIP technique now regardless of size,
which is a bit of an art in itself, yes.. choosing the right size depending on goals, timeframes, heights, cultivar types, needs, and environments .. the biggest of which is probably whether indoor or not, and then whether working with a legal medical disability / plant limit or not.
The water-when-light approach, though, overall, is a dangerous one in
living organics, in my opinion.
Running your water low in
hydro organics may cause more fog and mist, and be
very good, as oxygen increases, but in living
soil, it can be detrimental, especially in smaller pot sizes, (under 20 gal) where its effects are more pronounced and farther reaching / more damaging to the overall volume..
(Overwatering can be just as dangerous, true, especially if you chose weak aeration and its aged / compacted / etc.. or if it was over/under applied in the first place, for example, say below 35% or over 50%)
This is where aeration blends and variations of properties can help.. biochar, being a big one for me and newer fav of mine. Even a 1% or 2 can make a solid difference in water only applications.. 5% maybe best, but any % is huge, just like each % of oxygen can cause massive increases in activity.. as well as each ten degrees in temp shift can double microbial activity, up to a certain point.. 70• f or so being a sweet spot for soil temp for your average hybrid
Balancing the carbon and nitrogen a bit, the aeration and drainage, pot size, and lastly, fungi and bacteria, does really help keep it automatic and passive... the less you need to react and reinoculate, the better in my opinion..and allow for fairly constant levels of moisture..
If you do it right, whether organic or not, you can have an air conditioner and condenser feeding your float barrel, which automatically feeds your SIPs to certain levels..
or you can manually top your trays daily, and top em to a level they will drink by the next day,
or you can wick from a resi.. but lining the bottom of pots with charged rotting wood and or pumice are my current favorite go to's.
I have a couple different techniques Im playing with for building the bottoms, but to kis, I would say a 1 to 3 inch layer of either one or the other will do.. and allow you to sit the pot in a pool of water. I built mine higher but shluby likes the 1.5" height for sippingwhich is nice
This prevents an anaerobic layer of soaked soil at the bottom.. better to have a layer of air at the top and bottom..
and also allows the plant to create air roots at the top that sip air, while the ones down low reach for water, and the ones in between can focus on, well, everything in between!
Then when we see the top ring around the outer edge start to separate, just baste some water around that outer edges so it can swell back up again.. but never drown the top.. better to mess with minimum effective doses... and so even teas are bottom fed.. if you use a good mulch, and good size pot, you won't have to worry a tenth of much anyway.. teas can be totally avoidable.
(BTW.. for mulch, I'm strictly using our glacial and iron-rich blend I am coining "CBD-Sand" now..)
my neighbours have some bad bugs and its helped me keep my meds super bright and healthy.. the fungals dug into it right away, roots popped up through it, one plant (Pink Jewel) even had a good 15 pop through the other day, all fresh roots going for more air, really cool to see a plant react to a double watering in the SIP tray, right before your eyes almost!!
