Comment

Comment by Robert Rowe on May 10, 2012 at 5:50pm

I never heard of coconut coir until is visited your site. It looks to be perhaps a good media for growth beds for hydroponic gardening as well as a component of a good potting mix.

Does any of you folks know of a good source and how it might be priced?

I am involved in an offshoot of square foot gardening using 12" schedual 40 PVC pipe as a 10 ft long horizontal container capped on both ends and with 4.5 in planting holes every 12 inches. 

I have been using Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening Book" as my beginners guide. I am also moving toward Hydroponic and Aquaponic additions.

Comment by Chris Smith on May 10, 2012 at 10:16am

Charlie, I do not know if gammarus get into the reservoir as it is not assessable once covered with the media. I am sure that worms get down there though. I am not sure if a trough could be converted for wicking. In theory it seems like it could work. There are a few things to consider though. The rock reservoir has the potential to puncture the liner. The rock will restrict water flow down the reservoir so the flow rate would have to be slowed considerably through that trough. The worst of all is the weed factor. Wicking beds like soil gardening allows weeds to get started and if not dealt with early can become a problem. After seeds germinate in my beds I have to spend some time weeding and thinning the carrots. Weeding a trough on the ground means a lot of bending over(which I hate doing!!!!). It is worth experimenting with on a small scale first.

Comment by charles petterson on May 9, 2012 at 11:46am

Chris, I am thinking of converting one of my
Deep water troughs to this system.
Are gamerus present in the reservoir area?
I wonder if the water would be suitable to
Recirculate as part of the main system water
Or if it would be best to just keep it at the
level?
All fired up
Charlie

Comment by Chris Smith on May 9, 2012 at 12:37am

Hey Charlie hope all is well on Kauai. Yes, I think wicking bed should work with 9 inches of media and 3 inches of reservoir. The water will be wicked out quick with mature plants and hot days. With 9 inches of media you will have to grow crops that do not have to send roots down below 9 inches. If you look closely at the picture below of the harvested carrots you will see that the longer ones grew through the mat and broke off there when harvested.

Comment by charles petterson on May 8, 2012 at 11:51pm

Hi Chris.would the wicking bed system work say three
Inches of rock for the reservoir and nine inches
Of growing bed as long as the water is kept
At the weedmat level?

Comment by Chris Smith on May 7, 2012 at 3:06pm

Yes Larry, I can adjust the reservoir level using the triple 90s.

Comment by Larry Yonashiro on May 7, 2012 at 1:14pm

OK, that's it.  I'm putting one of these in!  Nice harvest.  I'm assuming the el's in the overflow pipes are to adjust the water level in the reservoirs?  Thanks for the pics!

Comment by Chris Smith on May 7, 2012 at 12:59pm

I harvested a barrel today. It yielded 8 pounds of sweet carrots. I believe the barrel with colorful carrots pictured above yielded much more as they were bigger carrots.There is a volunteer chard plant in the mix.

Comment by Rob Nash on May 3, 2012 at 7:35am

im stoked you started this group! i am ready to begin building some wicking beds.

thanks Chris

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on May 3, 2012 at 5:44am

SO great that you have started this group, Chris!  I've been wondering about wicking beds in hybrid system designs.  Now we can all benefit from your experience.  Thanks!

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• Next ›
• Page