DIY GearBear's Designs

[gearbear]

 

[gearbear]

Cool, they seemed to work in theory and from what I've seen from other systems.

I think that would be a good solution TBM. I've seen some use news paper. Not sure how well it worked.

 

[gearbear]

What is a great wicking material to move water about 10"? That we might can find at a commercial store like walmart or something? and what inert medias will help with the wicking of the water?

I'm about to build my system soon.

 

[gearbear]

I'm thinking, Perilite/ coco mix and 1/5 or larger nylon rope to hang down.

 

[gearbear]

I'm testing this Design


I filled 1 gallon and 2 liter pots with 1 part each of coco fiber, perlite, vermiculite,
.5" nylon rope (running into bottom 3 braid, dunno if that is important or not)
I kept everything dry to check moisture n morning to see if it is working.

I also just ran 1 rope at length to see if it wicks all the way up just set outide without pot or medium.

 

[gearbear]

Ok so about 9 hours later. The rope out of the pot feels moist but not wet.
The pot medium still looks very very dry. But It was completely dry before I began so it may take some time. If it does not become moist in 3 days, I'm gonna call this a bust because it cannot move water fast enough to be applicable when they reach their growth spurt. Unless someone else has a better way to improve.

 

[gearbear]

ok, I'll try that if I don't get the results by tomorrow. The other rope (outside of a pot) is drenched in water. It is wicking well.
thanks!

 

[gearbear]

I put my fingers into the pot and felt moisture at about a finger length in depth. I suspect it will be moist by tomorrow evening from dry. This test would prove it's capability to me. Going from completely dry to moist takes a lot of water on the get go, esp. if wicking all at once.

 

[gearbear]

It's slightly moist inside the container. Not what I expected but probably would do just fine I think? the top three inches seem very very dry.

Test 2 Get medium very wet and note if it drys. test for 5 days.

If the medium drys a lot, I believe it wouldn't be very good for plants if it can't maintain moisture. I will adapt to just taking the lid off and make into a flood type container and just putting the pots direct into that with holes drilled on side at the lowest position and take out wick. So it will become a direct wick system, and semi-dwc if you drill enough holes for the roots to come out too, it would be a combo type system at that point.