@Willum - I water the 3 gal. as I would normally, without the self-waterer on the riser. After the 3 gal. has been fed/watered I toss out the runoff. Then I add the self-waterer on top of my riser and then fill it with 1 gal. of water. Then I take off for my trips.
I clean mine every 4 days or soā¦
Got it. Thanks!
Clean is a good thing. But I donāt think that the gnats care if the water is clean or dirty. It just looks like from the picture that the little pain in the asses have an open path to the reservoir.
Yep. I hope I can avoid such a problem.
You can write a book with what I donāt know this. But I donāt think the gnats can live in standing water of the reservoir. But if moisture collects under the lid. This would be a prime real estate for them. Maybe that is why they have so many vent holes in the lid.
Good luck and enjoy!
This will be yet another learning experience & opportunity. Cheers!
I donāt use them to water regularly. I ONLY use them as a waterer when I am taking a 4 or 5 day trip.
But when I use them to boost the heighth of my plants I clean the runoff out every day or so to keep gnats out. Have never had gnats using them either way.
Those look very cool they should design them for a larger pot. I grow in an Earthbox (sip) with living soil. I top water until they are taking off good, then i fill my reservoir. I also let my reservoir go empty before refilling to avoid the soil getting too wet.
Gnats suck and are inevitable in my organic soil and ammendments, but they can be kept to a minimum with sticky traps and BT. Beneficial nematodes work great in the combo also.
I would think PH may become an issue with bottle nutes using those. Are you going to continue to journal the grow here? If not, tag me to your journal please and thanks
@GreenJewels thatās how I want to use these. The one on line now seems to be functioning as designed, and this single plant seems to be happy. When the basin goes dry Iāll swap it out for a clean one and rotate as the grow continues. Iāma nut with my plants, so a daily peek to monitor/adjust PH wonāt be a problem - just another excuse to poke my head into the tentā¦
Greetings All!
In case anyone might be interested in these self watering basinsā¦
Watered my plant with approx 3/4g water, CalMag & root booster in basin 5 days ago. Monitored moisture levels with meter and by lifting pot to gauge weight. Basin level was very low so I pulled it for cleaning and replaced it with another basin - this one empty that will be used as runoff drain pan with next watering.
For the 5 days the lower 1/4-1/3 of fabric pot was damp from wicking water from basin. Plant - in My inexperienced opinion - never showed signs of over/under watering.
Iāll now keep a close eye on soil for drying before doing a complete top watering to check ppm.
Iām not detecting any deficiencies currently - again, not much experienceā¦
So far I like these tools.
I have same light. Ive been running them at 75 percent power at that stage and kept em 12 inches above plants and removed drivers for heat and plants love em
Greetings! Iām currently at approx 15ā and have edged pwr to not quite 75%. To the best of my ability: PPFD - 600 DLI - 40ish. Will prbly lower to 12ā in another week or so
This is my 4th Grow with this light w/ 4plants, 2 and now a single. Itās been great.
Thanks for sharing!
Well, the tray basin emptied and within another cple days the pot felt light enough to think top watering would be ok.
So, watered with approx 3/4gal allowing some runoff. With the tray basin being 3ā-4ā deep collecting runoff is a breeze.
This plant has been growing bushy & wide in its 3-1/2 weeks. I did some LST (perhaps botched it) and yesterday felt the need to cut away some of the huge fan leaves that were restricting light and air flow. Hopefully not too muchā¦
So, for any interested, in my limited experience these Watering basins are cool.
@Willum hey man just thought Iād chime in since Iāve used them for a couple grows now and have had great results. I start using them as soon as the plants are big enough. Iām in 3 gallon pots and have to fill the baseās up about every three days. Itās probably a good idea to make sure the pots are light before filling the bases back up to make sure they get their dry cycle. To prevent bugs nāat I like to clean each base every watering with ISO before refilling. Sometimes itās every other week. I would also suggest top feeding your microbes. One last thing I emailed AC and asked them about getting replacement wicks. This is what they sent back to me.
Simply search for a āSelf-Watering Capillary Wickā and make sure the thickness is 1/5 of an inch.
Good luck man! Sorry if this is all repeat info I didnāt read the entire thread.
Thanks a bunch for your info! I introduced nutrients - approx 1/4 strength - yesterday, feeding from the basin. Previously I watered from the bottom and allowed to fairly dry out, and followed with a top water to capture runoff for measurement. So yesterday, with the pot feeling light enough back to the basin.
Iām new enough at this delightful hobby that everything is a learning experience.
Thanks again for your input!
6wks - flowers developing. Trichomes developing. Vertical growth. The lime green leaf color has me guessing. Any input on what could be contributing? All will be appreciated, and thanks in advance for taking time.
Hi . I like your container your plant is sitting on. Can you tell me where u ou purchased it? Or who makes it?