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I built my own little system yesterday that use no electricity. An upsidedown 2L bottle sits above a reservoir and if the water gets too low it glubs out some
by mabbo 10y ago
I built my own little system yesterday that use no electricity.
An upsidedown 2L bottle sits above a reservoir and if the water gets too low it glubs out some more water. Air gets in, water comes out, now more air can't get in because the reservoir water is too high.
A set of aquarium tubes keeps the water level even between the reservoir and each plant. The plants are all in double planters, with water in the bottom one. Clothes strips wick the water up throughout the soil in the top planters, keeping the soil constantly moist.
It's been less than a day, so we'll see how it goes but the whole thing was cheap and simple.
- cornchips 10y agoPlants will die without air to the soil/roots. Many plants require wet/dry cycles. You should start seeing fungus gnats in a week or so.
- mabbo 10y agoHrm. Interesting. I based this system off a large number of videos showing the double-bucket wicking system. Folks in those said they had lots of success using them. Does that only affect certain plant types? Edit: some material I found suggests that because the surface soil stays dry, the fungus gnats have a hard time getting into the roots, propagating. http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2010/07/subirrigated-planters-no-more-fungus-gnats-.html http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2010/07/subirrigated-planter...
- cornchips 10y agoAs the plant kingdom is diverse, there is no yes/no. Though you can say this is a general problem in common soil. You can imagine jungle/pond plants are more tolerant of wetness, but not of the possible pests... The ecosystem of any given soil is quite complex [0]; the environment, symbiotics, pests and predators keep things in balance. 0 http://www.osoils.com/wp-content/uploads/compost-tea-41.jpg http://www.osoils.com/wp-content/uploads/compost-tea-41.jpg