Wicking Beds

Dale Morgan

I have just received and watched a DVD from Colin Austin about wicking beds. It was great and only $15 including postage.
My head is swimming with ideas for where I could put lots of wicking beds and what containers do I have that I could convert.
If I had found this before AP I may not have started it! Ooh that is blaspheming I think, and I don't really mean it anyway, just teasing!
Can't grow fish in the ground now can I?
Dale

Dale Morgan

MalcolmC, how deep are your wicking beds please? They don't look very deep?
TCLynx yours is 6".
I have a gal tray that is 18cm/7" deep. I am tossing up what to use it for or take it back to the scrap metal merchant I bought it from as a dead loss.
But maybe I could use it as a wicking bed?
Colin Austin says they should be 30cm above the water line.
It will be interesting to see how our experiments go.
Dale

TCLynx

That shallow wicking bed made out of the old shallow grow bed is primarily meant for starting seeds that I can transplant elsewhere later or for growing small plants and herbs that don't have a deep root zone anyway.

The first pictures of wicking beds I posted on this thread, those beds are only 30 cm deep total and look at the growth in them!!! Perhaps as things break down, they will need to be re-done some day but I expect just some topping up with compost before the next planting cycle and they will be good for at least a year before needing the dirt and wood chips re-placed, if they ever need them replaced.

led-grower

My wicking beds :funny1:

led-grower

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led-grower

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led-grower

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TCLynx

I'm glad I started this thread, looks like a fair number of people like to show off :headbang:

Keep it up

MalcolmC

Dale Morgan wrote:

MalcolmC, how deep are your wicking beds please? They don't look very deep?

At the sides they are only 150mm (6") but taper to a "V" in the middle where there is a slope for a 90mm drainage pipe. I blocked that off with an endcap which then becomes my water reservoir.

Mal

gemmell

Dale Morgan wrote:

I had an idea for a wicking bed. Let me know what you think please.

Using an old bath, a deep one.

Putting gravel in the bottom third like I have seen on certain web sites.

Using similar to the standpipe and cover in AP systems, just without the little hole near the bottom and shorter to come to the top of the gravel layer only.
When I was recently at Milnes (food&Fish) he showed me his standpipe. It was fixed at the bottom to an old plug with the centre cut out. This sat nicely in the baths drain hole and could be pulled out at any time for complete drainage.

So when water level fills to the top of the gravel layer any more will flow over the short standpipe and out of the drain.

You would top up with water by putting you hose to the side of the standpipe but inside the larger cover pipe which extends to the top of the surface soil. Or if that was too tricky, cap that pipe and put a filler pipe at the other end of the bath.

putting the weed mat or equivilent over the gravel and topping with your prefered soil.

Voila wicking bed in a bath!

Dale

I like it. Don't even need the "pipe through a bathplug" if you get the right connector bit - it just slots in like a glove.

Dale Morgan

I have been pondering the wicking bed set up and have created my first one today.
Starting small with a planter box measuring 65cm (26") long x 25 cm (10")wide x 30cm (12")deep.

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Adding 2 halves of ag pipe for drainage

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Lining with the black plastic

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held in place by those cute little clip things that hold your table cloth in position on a windy day outdoors.
Stay tuned!

Dale Morgan

Then comes the water filler pipe with ag pipe running along the bottom.

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A little blanky of hession to keep it from blocking up.

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Add a cover of coarse sand, I don't have any gravel, but do have lots of sand.

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Dale Morgan

Next cut down the plastic to the top of the sand layer.

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Forgot to point out the overflow slot at the end.

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And now a close up of the drainage setup. Showing the plastic cut down allowing the excess water to overflow it and run through the half ag pipes down to the overflow slot.

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Dale Morgan

Last one showing the planter filled with soil and ready to plant out.

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Then I filled it with water and here is a shot of the overflow happening just as I had planned, Phew!

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And it cost me nothing because all the bits I had found and scrounged!

mantis

Great work Dale, now get them planted :thumbright:

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Wicking Beds

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