Wicking Beds

[fishfood]

Hi Saila the reason they are in 1/2 is they were old dirt garden beds when i convert the other one i will remove the spacer bar

[grassroots]

Has anyone tried to do this with a sump and a automatic watering system?

I have some old 44's, I am considering cutting them in half lengthways, with various layers, first stones, then shadecloth, lastly soil with added quail manure and mulch. Watering with a automatic waterer once a day, draining into a sump that gets pumped back into the system.

[GaryD]

Hi Grassroots,

Has anyone tried to do this with a sump and a automatic watering system?

Wicking beds are built so that they have a water reservoir in them......so they don't need a sump or automatic watering. You just fill up the reservoir every few days.

I operated my square foot bed with a pump and a drain tank for several months........and it worked very well.

Having said that, I used a growing mix comprising vermiculite and coco-peat (in equal parts by volume) with a bag of composted cow manure dug into the mix.

We topped up the drain tank as required with water from the fish tank. Once every couple of days, we'd start up the pump and flood the bed (from the bottom) before allowing it to drain back into the tank.


Gary

[billycart]

The design that is shown in the pictures has me wondering about a few things.

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/a...1&d=1250072857

1st. Your explaination indicates that the Wicking Bed has to to hold some water ( atleast to a certain depth) yet the picture indicates that the water would run straight out?

2nd Does a single pipe ( if it has not got a drain underneath the water fill point) water or wet enough of the bed with out dry spots.

[fishfood]

The design that is shown in the pictures has me wondering about a few things.

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/a...1&d=1250072857

1st. Your explaination indicates that the Wicking Bed has to to hold some water ( atleast to a certain depth) yet the picture indicates that the water would run straight out?

2nd Does a single pipe ( if it has not got a drain underneath the water fill point) water or wet enough of the bed with out dry spots.

1ST questian you see in the middle photo is a bath plug fitting in the finished product theres a rubber plug with a stand pipe and a hole about 6 in from the bottom
better still go back a few more pages and these more info
other questian the horrozontal pipe has holes along the botton it then has 2 in scoria then shade cloth or weed mat then filled with the medium

[billycart]

Many thanks FF for the clarification.

[froggo]

Hi F&F,

so you have scoria in the bottom water holding section of the wicking bed.

Then a layer of shade cloth which acts as a barrier to prevent mixing, then good soil.

The scoria, is that gravel or coarse sand. I find that different locations call porducts different names so can you describe it or do you have a photo.

thanks and God bless, froggo.

[fishfood]

Same as this

[froggo]

Hi F&F,

thanks for that, I'm adding two small wicking beds to my system in the hothouse for radish, carrots and some other root crops.

God bless, froggo.

[Ianc]

Hi
.... Also does anyone know of where I can get cheap railway sleepers in Brisbane?
Thanks
Kathy

Hi Kathy
I won't use old sleepers in my garden after being told they may have had lots of nasty stuff (including possibly arsenic) sprayed on for preservation or to control weeds. I also avoid the green-coloured wood as the green preservative contains copper chrome and arsenic. I'm sorry I can not give definitive safety information here, but if you want to use this sort of wood it would be wise to look into it. You can Google the green stuff if you search for "tanalith", for example at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromated_copper_arsenate
Regards.... Ian