Self watering wicking troughs

[davidstcldfl]

Hi, This is a self watering trough system, using the wicking principle. Anyone familiar with Larry Hall, will recognize the design. I just finished building it a few weeks ago.

Before I get into the system it's self, let me mention why I built it. Maybe I'm really trying to convince myself that it's ok....

First, you have to understand, this is the 'third location' I'm growing tomatoes....
I am growing a few at home, in 5 gallon buckets, along my chain link fence. I would of built the troughs at home, but I'll be moving sometime in the near future.
I've been driving to my friend's aquaponics farm in Winter Park (FL). I like helping him out, plus, it's a great place to grow 'more tomatoes'.
This 3rd location, belongs to one of two brothers I'm friends with. (they have adjoining properties)
I stop often and have coffee with one of the brothers in the morning. 'The other brother' happened to have this empty shade house...just sitting there.
I figured, I'm already there a few times a week. Plus, It was 'begging' for something to be grown in it...It was more then I could stand.
Well, it sounded logical to me anyway....

So here is the shade house. It's 30 x 50 feet, and it does have running water, but no electric.

a Narcoossee shade house.JPG

I built two troughs, that are 2 ft wide by 16 ft long. They're lined with a thin liner, I bought at a local hydroponics store. I've used a mixture of nursery pots and poly grow bags. Since the nursery pots were 'free', I had to give them a try.

a narcoossee nov 2012.JPG

Some of the tomatoes are....paul robeson, black cherry, purple eva, and cherokee purple. The plants all seem to be doing well. The onions are the only ones that don't look happy. Perhaps I should of used taller nursery pots for them....maybe they are too wet ..'?'

a narcoossee troughs 1.JPG

I tried to get the water level to be a little less then 1 inch. The floor of the green house wasn't very level. I tried to level out the beds. But, I was trying to get them done quickly, as it was getting later into our cool weather growing season. Much later then I really wanted. But, I had tomatoes sitting in small pots, which should of already been transplanted .
I got the valves from US Plastics. I'm glad I bought the ones with adjustable floats.

a narcoossee float valve.JPG

[kilroyscarnival]

Looks enterprising. Would love to be able to see this setup better. The photos all seem to be thumbnail size and not expandable. When I zoom IE to 400% it just blurs it.

[davidstcldfl]

Ok, I'd saved the pictures from photobucket because they were jpeg's.But they were small.
I had to figure out a differant way to change 'my pictures' to jpeg.

The pictures aren't that clear to start with. I took them with my cell on a cloudy day....
Lets see if this works....

[kurt]

Do you let the water dry out in the trough?Does the water circulate at all?Is that green algae/mold beneficial as nutrient or will it spawn fungal spores and skeeters?

[kilroyscarnival]

Originally Posted by davidstcldfl

The pictures aren't that clear to start with. I took them with my cell on a cloudy day....
Lets see if this works....

Much better, thanks.

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Kurt, The idea is to have just a little water, and have enough plants that they use up the water. This way you have fresh water coming in, which skeeters don't like.

The water in 'these' troughs, doesn't 'flow'. The valves only let water in, as it is used.
(The troughs at my friends aquaponics farm, have water flowing through them all the time)

Yes, there is some algae. It's easy to see on the white float and liner. It's not adding any nutes, it's actually using what nutes are in the water.

No mold...the water is stained like tea. The clumps you may see, are parts of potting mix that I've spilled.
The mix has lots of peat and pine bark. I was top watering a lot, for a few reasons. One, was to ensure the potting mix was wet enough, so that it would start to wick. I did have some seeds, I was trying to get to sprout.
When the extra water, I've been top watering with, makes it's way through the pots, it's staining the water.

Right now it's too cold for skeeters, to be much of an issue. I may try some wild mollies if they become a problem.
Mr. Hall mentioned covering the troughs, with something like landscape fabric. That would keep the algae and the skeeters out. He also mentioned adding a little vegetable oil. Something about the skeeters not being able to get in and out of the water.

[davidstcldfl]

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

Much better, thanks.

Your welcome...

[kurt]

Thanx for reply and answers.

[davidstcldfl]

Originally Posted by kurt

Thanx for reply and answers.

Your welcome Kurt.

In case anyone is interested.....On FB, there is a 'rain gutter growers systems' group. I've seen lot's of cool ideas there...

[dice]

A little cinnamon oil in the troughs might help with the mosquitoes.
It should float on top of the water. Whether it will get drawn into
the containers as they wick up water, I do not know.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0716081706.htm

Putting a mosquito dunk by the water inlet, where water will run
over it when ever the trough refills, might help, too.
( http://www.planetnatural.com/site/mosquito-dunks.html )

[ddsack]

Before I get into the system it's self, let me mention why I built it. Maybe I'm really trying to convince myself that it's ok....

It's more than ok! Very cleverly done, and I don't see any reason why it won't work great. How lucky for you to have found this unused shadehouse site with easy water access! It was just begging to have something growing there. I am very interested in the wood frames lined with the plastic. Can think of several uses for me. Thanks for sharing!

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Dice, Thanks, I never heard of using cinnamon oil. Mr Hall mentioned 'dunks'. I thought they might be full of nasties, but those looked pretty safe.

I just came from the shade house. It did get up to 80 today, but I don't remember seeing any skeeeters. The last week or 2 has been pretty cool for them. This summer, I'll most likely try the dunks.

Hi ddsack, For the wooden sides, I used corral boards from HD. They are rough cut, pressure treated, and a full one inch thick and a full 6 inches tall....16 ft long. I think I paid about $ 8.50 US each.
Not all HD's carry them. The county I'm in, has lots of farms. The HD near my friend's ap farm in Orlando, doesn't carry them.

[dice]

The mosquito dunks are probably more practical for most people.

The cinnamon oil likely kills larvae on contact, similar to an
industrial chemical, but it is fairly harsh to work with (burn a hole
right through you, or at least feels like it if you get some on your
bare skin). Farm workers, maintenance workers, etc, may be
prepared for that and have the right equipment to use it, but home
gardeners may not.

[riceke]

Just a word about mosuito dunks. I bought a type of dunk that was in the shape of a fish and was charcoal gray in color from the orange big box store. They came 6/pack and were next to the traditional round tan colored dunks. They were about half the price of the tans ones so I thought what the heck and bought them. Well they were worthless. I catch water from an air conditioner in a 5 gallon bucket. I placed one in the bucket and 3 days later I had mosquito larvae all over the place. Gave the bucket a stir to mix the dunks thinking that ay help but to no avail. So I didn't save any money and actually spent 2x as much since I had to buy to tan colored ones that do work.

[davidstcldfl]

Thanks for the info and thoughts Riceke and Dice...