Good day, one year ago I started a test.   My main goal was to put all my large fig trees inside self watering pots.  For my test I used 2 trees, Hardy Chicago and Galbun.  Now before I go into the results, let me say that I think Conadria and Galbun are the same.  I got my trees from 2 different sources, Rolling River and James Robin respectively.  Both have the exact same leaf pattern.  Both fruit at the same time.  Both do not like a lot of direct sun and heat meaning they droop when there is a ton of heat on them.  Both are rapid growers like Atreano.  And both taste the same.  Now, I’ll get off my soap box and talk about soil.

My reason for the test is to give my trees the best wicking system for maximum feeding of water especially in our high heat days of July and August.  Using a wicking system means you never have to worry about watering your trees if you use an irrigation system like me.  First let me explain how I designed my system.  I have one huge irrigation system with 5 loop area locations each with its own separate water timer.

My largest loop area, area number 1 has 237 large fig trees side by side.  Each container size varies from 5 gallon to 20 gallon.  Some trees are just older than some and I placed them in 20g containers.  Each pot gets one or two ½ g drip emitter.  Some larger trees get 1, 1g drip emitter.  I water the trees daily for 2 hours starting at 3AM.  The SWPs only get water every 4 days.  I only have 12 trees in SWPs, the rest are all normal pots. 

For TEST 1, I chose Fertilome’s UPM.

For TEST 2, I chose my mix called DJ’s Blend (Peat Moss, Cow Manure, Mushroom Manure, medium size Perlite, Lime, soil conditioner, osmocote)

Both trees were not winterized at all. 
Neither got water during winter. 
Both had zero die back. 
Both test were successful!   However, I will say,,, I do have to water a day early using the UPM.  So in the long run, the best cost effective test is Test 2.  I can make my mix for about $2 a bag compared to $9 UPM.   Plus I save on water.   I am glad I ran this test!

I would stay away from using any peatmoss in self watering containers. It breaks down and turns into mush after 1 year. I have found 60% river sand and 40% coco coir to be optimal. I mulch with a nice layer of pine bark mulch. The great thing about this sand mix is it can be easily washed out and mostly reused. Adding 20% pumice and 20% coir instead might be a good option as well, though I think the figs can cope with the more moisture available as long as you go lighter on the watering during the first year.

The only issue with this mix is its on the heavy side. The combination of the coir and wick action gives the mix good aeration. I add fish emulsion and kelp powder biweekly, with an initial tablespoon or so of azomite into the mix.Mycorrhizal fungi is added in with first few water schedules. I also add rock phosphate near fruiting time.

Great thing about the SWC is you can skip the time release fertilizer. Most of the organic fertilizer will run off into the reserve, where the feeder roots will happily uptake it. I always dilute by about half strength due to the reserve.

nullzero, how different is the HD builder's sand  from the river sand you mentioned? Are they approx. the same size?

Nullzero, thanks for the comment.  I do use a double layer of burlap at the bottom and I know its working.  And whenever I test the water to see if its muddy or clear, every time it comes out clear.  So,I know the burlap is working.  Each of my pots hold about 2 gallons of water.  Nullzero, you and I need to talk more about this.  You and a handful of others here are using SWPs.  I got 19 blocks of coconut coir and haven't figure out how I really want to use it.  I'm going to try your mix and see how I like it.  And I also like using the fish emulsion and mycorrhizal.  Hmmmmm, now you got me thinking.  I have to find a cheap source for the river sand.  I may test this mix in my oak whiskey barrels too.  thanks for the comments!  They are greatly appreciated!

I did some experiments the past 3 years in 18 gal tote SWCs with the sand mix. I got the best results with the sand mix from my tests. I would mulch every 3-4 months with pine bark on the top. My healthiest container plants where in the 18 gal SWC totes with sand/pine bark 60/40.

Eventually I tried coir and sand and got great results. Sand will only work well in an SWC situation, due to the unique wick setup (regular containers it will not perform well at all!). Any of the following will work great mixed in good ratios (using only 2 or all in the mix). Ratios may do better for different plants, personally I will adapt the mix to the plant.

Sand (20% to 80%)
Coco Coir (40% or lower)
Mesquite charcoal (natural) (20% or lower)
Pine Bark (10% to 70%)
Pumice (30% or lower)

greenfig,

Construction sand should work, just make sure to shift out the rocks. I recommend river sand because its a higher quality more uniform grit size. I would prewash the construction sand as well. One thing about sand is you want to make sure your not getting a high salt content in it (ex. beach sand).

Snaglpus,

Personally for a optimal fig specific recipe I would go with something like;

30% sand (river preferred), 10% mesquite charcoal, 20% Pumice, 20% coir, 20% pine bark

You get a little of everything and high quality ingredients.

*Sand, adds nice minerals (slow break down) good anchor for roots
*Charcoal, enhances the mycorrhizal colonies, improves aeration, and raises ph a tad
*Pumice, increases drainage and aeration
*Coir, water retention and aeration
*Pine bark, lowers ph and adds organic matter for mycorrihizal colonies and worms

All the these ingredients will last easily 2 years, performance I believe won't decline for a while (it may actually improve after the first year due to the initial breakdown and happy colonies of mycorrhizal and worms living in the container.

Fertilizer schedule (This is mainly a guideline, roughly using the amounts works for me well, some plants will like more fertilizer while others do fine with less);

Once a week all the time during active growing
*Fresh worm castings water (I would do it every watering if you have it available)
*Compost tea (if available)
*Table spoon of brown sugar, molasses, or corn syrup per gal of water
*Using an air stone with the water, castings (or compost tea), and sugar source for 24 hours p prior to using supposedly increases effectiveness
*Teaspoon of mycogrow (first three watering for that plant)

Vegetative schedule every week
*1 tablespoon of fish emulsion per gal
*1 teaspoon of kelp powder and humic acid per gal
*1 teaspoon Yucca powder (for water absorption) per gal

Flowering/Fruiting
*1 tablespoon of fish emulsion per gal
*1 tablespoon of kelp powder and humic acid per gal
*1 tablespoon of rock phosphate
*1 teaspoon of Yucca powder

Twice a year
*1 tablespoon of epsom salt per gal
*1 teaspoon of iron chelate per gal
*1 tablespoon of azomite per gal

Now what I do with these 1 gal mixes, is distribute it to the plants based on size of the plant and container size. Ex. I have a fig tree in a 15 gal container and its 5 ft tall, I am going to use the whole 1 gal mix on it. If there is a seedling in a 4 inch container, I am going to use about 2 tablespoons of mix on it.

Before applying the Vegetative, Flowering, and Twice a Year mix. I like to presoak the container with the water/castings mix or just water (as if you were just watering). Then apply the mix after that is done. Finish with a slightly watering just to wash some of it around the container and off the leaves.

I mainly use this as a soil drench, however you can use the castings and vegetative mix as a foliar spray (at night) dilute by about 1/2. This fertilizer schedule is all natural and its very hard to burn your plants. The goal of it is to feed the soil and boom the mycorrhizae populations. This works very well in an SWC because all that natural fertilizer runoff is brewing in the water reserve (its like a super fertilizer when the feeder roots get in there).

Thanks for starting this topic, its very timely.
I am currently making some self watering containers for a few of the more tender cultivars. I've used peat based mixes in the past, based on the Earth-Box mix, where the fertilizer is placed in the top of the container not mixed in the potting mix, I use Espoma Garden-tone. I tried a coir based seed starting mix for rooting cuttings and was surprised with the water holding capacity, it's not easily waterlogged. Ive also used Play Sand and peat as a potting mix with good results (50/50). Thanks for posting all the mix ratios.

Attached is an older Earth Box booklet with full instructions for set-up and fertilizer placement. I have not purchased an Earth box, but have used the principles in home made SIP's (SWP's) with good results.

Dennis, could you elaborate a bit more on your DJ's blend i.e. provide relative amounts and brand/sourcing for the components?  I'm weighing whether to move to this system.  Thanks!

Sure!

using one 5 gallon bucket....

3 buckets Mircle Grow potting soil
1/2 bucket of cow manure
1 bucket of pea size perlite
1/2 bags of mushroom soil
1/2 bag of water saver (soil conditioner)
1 pound or 16ozs of pettetized lime (not the white powder stuff)
1 pound or 16ozs of mychoriziah

I take no credit for the recipe.  I found a basic recipe for trees in an old gardening magazine.  I modified it to suit my needs by swapping the sand for perlite and I added the lime and mycho.

Very helpful but I have a couple follow up questions.  Is the cow manure the stuff you get in bags from Home Depot/Lowes or does it come from a farm?  I suppose horse manure could be substituted if herbecide-free.  Do you have a good source for the pea size perlite?  All I have been able to find in stores around here is smaller.  Thanks again.

Cow manure.....yes. Lowes has it. As for the perlite, I buy the huge tall 4 foot medium grade from my local hypotonic store.

Careful with the horse manure. If it's not composted hot enough it will be full of weed seeds.

I can't seem to find river sand locally.  Would 50/50 coir and perlite (which size) work well in a self watering setup?

Andrew

Andy,

50/50 should work well. Just make sure the coir is decent quality with lower sodium content (prewashed). If you can get the large chunky perlite even better.

I bought this at PetsMart yesterday for $6.79.  It's 3 small bricks of coco husks.  One brick (nearly) half filled a 5 gal bucket.
http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3758909dt.jpg

Does anyone have a better/cheaper source?

Thanks,
James

How about this one?

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Coco-Burpee-5-6302553

I re-read this thread more carefully and now have become more interested in Nullzero's comments on media.

"Construction sand should work, just make sure to shift out the rocks. I recommend river sand because its a higher quality more uniform grit size. I would prewash the construction sand as well. One thing about sand is you want to make sure your not getting a high salt content in it (ex. beach sand)."

I haven't had any luck finding river sand but "play sand" is readily available in box stores.  It says it is pre-washed.  It is a fairly fine grit - is this ok or is the courser sand better? 

Mesquite charcoal - is this the type of product you are referring to?
http://www.lazzari.com/about-mesquite-charcoal.html

Pumice - I found a horse bedding product called "Drystall" that is supposed to be an inexpensive type of pumice.  Has anyone tried this?

Pine bark - how course should it be?  For my regular container media I have been using "pine fines" by Kambark - does this seem ok?

Thanks!

This is a 'Mauritius' lychee in a 18 gal tote. Using close to a 60% sand mix with about 20% pine bark and 20% cactus soil mix (did not have the pumice and other materials on hand so used this to fill the gap).



Trichocereus 'Epic', this is in a regular container however its using a pinebark, coco coir, perlite mix, with some crushed mesquite added.

I plant to start several figs into 5 gallon SWPs/SWCs over the next couple weeks.  Nullzero's fertilizer regimen (above) sounds great but this season I think I am going to keep things simple.  I was thinking of using Foliage Pro 9-3-6 which is supposed to have micronutrients.  It's water soluble so this would make it easier to withdraw fertilizer later in the summer in preparation for the onset of dormancy in the Fall.  Maybe I'll go organic next year. 

But how to apply a water soluble fertilizer in SWPs?  I was initially thinking of including it in the water used to moisten the soil mix and then include it in the water reservoir.  I'm assuming the fertilizer would effectively diffuse into the soil mix along with the water.  Would there be a problem with evaporation concentrating the fertilizer in the reservoir?  But then I thought maybe a better idea would be to apply the dilute liquid fertilizer from the top (maybe once a week) and keep non-fertilized water in the reservoir.  Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

JD Smith

I've bought this brand twice from Amazon and have been very happy with the quality of the product.  Guess you'd have to convert your small block size to the 5kg size to see which was cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH98145-COCOTEK-BAIL/dp/B004D441ZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372300652&sr=8-1&keywords=cocotek

After reading this thread back in June I decided to go with Nullzero's general recipe (coir instead of peat) and set up seven 5 gallon self watering containers with:

30% play sand (washed)

10% mesquite lump charcoal - not in briquet form; crush with hammer to dime size or smaller

20% pumice - used Drystall horse bedding from Southern States

20% coconut coir

20% pine bark

burlap for bottom

To this I added 1 cup of Espoma tree tone and 1 cup dolomitic limestone per 5 gallons.

The only problem is that I had to bare-root the trees to transfer them into this potting media because it was so different from the 5-1-1 mix I had them in.  As a result some trees were really set back and it was touch and go with a couple.  But now they are really doing well.  The figs in the SWCs don't show heat stress like my others (not in SWCs) often do between waterings.  I'm sold on this approach.