Wick system need help!

**GUNSHOW** · 01-02-2011, 02:38 PM

Hi all, Im a newb on this site and to the world of cannabis growing. Rite now I have a 6 plant set up that is 4 weeks into flowering, (the ladies are starting to look really beautiful!) I am doing an advanced soil grow (coco core) with a wick system that runs from the bottom of the pots to a reservior. My problem is that until last week i was feeding my ladies with a nutrient/ worm casting tea from the top and allowing the excess liquid to drain into the rez where it would be used by the plant as necessary. (This method is great and really easy to maintain, especially if you plan on going away for a few days.) Now I am unable to feed from the top (due to a recent fungus gnat outbreak) there is a 2" layer of sand covering my soil at the base of my plants to keep the litter buggers out of my roots. Forcing me to add the liquid directly to the rez. The problem that I seem to be having is that the sludge and slime from the worm casting tea is building up in the rez, and on the wick, instead the nutrients being strained through the soil they are just staying in the bottom of the rez. "These are my concerns Dude" Will the slime from my beloved free, and organic, worm casting tea cause my wicks to fail due to a build up of gunk? What should I do?

**bubblebucketguy** · 01-02-2011, 05:05 PM

i would think over time yes the build up will cause the wicking of the water to slow and not work as it should. to solve this i would empty and clean the rez and either clean or install new wicks if possible at this point. and the rest of the grow you have left 4-6 weeks at this point should go smoothly. next time try putting a air stone in the rez to bubble the rez not keep it moving and it may help with the build up. hope this helps!

**GUNSHOW** · 01-02-2011, 11:45 PM

Thanks bubblebucket for the speedy response, I did some more searching and found that I should strain my tea before giving it to my plants, my other question is will the nutes travel up the wicks as well as the water or will the larger particls fail to make it to the roots? it seems that all the work I just did to get rid of the gnats will have to be un-done in order to get a proper nutrient balance.

**bubblebucketguy** · 01-03-2011, 11:23 PM

Well since you will be straining the tea mixture, i doubt there will be any big particles in the mix.
i would use yellow sticky traps for the gnats and look for some kind of plant safe pesticide to get rid of them. I think the source of the gnats in the first place could be the too moist coco and/or the organic based nutes your using. but could be wrong, ive never used coc before, just a thought.