Microgreen Watering ... SIPing right along

What to do, what to do ... how do I water my microgreens to make sure they have the right amount of water to grow.  This commonly asked question really escapes a simple answer. Enter research and design using self-watering planters that are sometimes called “sub-irrigated planters” or SIPs, because your plants get to “sip” water whenever they want.

We went to work and have come up with multiple designs and are conducting tests on them. Pictured are the first two prototypes.

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The unit on the right and middle is our prototype 1, this is using a sure to grow mat with a watering tube in the upper left corner so we could directly water the matting under the wondersoil from a single point. Middle picture shows the soil on the mat before spreading and seeding.  Picture at the far right is of the planted tray with the humidity cover on ready to see the effects of this watering system.

Prototype 2 is a design utilizing an external watering container. This would be useful in servicing multiple plants from a single water holder.  The premise here is that each crop would use water as needed and when needed. The picture on the far left shows a strip of the matting that is laid beneath the main mat in the planting container. This strip simply is placed first with the sub surface wicking mat next and the soil surface above. This configuration would allow multiple plant units to be serviced by the central water container. These two prototypes are presently being grown out with microgreens to judge their effectiveness. We have another design that was just constructed so watch for updates on our new SIPing systems ...