SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
Have you seen all the roots that grow in the octopot sips ? On my last earth box tomato grow I had allot of roots in the res and they were huge tomato plants , my mj grow just finished week eight so we will see later this week when I harvest if my earthbox has water roots this time or not? But the air gap is vital to success
With tomatoes and other plants like cucumbers if too many roots get into the reservoir then my veggies seem to have a somewhat bland flavor over the ones with roots that stay in the soil. I'm not sure if this would make a difference with cannabis... maybe affect flavor? Also, I like the idea of minimizing the chance of roots possibly rotting in the reservoir.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
With tomatoes and other plants like cucumbers if too many roots get into the reservoir then my veggies seem to have a somewhat bland flavor over the ones with roots that stay in the soil. I'm not sure if this would make a difference with cannabis... maybe affect flavor? Also, I like the idea of minimizing the chance of roots possibly rotting in the reservoir.
The lady who runs the local nursery where I bought the tomato plants from said she didn't like!E sips for tomatoes she felt they were to watery something about the soil not drying out ,
My current MJ grow is the best run yet , but I can't see into the res till after the grow
 

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
The lady who runs the local nursery where I bought the tomato plants from said she didn't like!E sips for tomatoes she felt they were to watery something about the soil not drying out ,
My current MJ grow is the best run yet , but I can't see into the res till after the grow
Yeah, in general the regular tomatoes tend to be a bit watery and bland. The cherry and roma tomatoes rock... their flavor is great and I get tons of them. I think it might be because they can't get too big with water and they ripen quickly. The SIPS work great for cucumbers and greens.

Sometimes, even with the weed barrier the roots will grow down into the res at the fill tube... aggressive!

What size SIPS do you use and how long do you veg. your plants?
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
The large Earthtainers use 31 gallon totes, but the soil capacity is 24 gallons. The half water barrel SIPS are 27 gallons, but probably about 21 gallons of soil.

The wick on the Earthtainer is a 5" net pot filled with peat/ perlite mix. Here's the design I used by Ray Newstead. His manual rocks and he has a great non-profit to help areas of the world with poor growing soil.

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/pdfs/EarthTainer-Construction-Guide.pdf

For the water barrel I used a 4 - 5" layer of clean agricultural sand for the wick. I coil a 4" perforated ag pipe with a drain pipe sock around it to prevent sand from getting into the pipe. This acts as the reservoir. The sand fills in around the pipe and covers it over.

In both designs I like to use a couple layers of weed barrier between the growing medium and wicking medium to prevent roots from growing into the reservoir. I don't like roots in the res. I think this might be the flaw with Autopots which I will be attempting to remedy.
i think i might go this route and try to convert this to 27 gallon tough totes (no lowes nearby) based on this design my wick is going to be FAR to big oh well 7.89 down the drain for the one tote lol maybe I will try to take pics of this one as i make it.

thanks for the great info everyone! And for this pdf specifically @PDX Joe !
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
i think i might go this route and try to convert this to 27 gallon tough totes (no lowes nearby) based on this design my wick is going to be FAR to big oh well 7.89 down the drain for the one tote lol maybe I will try to take pics of this one as i make it.

thanks for the great info everyone! And for this pdf specifically @PDX Joe !
I believe on the first page of this thread there are PDF and plans to build differant storage tub sips
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
i think i might go this route and try to convert this to 27 gallon tough totes (no lowes nearby) based on this design my wick is going to be FAR to big oh well 7.89 down the drain for the one tote lol maybe I will try to take pics of this one as i make it.

thanks for the great info everyone! And for this pdf specifically @PDX Joe !
another storage tub design
 

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Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Eight weeks flower completed,, its day 57 flower in the grow cab,, the earthbox sip has been such a breeze this grow,, I am getting pretty lucky on the temps and humidity right now
 

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PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
another storage tub design
Yes, this is the small version designed by Ray Newstead. His nickname is Raybo on the tomato forums. I made two of these smaller versions and these are the ones I used for my outdoor cannabis and hops. They're also a bit easier to move around. The larger versions are a bear to move.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Yes, this is the small version designed by Ray Newstead. His nickname is Raybo on the tomato forums. I made two of these smaller versions and these are the ones I used for my outdoor cannabis and hops. They're also a bit easier to move around. The larger versions are a bear to move.
@Humanrob says the same thing about the big sips,, HEAVY!! I sure hope i dont make a big mess this weekend when i try to move the earthbox out of the bedroom
 

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
Eight weeks flower completed,, its day 57 flower in the grow cab,, the earthbox sip has been such a breeze this grow,, I am getting pretty lucky on the temps and humidity right now
How long did you veg for? I'm new to indoor growing so I'm trying to get a sense of container size to veg time. I vegged my current plants in my Autopots too long in an attempt to maximize my SCROG net and they are not happy, so I'm going to transplant into the 6 gallon Autopots before I switch to flower. Otherwise, my first indoor grow might be a bust. Oh well, I learned a lot and am going to at least do the SIPS mod for the Autopots and see if that improves the system.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
How long did you veg for? I'm new to indoor growing so I'm trying to get a sense of container size to veg time. I vegged my current plants in my Autopots too long in an attempt to maximize my SCROG net and they are not happy, so I'm going to transplant into the 6 gallon Autopots before I switch to flower. Otherwise, my first indoor grow might be a bust. Oh well, I learned a lot and am going to at least do the SIPS mod for the Autopots and see if that improves the system.
this is my 4th run thru this grow cab,, so i am getting a pretty good feel for when to FLIP the lights to 12 12,, so it fills the space
every grow has been from clones,, but I go more on size than age as to when to flip,, i need to check, but I think i vegged these for 18 days before flipping
 

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
this is my 4th run thru this grow cab,, so i am getting a pretty good feel for when to FLIP the lights to 12 12,, so it fills the space
every grow has been from clones,, but I go more on size than age as to when to flip,, i need to check, but I think i vegged these for 18 days before flipping
Wow, quick veg! Now I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've had my plants in veg for 9 weeks, although it was my intention to only veg for about 7-8 weeks, but I decided to wait to go to flower until I get my order of the larger Autopots and get them transplanted. Damn order has taken forever to get here.

The first photo are my plants at about 7 weeks veg. The second photo are the plants at 9 weeks veg. I ditched the two front plants because they never really looked great. But, you can see in the second photo the plants started looking sad and that's when I realized my fatal flaw of vegging too long.
 

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caretak3r

Well-Known Member
Wow, quick veg! Now I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've had my plants in veg for 9 weeks, although it was my intention to only veg for about 7-8 weeks, but I decided to wait to go to flower until I get my order of the larger Autopots and get them transplanted. Damn order has taken forever to get here.

The first photo are my plants at about 7 weeks veg. The second photo are the plants at 9 weeks veg. I ditched the two front plants because they never really looked great. But, you can see in the second photo the plants started looking sad and that's when I realized my fatal flaw of vegging too long.
I'm no kind of expert grower (unless expert means learning the most ways of NOT doing things), however, I'd venture to say that the sad plants probably has nothing to do with vegging too long... Vegging too long generally just means the plants outgrow the space....
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
I was just thinking about how different strains prefer different grow conditions: some like hotter soil, some can be grown closer to lights, some can be trimmed hard while others don't like that... it goes on and on. I'm wondering if some strains adapt to SIPs better than others. We're all pretty much just starting out, but maybe over time we can collect some data.

The other thing I've been thinking about is how in my early reading on growing cannabis, I read frequently that the number one rookie mistake is overwatering -- that cannabis is not a plant that likes "wet feet". I'm kind of thinking that SIPs fly in the face of that. Some of the lower leaves on my plants have a sort of droopiness that looks to me like a plant that is overwatered, but overall they seem to be thriving. Not sure what to make of that.
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
+1 on caretak3r -- I'm no expert, but I also agree that I don't think its an over-vegging issue. Too much time vegging could produce root bound plants, but I think the net result would be nute deficiencies and your plant doesn't seem to be lacking anything. What it looks like to me is a plant that is overwatered...

I'm no kind of expert grower (unless expert means learning the most ways of NOT doing things), however, I'd venture to say that the sad plants probably has nothing to do with vegging too long... Vegging too long generally just means the plants outgrow the space....

Wow, quick veg! Now I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've had my plants in veg for 9 weeks, although it was my intention to only veg for about 7-8 weeks, but I decided to wait to go to flower until I get my order of the larger Autopots and get them transplanted. Damn order has taken forever to get here.

The first photo are my plants at about 7 weeks veg. The second photo are the plants at 9 weeks veg. I ditched the two front plants because they never really looked great. But, you can see in the second photo the plants started looking sad and that's when I realized my fatal flaw of vegging too long.
 
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