SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Ugh...whoever originally installed the electric in my house.... I have like 30 breakers all filled... but it seems like everything in my house is on like 4 lol... I need to figure out how to determine what is drawing what power wise. My ac does not like being on a circuit with the light. Damn it I thought i had this solved for now...

 

[Kayaganja]

I don’t know what happened there pics x100 , trying to edit ,

I got a growbox awhile back , cooked my own soil since I can’t find most of the stuff guy & dolls talk about putting in ones soil I can’t get so I did my own eye hand bucket way of measuring, so don’t start with how much did you put . Anyway thins is my first sip , only thing that I add should be EM1 , will try update weekly here is first week in sip bins, so I couldn’t just take a few pics off took the post down and will try put them up again one by one ,

 

[Kayaganja]

So my soil is made up like this
fish meal,
peat,
Horse poo
Cow poo ,
chicken poo,
Blood meal
Bone meal
Dolomite
Oyster shells perlite
Alfalfa
Bokashi compost and Bokashi bran in soil
Em1
EWC
Kokos
Seaweed
I just use liter mugs and Bucket when mixing, ended up with one ton (1000kgs) of soil all mixed down in this garbage bin
I cut a garbage bin in half to make a sip system for 6-8 plants No til , will keep you updated when I start working on it .

 

[lazypothead420]

Would I be able to add perlite where this says to add soil and just put my fabric pots on top of the perlite? https://www.agardenpatch.com/

 

[sudshead]

So, almost commited to this direction for next grow. My soil is ready and I've got the containers picked.
I'm gonna stack 2 of those rubbermaid containers, and have 2 units side by side in my flower space.
Hoping to have a decent reservoir, so thinking about using 6" PVC for the base.

With this in mind-Hope none of these questions are too dumb.

-Anybody have a line on any net pots 6" deep? I'm assuming i want the pot to get to the bottom of the reservoir. This is the deepest i'm seeing-https://www.amazon.com/Tectsia-inch-Heavy-Round-Design/dp/B085YD8TJ8/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=6+inch+net+pots&qid=1616466715&sr=8-2
-how do you deal with the gap between the two tubs? i know we don't want light getting into the reservoir if possible.
-can I pack the net pot with soil, or should i fill it with something else?
-if you use cut PVC for the base, are you gluing them in or just letting them free-stand?
-anybody using an overflow hose to preserve the airgap? I am thinking to have the top of the 1/2 hose at the 6" mark, consequently keeping a 1/2 air gap, with the hose from both tubs going to a 5 gallon bucket for overflow.
-any issues with funkiness in reservoir? Any reason to put anything in it.

Lastly, I know some of you have had success with living soil and SIPs. I would love to hear any thoughts you have. It seems like a great idea, and i want to make sure i am doing due diligence before I drag 60 gallons into a relatively immovable space.

As always, thanks for the generosity of sharing your thoughts and experience.

Much love
Tex

I go with 1 gallon nursery pots - can get them free at a lot of places and drill holes plus they are strong. I just made 3 outdoor kiddy pool sips with 40 gallon fabric pots on top - used 5 gallon nursery pots as the sips

 

[sudshead]

Here is a pic of my 3 kiddie pools with 5 gallon nursery pots that will hold wick mixture. Concrete wire on top. I cut the concrete wire at the pot opening and fold the metal down. Then put the 40 gallon fabric pots on top and cut an X in the middle and fold fabric into the nursery pot then fill with wick mix (50/50 peat and soil). Fill the kiddie pool to the top with water and its about 2 inches of air space. Cutout some round insulating foil that is silver on one side and white on the other and it keeps it nice and moist underneath and bokashi kicking in (been one day)

 

[myke]

Yeah anything plastic can be used as a wick. One gallon pot just drill a hundred holes in it. Yes you want wick just touching bottom with weight of soil pushing down.
really not anything new. Sips been around a long time. Some just use drainage pipe in the bottom of huge beds. Key is the overflow hole. Can’t let soil sit in water.

 

[sudshead]

Yeah anything plastic can be used as a wick. One gallon pot just drill a hundred holes in it. Yes you want wick just touching bottom with weight of soil pushing down.
really not anything new. Sips been around a long time. Some just use drainage pipe in the bottom of huge beds. Key is the overflow hole. Can’t let soil sit in water.

yep -- the kiddie pools will just overflow on the top so can never have water touch the fabric pot. Will put some plants in around june 10th. Be interesting to see if they make it, neighbor came over and threatened to call the sheriff.Never had problems before but now they want to do an airbnb and all of a sudden dont like my plants

 

[myke]

yep -- the kiddie pools will just overflow on the top so can never have water touch the fabric pot. Will put some plants in around june 10th. Be interesting to see if they make it, neighbor came over and threatened to call the sheriff.Never had problems before but now they want to do an airbnb and all of a sudden dont like my plants

Bummer about neighbours,is there a hole in fabric for wick?Or no and roots will find there way?

 

[sudshead]

Bummer about neighbours,is there a hole in fabric for wick?Or no and roots will find there way?

I cut an X in the bottom center of the fabic and folded it into the nursery pot then put the wick mixture in so yes essentially a hole the size of the 5 gallon wick

 

[DankTankerous]

Here’s mine at almost 7 weeks. It’s safe to say I need to top dress her. She’s drinking over a liter of water a day

Useful Seeds Blue Dream (SC cut) x Chocolate Diesel)

 

[DankTankerous]

Have y’all ever had your plants “outgrow” the soil in your sip’s to a point where it’s depleted? What did you do?

I’m pretty sure that is what’s happening to mine. So, I top dressed 1/2 gal of fresh worm castings along with, 1 tbsn of Bio Alive, malted barley seed, grokashi, and Roots Organic Cal Mag. Then I sprayed it with Fish amino acid solution to set it in. I think tomorrow I’m going to top dress with neem meal, I don’t think the tablespoon of bioalive was enough. I thought about just stacking more of the coot’s mix on top, build holding walls to put more soil in.

what do y’all think?

Btw the plant is only 6 weeks and 3 days. It’s an absolute Monster. My last post has the picture taken last night.

 

[GrassBurner]

For sure!!! These sips give an ideal environment for plants to thrive, and they get huuungry. I just top dressed a second time with Dr Earth Flowergirl @ 4tbsp per plant. If you started with only 1 plant, it might even want more.
I put 4 plants per sip, then thin out the males. But what I think is happening, is during veg when the plants are building the root system, there is only so much room each plant gets. And by the time I switch to flower and cull the males, the plant is slowing down building its root system. So even though I only have 1 or 2 plants in during flower, they're root system isn't gonna fill out the planter. If you only have 1 plant, and the roots fill the whole sip during veg, it's gonna be able to take in a lot of nutrients, and it will be a monster. Just my theory.

 

[ilovereggae]

Have y’all ever had your plants “outgrow” the soil in your sip’s to a point where it’s depleted? What did you do?

I’m pretty sure that is what’s happening to mine. So, I top dressed 1/2 gal of fresh worm castings along with, 1 tbsn of Bio Alive, malted barley seed, grokashi, and Roots Organic Cal Mag. Then I sprayed it with Fish amino acid solution to set it in. I think tomorrow I’m going to top dress with neem meal, I don’t think the tablespoon of bioalive was enough. I thought about just stacking more of the coot’s mix on top, build holding walls to put more soil in.

what do y’all think?

Btw the plant is only 6 weeks and 3 days. It’s an absolute Monster. My last post has the picture taken last night.

I'm dealing with a bit of this myself. I put 2 plants to a eatthbox Jr and flowered at 12" tall which is about where I would go with 2 gal pots. I figure since each Jr hold about 4 gallons of soil it would work great. wrong. they grow so fast in the sips the soil was done by week 3 of flower. I had to top them off w another gallon of soil + ewc, mixed in more dry DTE vegan mix and topped off w bokashi. am now feeding them buildabloom thru the res. I think I can get thru flower this way but it ain't my prettiest crop that's for sure.

I was using ammended soil that I've run a couple times before. Going to have to go with 1/3 ewc and add some pumice I think to make this work with what I have left for my next round. I also think once I've used this all up I'm going to toss it and use fresh soil every run. might still have to cheat and use the buildabloom anyway.

"my plants grow too fast"... what a problem to have

 

[myke]

If you go by what the container growers say its 7 gallons minimum per plant.Ive found 5 gallons of soil lasts about 4-5 weeks without feeding.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

An earthbox is 2 cubic feet which amounts to about 15 gallons of soil. Unless you are like me ans mound the crap out of the top I might have 18 ish or more in there.

 

[ilovereggae]

An earthbox is 2 cubic feet which amounts to about 15 gallons of soil. Unless you are like me ans mound the crap out of the top I might have 18 ish or more in there.

you are right, when I first did my math I based it off what their website says - that the Jr can hold 1 cu ft of soil or @ 7.5 gal. Maybe my guesstimates of how much soil is in each one is wrong but I dont think it holds more than 4 gallons of soil unless maybe I pack it super tight and tamp the soil down? i do this to the soil that is in the wick but I just filled up the rest like normal. the first ones I did i was able to add another gallon of soil but would be hard to get any more in there now and get the covers to still fit. have been filling new ones up as much as possible now.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

you are right, when I first did my math I based it off what their website says - that the Jr can hold 1 cu ft of soil or @ 7.5 gal. Maybe my guesstimates of how much soil is in each one is wrong but I dont think it holds more than 4 gallons of soil unless maybe I pack it super tight and tamp the soil down? i do this to the soil that is in the wick but I just filled up the rest like normal. the first ones I did i was able to add another gallon of soil but would be hard to get any more in there now and get the covers to still fit. have been filling new ones up as much as possible now.

Huh I have never used the Jr but I'm sure those volumes are approx. For each persons soil depending on how dense your mix is also. But you are right not to be packing it in there for sure. The wicks you do want to pack down. I use just peat moss in all my wicks personally.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

you are right, when I first did my math I based it off what their website says - that the Jr can hold 1 cu ft of soil or @ 7.5 gal. Maybe my guesstimates of how much soil is in each one is wrong but I dont think it holds more than 4 gallons of soil unless maybe I pack it super tight and tamp the soil down? i do this to the soil that is in the wick but I just filled up the rest like normal. the first ones I did i was able to add another gallon of soil but would be hard to get any more in there now and get the covers to still fit. have been filling new ones up as much as possible now.

But ime the earthbox estimation is pretty spot on... I am running 12 atm.. all homemade organic soil yeah that was a lot of shoveling hahahah

 

[DankTankerous]

I'm dealing with a bit of this myself. I put 2 plants to a eatthbox Jr and flowered at 12" tall which is about where I would go with 2 gal pots. I figure since each Jr hold about 4 gallons of soil it would work great. wrong. they grow so fast in the sips the soil was done by week 3 of flower. I had to top them off w another gallon of soil + ewc, mixed in more dry DTE vegan mix and topped off w bokashi. am now feeding them buildabloom thru the res. I think I can get thru flower this way but it ain't my prettiest crop that's for sure.

I was using ammended soil that I've run a couple times before. Going to have to go with 1/3 ewc and add some pumice I think to make this work with what I have left for my next round. I also think once I've used this all up I'm going to toss it and use fresh soil every run. might still have to cheat and use the buildabloom anyway.

"my plants grow too fast"... what a problem to have

View attachment 4910254View attachment 4910255View attachment 4910256View attachment 4910257

You’re plants look great to me. How are you feeding your plant through the res?

I’m also using recycled and re-amended soil, I just toss the roots in my worm bin and give more aeration and worm castings. I’m going to upgrade next time and either get the full sized Earthbox or make my own. I still have like a gal or two of the coot’s mix but it looks flowering tea’s once a week or every other. I also have a bunch of homemade worm castings so it should be good

I foliar fed it with Fish Amino Acid and that did the trick. Leavings were green and praying this morning