SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I'm the last person to ask but the yellow points and papery like brown appearance looks like further stage of what I had recently and think it was K deficiency. But in your case you have dark green there too so that like you said seems N excess. I don't recall if N is antagonistic to K or if it's something else that is but that could explain that.
I'm not exactly sure either, but when ive gotten N toxicity, the dark green never really left the leaves. They may have lightened a tad, but not much.
 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member
Yeah I just looked it up and high N can cause K deficiency.
That could be what it was. I had high potassium as well in my test. I actually added nitrogen in the form of blood meal because the original test had nitrogen so low and potassium pretty high. Guess i need to do some more research<g
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
My soil mix was a Coots style mix that had some more of the dry amendments(based on some experienced members advice) It had the 1/3 mix of compost(bu's bio), aeration(perlite and pumice) and peat. I had all the rock dusts to the amounts per Coot's recipe. I originally did the 1/2C per CF of Neem, Karanja, Crab meal, and kelp meal, but ended up adding a bit more.

I used this recipe as my template
I'm gonna be startng mine up here in the next couple weeks. I just bought the bas 3.0 to take the guesswork out.

Have you top dressed at all? Any Kashi? Any mulch?
 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member
I'm gonna be startng mine up here in the next couple weeks. I just bought the bas 3.0 to take the guesswork out.

Have you top dressed at all? Any Kashi? Any mulch?
The only top dressing i did was with some malted barley. I put a mulch cover on top and that is covered in plastic. I have some earthworms in as well
 

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
Do I need to put some kind of filter over the screen to keep the soil out of the water? Soil definitely got into the water reservoir, I’m using the Earthbox junior
 

GrassBurner

Well-Known Member
You got worms in your soil? I believe they were the soil moving culprits in my planters. Im guessing as they worked their way down, they went through the openings, and brought dirt with them.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
So I have a question for you all and need some advice. I am having a funky sulfur smell come from the new ones I just started.

The one w the cover on it was started this time last week. That one is rocking already. Probably will go into flower this weekend.

The other 2 I did this weekend and stuck a few clones into them.

I ran out of dirt from my first tote so moved on to my next one. I have 3 of these totes I put soil from last round, ammended w ewc and DTE veganic mix and left to cook since Dec.

This 2nd tote was a little dried out, I guess I hadn't added as much water to it or turned over the soil as much. It didn't smell any kind of way when I did add water to premoisten it. even now the tote doesn't smell.

I added my normal DTE vegan mix trenches, and then topped off the sips with EWC. the only thing I did do differently was mix in some of the BAS pinto bean compost which was bone dry. I top wet everything to get it nice (not too wet tho) and then planted my clones. I did not fill the sips with water yet.

Within 2 or 3 hours when I unzipped the tent, I smelled funk. like feet. I looked it up and realized I must have anaerobic bacteria so I pulled the covers off and turned my exhaust fan on a higher speed. within 24 hrs or so the smell had subsided and the top layer of soil was starting to dry out. I figured maybe I could use beneficial bacteria to kill the bad ones so I sprinkled some bokashi grain on top of the sips to at least try to help cover up the last of the smell. by the next day all I smelled was bokashi. so I decided it was time to add water, and to help boost the benes even more, made up a ewc, kelp meal, coconut powder, and touch of Recharge "tea" like I did for the plants that are in flower now. just a few oz each to wet the top of the soil a little. covers went back on.

this morning g I checked and the funky smell was back. have a little fuzz starting from the bokashi already so maybe that will knock it out. but I peeled back the covers again and turned the fan back up.

is this a lost cause? should I dump the dirt and start fresh any? any other ideas?

it would be annoying to lose these plants but they are all clones so I still have the genetics and more clones i can replace these with,, and would rather lose a couple weeks of growth than be fighting issues the whole time. but if it's just a matter of waiting a few days I will just be patient and wait for things to sort themself out.

View attachment 4888860
Smell is from the dry fertilizer ,no worries.
 

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
Well here she is. Useful Seed’s Blue Dream (Santa Cruz cut) x Chocolate Diesel fem.

she’ll be 3 weeks old on Sunday (two days from now) soil is coots, 2nd cycle, re-amended and grew cover crops in it, only to break the soil up (roots instance) and put in the Earthbox Jr. It seemed like a great idea then, but the more I thought about it and understood more the less I was sure. Like crimson clover does not start fixing nitrogen and making root nodules for six weeks. Also the breaking down of the green material underneath the cover, would get gooey and maybe bad. I top dressed with gnarly barley from Build a Soil, grokashi and like a 3/4 of a gallon of homemade vermicompost and compost tea to water the seedling in.

as I fill the reservoir the soil bits come out. Should I use EM1, I have been seeing people say you don’t need it.

87F7F612-EF63-4BC2-B565-A4487D35B7FB.png
 

GrassBurner

Well-Known Member
Why not use concrete mesh?
I've got some Hog panel outside with 3"x3" openings. Wanted something I could place around the bottoms and train branches for now, that I didn't have to poke through my cover and insulation/moisture barrier. I've got a few trellis' I built, once they get tall enough I'll put them in there and help spread them out :mrgreen:
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
I've got some Hog panel outside with 3"x3" openings. Wanted something I could place around the bottoms and train branches for now, that I didn't have to poke through my cover and insulation/moisture barrier. I've got a few trellis' I built, once they get tall enough I'll put them in there and help spread them out :mrgreen:
Ah... makes sense now. I keep forgetting about the covers. It's gonna take a lil getting used to.
 
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