SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)
- Thread starter Humanrob
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meangreengrowinmachine
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Made up this compost tea brewer to replace my old "put an air stone in a bucket and hold it down with something heavy" method lolz. Also have a small aquarium heater in there since it is in my northern basement. Also come pics of the 5 gallon sip ladies from today. Looking nice! ( the pomegranate juice bottle has old worm bin run off in it.. and also added some dried crushed banana peals and some great white)
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meangreengrowinmachine
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So after about 36 hours... my thoughts on this brewer.... 1. It needs some kind of cover... 2. For the love of God put this in a water tight bottomed tote when running unless you want really good smelling compost tea all over...3. This thing is LOUD, make sure you have it somewhere that, that won't matter... and finally...wow does this thing seem to make foam!!! I think this is a great sign that this is much much better then ans air stone alone and it is very very easy to construct with the main cost being the air pump. Top dressed all the ladies with this beautiful tea today! Everyone looking great!
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meangreengrowinmachine
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meangreengrowinmachine
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meangreengrowinmachine
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Wondering what everyone thinks of my soil recipe? Also I am looking to add possibly Gypsum to the mix but not sure in what ratio with this mix, also I am using LEDs so I want to have a really high availability of calcium and magnesium as it seems like LEDs (and from what I have read a lot on these forums) seem to make plants much more Cal-Mag hungry. I also have access to plenty of goat, rabbit, chicken, Turkey and Pig droppings as well as ground dried egg shells and banana peals to use. What do you all think?? thanks!
pete moss 7.5 gal
worm castings 3.75 gal
compost 3.75 gal
perlite 7.5 gal
lime 3 cups
glacial rock dust 12 cups
thats my base
then I mix my amendments together as below
kelp meal 6 cups
epsoma tomato tone 3 cups
alfalfa meal 3 cups
neem meal 3 cups
crab meal 3 cups
finely ground egg shells about 3 cups
azomite about a cup
I then take a total of 7.5 cups of the amendment mix and add it to the base and let it sit for at least 4 weeks...
pete moss 7.5 gal
worm castings 3.75 gal
compost 3.75 gal
perlite 7.5 gal
lime 3 cups
glacial rock dust 12 cups
thats my base
then I mix my amendments together as below
kelp meal 6 cups
epsoma tomato tone 3 cups
alfalfa meal 3 cups
neem meal 3 cups
crab meal 3 cups
finely ground egg shells about 3 cups
azomite about a cup
I then take a total of 7.5 cups of the amendment mix and add it to the base and let it sit for at least 4 weeks...
Hash Hound
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How do you all mix your dry nutes/amendments into the soil for a sip?
Evenly through out the soil? Mostly on the bottom half? Mostly top?
I normally mix through out but was wondering if it would be better to have more on the bottom where the moisture is, but I watched the video where the guy put everything including the compost on top then covered and supposedly evaporated water drips back down through the stuff.
Evenly through out the soil? Mostly on the bottom half? Mostly top?
I normally mix through out but was wondering if it would be better to have more on the bottom where the moisture is, but I watched the video where the guy put everything including the compost on top then covered and supposedly evaporated water drips back down through the stuff.
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
Mix throughout but I only use straight peat moss in the wick. The original sip PDF I think does call for using the trenching method.
meangreengrowinmachine
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Thunder wookie by Bodhi picked on day 62. It was a very overgrown plant and vegged far too long ao there is a ton of larf. Might just have to get a press or some new bubble bags for that. Now we hang for 10 days in dark temp controlled room with just the small fan on the bottom going. I am on day 49 with the other room with another thunder wookie, some purple wookie, heavenly hash plant and 1 random wedding cake bag seed. Should be much less larf on them and they were well planned out. Next run is already in the works.. Black Raspberry by bodhi, some GLG freebies that are Deathstar x Apollo13 testers.
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halfbreed421
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Some say the beneficial bacteria are more helpful for short term plants like this, like bacillus subtilis and trichoderma
Reefslinger
Active Member
Wondering if this is an excess of potassium. Gave her full flowering nutes(Gia green) sept 15 with the intention of putting her into 12/12 within the week. For different reasons got completely delayed and just started 12/12 last night but not before giving her another full top dressing of gai 2 days ago(keeping the feeding schedule of every 3 weeks). Thinking this might be big trouble. Should I be flushing? And if so how to do it with a sip? Should I scrape off the top dressing? (Lots of roots sitting on top so that might be rough on them) or maybe not worry about it as 12/12 has started and potassium will start to be absorbed quickly?
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raggyb
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I'm no pro but I guess not feeding any nutes for a long time it would flush itself out. Kind of the plant will decide to drink the water in the sip and not the nutes if too many nutes. I can't imagine actually flushing with a sip because your nutes will go into the res. Is gia green put in as dry powder or solution? I just don't want it leaching my res in my case. I might wet a top dress a little if you think it needs it but that's it.
Reefslinger
Active Member
Thanks raggyb. Gai green are dry amendments. There hasn’t been any change in the last 2 days so I think I’m going to leave well enough alone and see what happens. I’m glad I didn’t do anything rash. Lol
Reefslinger
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meangreengrowinmachine
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Looking nice man!
raggyb
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Hmm, yours are growing faster than mine. Maybe I'll try a cover on one instead of mulch. As long as I don't get gnats. You aren't using CO2 are you?
Reefslinger
Active Member
Nope no co2 but I do struggle with gnats even though I mixed Karanja cake with the soil. Now I’m looking at trying mosquito dunks with fingers crossed.
raggyb
Well-Known Member
still they look good and growing fast. I'm keeping it organic, so I only using sticky paper right now to fight them gnats, as well as fabric pots with mulch and no cover to keep the top dryer believing that it's less favorable for them. i seem to have the gnats in check. but don't get me wrong, my plants are growing better than ever just not as fast as yours.
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
I would just sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on the top of the soil and or mulch. Love the stuff!
raggyb
Well-Known Member
yes. i had a little which I did put down on the worst spots and it helped. also some spiders have set up shop in the infected pot and they know better than to go in the de. it's funny though because it almost seems like a small number of fg's figure out not to go in the de, how not to fly into the spider's webs and not to land on the sticky paper. one sip I made was a weird afterthought of spare parts so it isn't quite right but it's a pot with a wick sitting across a tray of water. the water is exposed by the water inlet which enters thru a hole in the side of the tray. I saw live larvae in the water and so when they hatch they try to fly out to open air and get stuck in sticky paper that i covered the opening with. that worked well.
maybe I put a 'cap' on one of the better sips and DE the top of that one to test and see how it works. but I'm suspicious DE doesn't work that well after it gets wet. it cakes up and doesn't completely cover the soil any more.