Grow along with Big Willie!

wil2279 said:

To each their own. I'm too lazy to learn how to grow with bottled nutrients. That is why I prefer soil. I can occasionally top dress slow time release organic fertilizer occasionally and I just let the plants and soil do their thing. I would love to be growing in Coco with bottled nutrients using an automated fertigation system.
But I also like the idea of growing organically. I want to get a worm bin for my basement so I can use scraps from the table.... Grind up old egg shells... I like the idea of recycling old food into compost.

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I grow in soil, depending on what's available, either Happy Frog, FFOF, or Roots Organic. This grow the liquid nutes I'm using are Roots Organic Buddha Grow and Bloom. Starting week 4 I just add a 1/2 tablespoon per gallon every other watering, easy enough to measure since I'm watering from 1 gallon jugs. I also amended the soil with some Roots mycho and builder before I started. In general I use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount they suggest. It's possible I'm still using too much.

Next time I may try bigger pots, and less light on for more hours. Humidity is not something I am going to try and control, it's generally low around 40%. Temps are the other factor I want to play with. I read from an experienced grower that with LED lighting it's good to run the tent in the low 80's... I was doing that, I'm not sure it's optimal. The whole balance of how temps influence the metabolic rate vs. how much nutrients are available is still something I'm working to balance. I have to decide if I'm chasing healthier looking plants or fatter buds, because so far it's one or the other.

wil2279 said:

Something else I was just thinking. Maybe an earthbox junior would be a better choice for autos than the full sized earthbox. Being that it holds about half as much soil... Maybe you don't need the full sized earthbox.

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I would rather have more soil and less additives, than less soil and more nutrient additives. I think. I'm hoping to grow in bigger pots next time. The Junior also has a significantly smaller res, IIRC, so you'd water more often if that matters to you.

wil2279 said:

Something else I was just thinking. Maybe an earthbox junior would be a better choice for autos than the full sized earthbox. Being that it holds about half as much soil... Maybe you don't need the full sized earthbox.

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They had another one that was deeper (made for growing root veggies like carrots) that I liked on paper because I could fit 4 in a 3x3 (I think, this was a while ago). I think I moved away from it because the res was too small, and since I never let mine go dry a small res that could empty quickly was an issue for me.

I enjoyed building my own SIPs a few years ago, but it was a challenge to make short ones. Now that I grow autos which I top, they never get tall and I'd have plenty of vertical space to go back to them. But, since I can't use the trench, I'd have to build my soil... I've followed too many threads where guys worked through several grows before they got the right mix down. I'm not up for that challenge right now, and I need my small grows to produce with some reliability, so I'm more inclined to move incrementally building on what I've already done.

Humanrob said:

They had another one that was deeper (made for growing root veggies like carrots) that I liked on paper because I could fit 4 in a 3x3 (I think, this was a while ago). I think I moved away from it because the res was too small, and since I never let mine go dry a small res that could empty quickly was an issue for me.

I enjoyed building my own SIPs a few years ago, but it was a challenge to make short ones. Now that I grow autos which I top, they never get tall and I'd have plenty of vertical space to go back to them. But, since I can't use the trench, I'd have to build my soil... I've followed too many threads where guys worked through several grows before they got the right mix down. I'm not up for that challenge right now, and I need my small grows to produce with some reliability, so I'm more inclined to move incrementally building on what I've already done.

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The original earthboxes advertise about a 3 gallon res. The taller one you mentioned is called the root & veg model I think. I have 3 of them. It holds about the same amount of soil as the original but they advertise the res as 2 gallons. The junior is about half the size of the original with an advertised 1 gallon res.i think this is good enough for autos... I don't mind adding water to the res every day or 2. The smaller the res, the less I have to worry about it staying full too long and going anarobic. I actually just ordered 4 earthbox juniors to use on my next auto grow. We will see how well they work.

wil2279 said:

The original earthboxes advertise about a 3 gallon res. The taller one you mentioned is called the root & veg model I think. I have 3 of them. It holds about the same amount of soil as the original but they advertise the res as 2 gallons. The junior is about half the size of the original with an advertised 1 gallon res.i think this is good enough for autos... I don't mind adding water to the res every day or 2. The smaller the res, the less I have to worry about it staying full too long and going anarobic. I actually just ordered 4 earthbox juniors to use on my next auto grow. We will see how well they work.

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The last SIP I built was a seven gallon fabric pot over a 10 gallon res, I was growing for weight back then. My auto harvests are actually much better scaled for my current needs, and the final weights are closer to the state set limits.

I've seen quite a few threads where people love their earthboxes, they seem like a solid reliable product. I look forward to seeing that grow.

What did you use as a wick to get the weather from the store into the fabric pot?

Humanrob said:

The last SIP I built was a seven gallon fabric pot over a 10 gallon res, I was growing for weight back then. My auto harvests are actually much better scaled for my current needs, and the final weights are closer to the state set limits.

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wil2279 said:

What did you use as a wick to get the weather from the store into the fabric pot?

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The wick is made from perforated drain pipe from Home Depot, which I've used on a few builds, and I tended to drill some 1/4" holes in addition to the slits it came with. I didn't find any pictures of the setup while I was making it, but I found some I took when I was pulling it apart at the end of the grow. When I lifted the pot off, because of the weight of it the pipe pulled out, so you can see it sitting in the res (it pops right back in for the next grow). Of all the SIPs I built, and there were many, this design is the only one I saved one of, in case I ever try another SIP grow.

So you filled the black perforated pipe with soil and sat the fabric pot directly on top of it? Great idea!

Humanrob said:

The wick is made from perforated drain pipe from Home Depot, which I've used on a few builds, and I tended to drill some 1/4" holes in addition to the slits it came with. I didn't find any pictures of the setup while I was making it, but I found some I took when I was pulling it apart at the end of the grow. When I lifted the pot off, because of the weight of it the pipe pulled out, so you can see it sitting in the res (it pops right back in for the next grow). Of all the SIPs I built, and there were many, this design is the only one I saved one of, in case I ever try another SIP grow.

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Humanrob said:

The wick is made from perforated drain pipe from Home Depot, which I've used on a few builds, and I tended to drill some 1/4" holes in addition to the slits it came with. I didn't find any pictures of the setup while I was making it, but I found some I took when I was pulling it apart at the end of the grow. When I lifted the pot off, because of the weight of it the pipe pulled out, so you can see it sitting in the res (it pops right back in for the next grow). Of all the SIPs I built, and there were many, this design is the only one I saved one of, in case I ever try another SIP grow.

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This would be a great way to turn all my fabric pots into sip pots! You could even do this mid grow if you wanted to "if you are using fabric pots"! Just take a small tote, cut a hole in the lid... Put the wick "perforated pipe filled with Coco or peat inside" under the hole. Then add a fill tube in the corner. Add water...

wil2279 said:

So you filled the black perforated pipe with soil and sat the fabric pot directly on top of it? Great idea!

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Thanks. Yeah, the pipe came up through the lid of the bin, then through the bottom of the fabric pot. I've used the same technique with plastic pots and with other bins.

These are 3 gallon bins, I was testing just using two stacked vs. a fabric pot over the res. The goal with these was to fit four into a 2x4 tent, which worked.


This was a 5 gallon pot that I found dropped part way into a 5 gallon paint bucket (outdoors height didn't matter as much), but it shows the wick in place still attached to the pot.


I tried a lot of variations, I was using them with indoor and outdoor grows. There's pros and cons to everything. Of course, the whole history of the journey which has long outlived my participation, is *here*. And do a search for 'earthbox' on AFN and you'll be busy for a while.

Update pics of the current grow. Tonight I put some photo seeds in cups of water. Tomorrow I will plant them in peat pellets and put those in 5 inch pots with humidity domes. I dropped 2 Blueberry Gum #2, 2 Green Gelato, & 2 Wedding Cake seeds. I'm hoping to do a scrog with clones from 1 or 2 of these plants. We will see how it goes. I need to set up my 2x4 tent though. I'll grow them in the 4x4 with the autos for now... But eventually I am hoping the autos get big enough that I will need to move the photos to their own space.

wil2279 said:

Update pics of the current grow. Tonight I put some photo seeds in cups of water. Tomorrow I will plant them in peat pellets and put those in 5 inch pots with humidity domes. I dropped 2 Blueberry Gum #2, 2 Green Gelato, & 2 Wedding Cake seeds. I'm hoping to do a scrog with clones from 1 or 2 of these plants. We will see how it goes. I need to set up my 2x4 tent though. I'll grow them in the 4x4 with the autos for now... But eventually I am hoping the autos get big enough that I will need to move the photos to their own space.

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Man I wish I could get a few more plants and tents going...I'm stuck with one plant at a time ATM due to moving into share accom for uni, using a 2.3x2.3ft tent. Bunch of tents and boards in the closet taunting me. I'll be checking back in for sure.

I've got AK420, Candy Dawg, Cherry Pie, Red skunk and Super Silver Haze autos here burning holes in my drawer. And a fair selection of photos but they are mainly regs and large sativas so I'll stick to the autos indoors.

Got this AK420 auto here just going into flower. Think it's around day 32-33 now.

VincenzioVonHook said:

Man I wish I could get a few more plants and tents going...I'm stuck with one plant at a time ATM due to moving into share accom for uni, using a 2.3x2.3ft tent. Bunch of tents and boards in the closet taunting me. I'll be checking back in for sure.

I've got AK420, Candy Dawg, Cherry Pie, Red skunk and Super Silver Haze autos here burning holes in my drawer. And a fair selection of photos but they are mainly regs and large sativas so I'll stick to the autos indoors.

Got this AK420 auto here just going into flower. Think it's around day 32-33 now.
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To be honest I don't really want to run a 2nd tent now. I am just trying to help out a friend. I have the 1 4x4 going for myself. In the future I'll likely run 2 2x4 tents. An auto tent and a photo tent. I want to run a 2x4 living soil bed in the auto tent and 2 earthboxes in the other tent... Might just run earthboxes in both of them. My next 4x4 auto run will be in earthboxes Jr’s and if I do a photo scrog it will be in 2 earthbox root & veg planters. I already have 6 jr's set up and ready to go.

3 Auto's. L to R: Kings Bread, Super Silver Haze x 2. First 2 are in week 11 flower, far right week 9. Mars TS 1000 on left, TS 600 on right. All 3 were topped.

I am excited for the next 10x10 series from build a soil on YouTube. They are going to run a couple of autos in earthboxes next to a photoperiod from seed. They will put the photo into flower quickly and we will see how the photo yields compared to the autos.

wil2279 said:

I am excited for the next 10x10 series from build a soil on YouTube. They are going to run a couple of autos in earthboxes next to a photoperiod from seed. They will put the photo into flower quickly and we will see how the photo yields compared to the autos.

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I've never seen this series, are they doing 10 photos vs 10 autos? That would be a decent group size for a comparison.

I wonder how they'll choose which breeder and which strain to use?

Personally I think photos and autos exist in different categories, and comparisons are interesting but each is just better at some things than the other. If their main criteria is weight and they are doing a 12/12 from seed on the photos, that would be fun to watch. I suppose to eliminate some variables they could try and do auto and photo versions of the same strain, then it would largely be influenced by how stable the specific breeders line is.

Humanrob said:

I've never seen this series, are they doing 10 photos vs 10 autos? That would be a decent group size for a comparison.

I wonder how they'll choose which breeder and which strain to use?

Personally I think photos and autos exist in different categories, and comparisons are interesting but each is just better at some things than the other. If their main criteria is weight and they are doing a 12/12 from seed on the photos, that would be fun to watch. I suppose to eliminate some variables they could try and do auto and photo versions of the same strain, then it would largely be influenced by how stable the specific breeders line is.

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They set up a 10x10 grow tent. They do 4 quadrants. Usually 1 corner has a 3x3 raised bed, 1 will have 30 gallon grow bags, 1 will have the 2 autos and 1 fem photo, and I don't remember what will be in the other corner. Jeremy is a fan of reg photoperiod seeds. He's not a fan of autos. He is running 2 autos because it's what people wanted to see. And he's running the 1 fem photoperiod to see if it's worth running autos or if the fem photoperiod that gets flipped right away yields as well as the autos.

He said for people to tell him who the best auto breeder is and if he got a lot of the same response he would run seeds from that breeder. I would imagine he will end up running Mephisto seeds. But he did get several people suggesting Gnome Automatics also.

Humanrob said:

I've never seen this series, are they doing 10 photos vs 10 autos? That would be a decent group size for a comparison.

I wonder how they'll choose which breeder and which strain to use?

Personally I think photos and autos exist in different categories, and comparisons are interesting but each is just better at some things than the other. If their main criteria is weight and they are doing a 12/12 from seed on the photos, that would be fun to watch. I suppose to eliminate some variables they could try and do auto and photo versions of the same strain, then it would largely be influenced by how stable the specific breeders line is.

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Last season he ran a 3x3 raised bed, 30 gallon grow bags, earthboxes, and 5 gallon grow bags. It's a good series to watch!

wil2279 said:

They set up a 10x10 grow tent. They do 4 quadrants. Usually 1 corner has a 3x3 raised bed, 1 will have 30 gallon grow bags, 1 will have the 2 autos and 1 fem photo, and I don't remember what will be in the other corner. Jeremy is a fan of reg photoperiod seeds. He's not a fan of autos. He is running 2 autos because it's what people wanted to see. And he's running the 1 fem photoperiod to see if it's worth running autos or if the fem photoperiod that gets flipped right away yields as well as the autos.

He said for people to tell him who the best auto breeder is and if he got a lot of the same response he would run seeds from that breeder. I would imagine he will end up running Mephisto seeds. But he did get several people suggesting Gnome Automatics also.

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Even with the best auto breeders I've found a variety of phenos, and maybe 1 in 5 turns out to be a runt or weak. So I hope he runs a few of them. Part of me hopes the autos get a fair shake, but another part of me thinks it's better if they do poorly -- it's already hard enough to get good auto seeds and maybe if more people turn away from them I'll have a better chance next time Roc does a drop...

I'm curious to see how he is going to do this... Because the whole tent will be full of photos. The autos should be on an 18/6 or 20/4 light cycle. While the photos will need a 12/12. I will be very disappointed if he runs the autos at 12/12 with the rest of the tent. I would really like to see how photos and autos compare if you veg your photo for only 2-3 weeks and then go to flower