SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

[Tim Fox]

Not if there is enough moisture or humidity in the res. running totally dry and letting the media dry would be detrimental. Roots can stay alive in air with the right amount of humidity. It'd be risky and i wouldn't do it if that's what your goal is. Everyone has different goals.

Not even sure what you are trying to convey now. I have not asked for any advice, these Earth boxes run on auto pilot, All of my sip grows have gone fantastic with minimal effort and just plain water, I always have water roots and hydro type growth, I will grow this way until the day I die hahaha it's just so darn easy , I havea feeling you were attempting to respond to the guy who wanted to flush , for me flushing is for toilets hahaha I hope your grow is going well

 

[Norby Grown]

Can you elaborate on what you are referring to here? I am using a DIY sip with a fabric pot and no cover over it, I never need to top water, and my res is full of roots... not sure what your "roots must not have been spread enough" or the reference to using a cover ("top"?) to keep it moist -- what impact do you think those things would have?

View attachment 4092517

You can overwater if the roots haven't spread enough in any container. The soil gets too moist, reduces air and drowns" or suffocates the roots. If you leave a top off or don't mulch over your sip the wicking action leaves the top 2-3 inches dry. In my sip you can top water and the excess just flows thru into the res. I'm not sure how your design works and have never tried it so i couldn't elaborate on yours. But my window box type is pretty versatile. You can top water since the top layer dries out and the roots spread into the res so you can see when they have spread thruought and then start top watering.

 

[Norby Grown]

Not even sure what you are trying to convey now. I have not asked for any advice, these Earth boxes run on auto pilot, All of my sip grows have gone fantastic with minimal effort and just plain water, I always have water roots and hydro type growth, I will grow this way until the day I die hahaha it's just so darn easy , I havea feeling you were attempting to respond to the guy who wanted to flush , for me flushing is for toilets hahaha I hope your grow is going well

You quoted me and asked a question from one of my posts and it went on from there. Look up in the thread and you should be able to follow it. Or maybe I was overmedicated adn confused one of the posts.

 

[Tim Fox]

I have never top watered and yes I use a plastic top cover

 

[Tim Fox]

You quoted me and asked a question from one of my posts and it went on from there. Look up in the thread and you should be able to follow it. Or maybe I was overmedicated adn confused one of the posts.

Medicated is a good thing hahaha I often do that , it's good to have you here

 

[Humanrob]

You can overwater if the roots haven't spread enough in any container. The soil gets too moist, reduces air and drowns" or suffocates the roots. If you leave a top off or don't mulch over your sip the wicking action leaves the top 2-3 inches dry. In my sip you can top water and the excess just flows thru into the res. I'm not sure how your design works and have never tried it so i couldn't elaborate on yours. But my window box type is pretty versatile. You can top water since the top layer dries out and the roots spread into the res so you can see when they have spread thruought and then start top watering.

If you are following the instructions that come with the commercial sips, then you are "trenching" dry nutes into your soil? The problem with top watering (as I understand it) is that you can wash some of those nutes into the res. Once the res is not water-only, once it has nutes in it then I have been told that changes the game. This goes beyond my practical knowledge because I've never grown in hydro, but I've been told by more experienced growers that once you have nutes in the water then you have to PH the water. If you keep it water only, then you don't have to.

So I'm also in the 'keep it simple' camp, and I keep my water free of nutes. I have put silica in the res, and on a couple of grows towards the end used Hygrozyme (but I don't know anyone else who's done that). With my set up the soil in the pot is moist up to about 1.5 inches from the top of the pot. I have a good sized wick though, that might be part of it.

 

[PDX Joe]

Just transplanted a Critical Cure and Lemon OG into the SIPs. I’m trying a bit of EM-1 in addition to the bokashi I used last time. I’m curious to see if I get even more mycelium on the top of the compost this time.

 

[Tim Fox]

Just transplanted a Critical Cure and Lemon OG into the SIPs. I’m trying a bit of EM-1 in addition to the bokashi I used last time. I’m curious to see if I get even more mycelium on the top of the compost this time. View attachment 4092769

those are beautiful, , how are the converted sips working for you now?

 

[Weedy willy]

Where could I find a super soil recipe for this setup

 

[Tim Fox]

Can you elaborate on what you are referring to here? I am using a DIY sip with a fabric pot and no cover over it, I never need to top water, and my res is full of roots... not sure what your "roots must not have been spread enough" or the reference to using a cover ("top"?) to keep it moist -- what impact do you think those things would have?

View attachment 4092517

Humanrob your lights have gotten really high tech there ,,, looking rad bro

 

[PDX Joe]

those are beautiful, , how are the converted sips working for you now?

They work great. I’m getting good moisture throughout, good wicking. I’m really glad I made the modifications. It will be interesting to see how it works out going from 250 watt light to 440 watt light as well. I got great flowers last time, but looking to up the yield a bit.

 

[Tim Fox]

They work great. I’m getting good moisture throughout, good wicking. I’m really glad I made the modifications. It will be interesting to see how it works out going from 250 watt light to 440 watt light as well. I got great flowers last time, but looking to up the yield a bit.

your packing a little more power than i am,, I built a new cob panel and pushing 375 max in my 3x2

 

[PDX Joe]

your packing a little more power than i am,, I built a new cob panel and pushing 375 max in my 3x2

That should blast them!

 

[Tim Fox]

That should blast them!

Pulling 275 tonight with Thier current health and head room getting less by the inch I may not be able to go full power

 

[PDX Joe]

Pulling 275 tonight with Thier current health and head room getting less by the inch I may not be able to go full power

I’m only running mine at 150 Watts right now. Will probably up it a bit once they’ve settled into the SIPs.

 

[Humanrob]

Humanrob your lights have gotten really high tech there ,,, looking rad bro

Thanks Tim, it's my latest build, I'm getting a little better every time

I’m only running mine at 150 Watts right now. Will probably up it a bit once they’ve settled into the SIPs.

Joe, that is one clean setup. I just spent a little time in the hospital, and it looks like you could operate in that space!

I've got a single plant in my 3x3 under 150w for veg also, first time I've ever run just one plant in the tent (and possibly the last). I built the light with three rows of cobs, each with their own switch. Front and back are 3500's, the middle (on now) are 4000k. Originally the 3500's were running at 75w but I dialed them back to 50w, so my max as it's set up now is 350w and I think 39w/sf should be enough for this run. The strain I've got going is a GG4, they don't seem to like too much light or too much nutes.

 

[PDX Joe]

Thanks Tim, it's my latest build, I'm getting a little better every time


Joe, that is one clean setup. I just spent a little time in the hospital, and it looks like you could operate in that space!

I've got a single plant in my 3x3 under 150w for veg also, first time I've ever run just one plant in the tent (and possibly the last). I built the light with three rows of cobs, each with their own switch. Front and back are 3500's, the middle (on now) are 4000k. Originally the 3500's were running at 75w but I dialed them back to 50w, so my max as it's set up now is 350w and I think 39w/sf should be enough for this run. The strain I've got going is a GG4, they don't seem to like too much light or too much nutes.

I’m taking the term medical grow very seriously. Hope you’re feeling okay. That’s actually nice the GG4 likes low nutes and lights. Saves a bit of money I suppose. It’s an “efficient” strain.

 

[Humanrob]

I’m taking the term medical grow very seriously. Hope you’re feeling okay.

Thanks, yeah, in and out in one day. HMO's move you through like cattle. But they were very polite about it.

That’s actually nice the GG4 likes low nutes and lights. Saves a bit of money I suppose. It’s an “efficient” strain.

It is nice, because it saves money on both the lights electrical use and the amount of AC needed to cool the lights.

I'm leveraging another members experience who has grown GG4 a lot. He had a similar setup to what I'm using this run (a single GG4 in a SIP under COBs, 3x3 tent), and got some amazing results I don't expect to match, but I like to know it's possible.

 

[meangreengrowinmachine]

Question for you COB guys on the thread... Currently I have 5 sips vegging under 4 T5 fixtures... total of 240W floro light in an approx. 4' x 7'ish space. This is just my veg stuff. For flower I have been using just a 600 Watt HPS in approx 5.5' x 5.5' space. The plan is to start off by supplementing my HPS with the COB bar (I bought a 250w 5 CXB3590 3500K COB set up and just put all five cobs 12 inches apart on center on one bar) and then eventually buy 2 or 3 more of the same 250w 5 cob set up and then switch to all COBs for flower. My question is should i switch out the floros that are over my sips in veg (I have nothing in flower yet) or is it worth it to try to somehow keep the floros in there AND add the COB bar? I would assume 250W of COBS will far out perform 240 W of floros.... so maybe I Just answered my own stupid question and shouldn't have clogged up the thread... Maybe I'm just excited I am finally starting my COB journey! Feel free to input, tear me apart or troll me to death

 

[Humanrob]

Question for you COB guys on the thread... Currently I have 5 sips vegging under 4 T5 fixtures... total of 240W floro light in an approx. 4' x 7'ish space. This is just my veg stuff. For flower I have been using just a 600 Watt HPS in approx 5.5' x 5.5' space. The plan is to start off by supplementing my HPS with the COB bar (I bought a 250w 5 CXB3590 3500K COB set up and just put all five cobs 12 inches apart on center on one bar) and then eventually buy 2 or 3 more of the same 250w 5 cob set up and then switch to all COBs for flower. My question is should i switch out the floros that are over my sips in veg (I have nothing in flower yet) or is it worth it to try to somehow keep the floros in there AND add the COB bar? I would assume 250W of COBS will far out perform 240 W of floros.... so maybe I Just answered my own stupid question and shouldn't have clogged up the thread... Maybe I'm just excited I am finally starting my COB journey! Feel free to input, tear me apart or troll me to death

Congrats on your light evolution!

First thing that comes to mind is that the COBs and T5s need to be at different distances from the plants, basically I think the T5's would get in the way of the COBs, being below them. I've used COBs as supplemental lighting to HPS, but never fluorescents.

As far as vegging goes, if you have a designated veg tent and wanted to use COBs, I'd stack it with 4000's. I really like vegging with those because I have limited height in my tents and they really keep the plants tight and low so I can veg longer.