Ten gallon SIP, GAIA Green, Mars Hydro SP 3000

OrganicMartian

Active Member
Hi, this is my first no-till indoor garden.
I'm using a marshydro sp3000, 2x4 tent, ac infinity 4 inch fan and gaia green amendments and 1 1/2 cups of dolomite lime in the base mix.
My base mix was approximately 1/3 compost 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 aeration using rice hulls, perlite, dried beer grain, pumice stones and a little bit of vermiculite.

I'm going to let it rest for about 1 month and then plant some seeds!16200715951165608198615576562286.jpg
 
I've actually heard its difficult to get a real ecosystem going in anything smaller than a 45. I've grown living soil in greenhouses in raised fabric beds by grassroots the living soil ones with the strip left out at the bottom. They were large 4x8 and 4x12. So you might consider ditching the two pots for one larger one. The plants will grow fine together as long as you don't put to many and don't grow them to big. We used crimson clover and fall rye. Just let them grow and rip them and throw them on top with more mulch. Your in for an adventure bredrin. Living soil in a tent lol.
 

OrganicMartian

Active Member
I just landed a job out of town, fly in fly out, 21 days gone and 7 home.. I need to automate this grow. So far I have programmed the girlfriend to keep the soil moist during the rest period but she won't want to grow my weed for me.

I am thinking of getting a 10 gallon bucket and use aquarium pumps on timers to water daily. She will refill the bucket weekly when I'm not home. I can't imagine there is much else to worry about other than IPM. Any ideas on how to automate this tent for my new schedule?
 

MickeyFins

Well-Known Member
I just landed a job out of town, fly in fly out, 21 days gone and 7 home.. I need to automate this grow. So far I have programmed the girlfriend to keep the soil moist during the rest period but she won't want to grow my weed for me.

I am thinking of getting a 10 gallon bucket and use aquarium pumps on timers to water daily. She will refill the bucket weekly when I'm not home. I can't imagine there is much else to worry about other than IPM. Any ideas on how to automate this tent for my new schedule?
21 days is tough. I use the large blumat classics for capillary watering while I'm gone. But I've never been gone for more than eight days. Tough part for me would be temp, humidity, training. Ac infinity programmable inline, a couple hanging fans, wyze cam, good room temp control - would be where i would start.
 

GrassBurner

Well-Known Member
You can :mrgreen: You just don't want to water them in heavily, where the water would carry the nutrients down into into reservoir. If it sat in there, could start turning the res funky.
Me and a buddy were talking about this the other day. Towards the end of veg, start of flower, the plants drink so much water, you might be able to get away with some nutrients in the water. I guess if worse came to worse, you could try flushing the reservoir, but I haven't had any problems with it turning funky. I fill my sips every other day, right now they're drinking close to 3 gallons each (3 weeks into flower) I just top dressed Dr Earth Flowergirl in a couple days ago. I do wait until it's time to fill the reservoir before I top dress/scratch/water in.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Can you still water in top dressings when you use a SIP
Yup as said above,i run 10 g sips after i top dress i pour a solo cup worth of water over the dry fertilizer.Having a lid on the dirt keeps the top moist,this in turn keeps the soil bugs happy.
Sips are really the way to go,you never worry about how much and when to water.Hydro growth with organic taste.
 

OrganicMartian

Active Member
You can :mrgreen: You just don't want to water them in heavily, where the water would carry the nutrients down into into reservoir. If it sat in there, could start turning the res funky.
Me and a buddy were talking about this the other day. Towards the end of veg, start of flower, the plants drink so much water, you might be able to get away with some nutrients in the water. I guess if worse came to worse, you could try flushing the reservoir, but I haven't had any problems with it turning funky. I fill my sips every other day, right now they're drinking close to 3 gallons each (3 weeks into flower) I just top dressed Dr Earth Flowergirl in a couple days ago. I do wait until it's time to fill the reservoir before I top dress/scratch/water in.
How many gallons is your soil container?
 

OrganicMartian

Active Member
Yup as said above,i run 10 g sips after i top dress i pour a solo cup worth of water over the dry fertilizer.Having a lid on the dirt keeps the top moist,this in turn keeps the soil bugs happy.
Sips are really the way to go,you never worry about how much and when to water.Hydro growth with organic taste.
Are those DIY? Do you have a good link for some blueprints
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Are those DIY? Do you have a good link for some blueprints
Yes,so simple 4." pvc pipe as risers.Holds the upper tote.cut to 4 1/8 height.This leaves a 5/8 gap between high water line and top tote. I use 5" hydro net pots so youll need a way to make a nice cut.Its really just a bunch of hole drilling.
These pics are from my tomato sip 27 gallon,my indoor 10g has 4 risers 1 ea corner and one net pot in middle.
This design is better then using the lid as the dirt stop,more dirt and you get a nice lid.sip 022.JPGsip 019.JPGmar 3 006.JPGmar 3 007.JPG
 

OrganicMartian

Active Member
Yes,so simple 4." pvc pipe as risers.Holds the upper tote.cut to 4 1/8 height.This leaves a 5/8 gap between high water line and top tote. I use 5" hydro net pots so youll need a way to make a nice cut.Its really just a bunch of hole drilling.
These pics are from my tomato sip 27 gallon,my indoor 10g has 4 risers 1 ea corner and one net pot in middle.
This design is better then using the lid as the dirt stop,more dirt and you get a nice lid.View attachment 4908304View attachment 4908305View attachment 4908306View attachment 4908307
Nice and you just fill it with dirt at that point? So the medium is filling the net pots and that is the wick? I'd imagine the water would get pretty filthy after one cycle. But no mold or bad bacteria in the water?

I have so many questions this just seems too good to be true
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Nice and you just fill it with dirt at that point? So the medium is filling the net pots and that is the wick? I'd imagine the water would get pretty filthy after one cycle. But no mold or bad bacteria in the water?

I have so many questions this just seems too good to be true
post #4
https://www.rollitup.org/t/sip-thread-sub-irrigated-planter.904886/

This is using the lid as a dirt holder so only one tote.you lose the lid and dirt capacity.So i went with 2 totes
 

Apalchen

Well-Known Member
21 days is tough. I use the large blumat classics for capillary watering while I'm gone. But I've never been gone for more than eight days. Tough part for me would be temp, humidity, training. Ac infinity programmable inline, a couple hanging fans, wyze cam, good room temp control - would be where i would start.
This makes me so jealous, I haven’t been able to be away from home in years. Well when I moved the wife would water while I was out of town building out new rooms but since we landed been right back at it and can’t leave. 8 days is a dream and a nightmare to me though. I would be worried sick the whole time. 21 days, at that point your wife gonna have to learn to garden I would think. Lol
 
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