You Gotta SIP, Not Slurp

[Cannavore]

em1 in the rez will create a film and odors if the rez isn't wicked up quickly by the roots and soil from my experience.

 

[trichrider]

excellent observations and advice in here.
subbed.

 

[MICrazy]

I posted earlier in the thread about EM1 turning my sip anaerobic. The rez will smell foul. Yes I would change the water in the rez and try with fresh water from now on.

Growers tax paid.

Honestly didn't notice any smell, but didn't sniff the tube. Just noticed everything wasn't green, green. The clover was a little lime as well. Finally got a soil meter and.... 5.0. Most of them (including the clover) look better, but this one is still lime green. It may have been acidic long enough that those leaves won't recover. Dunno.

I agree with thailer, the original soil mix l started with had dolomite and high cal lime (similar to aragonite and can be used in place of oyster shell flower) as well as gypsum. I recycle my soil and I add back those mineral amendments every run. Any soil mix that that relies only on crab shell meal for calcium doesn't make sense to me. I suggest you try something different, I can send you a link to a mix if you want?

I'm always down for more information. The LOS3.0 Nutrient mix seems fine, and I have a bunch left.

The mineral mix... I'm fine with adding oyster after if that's needed -- not sure if Gypsum + Oyster is too much calcium. Or if there is such a thing as too much calcium in the real world.

Some people think just kelp is fine for micros, I also have Azomite -- which is less fancy but probably servicable after adding some oyster/dolomite.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that I find nutrients are more available in the moist, microbial soil of the sip. I am not getting any fade, plants are staying green until harvest. I will have to reduce the nutrients I top dress every run.

That's the problem I want to have. If I am being honest.... The only organic plant I have had that has stayed green throughout -- was grown in plain FFOF. Go figure.


But I don't want to throw out my soil, so amending, reamending has to be part of the program. I have about 20 gallons of used soil, plus more peat/aeration/compost. Thinking next batch will be a frankensoil of some sort. New + Old. I'll amend the new at 100%, old at ~50% and lime as needed BEFORE potting this time

 

[moses wellfleet]

My drainage pipe was cut into sections, capped, and laid on the bottom to completely fill the area. It took 4 sections. The middle 2 I made a little shorter for the wick, which I just used the soil and packed it in there really good. I used the exact same bulkheads and screens, and zip tied the drain sleeve to the fill pipe and the drainage tube.

I think both thailer and I have perlite in our rez covering the drainage pipes, I just think it is better than having constantly wet soil. The perlite wicks just fine. The soil in sips very quickly becomes like worm castings, peat and compost breaks down very quickly, to have that dense medium starved of oxygen seems less than ideal to me!

 

[MICrazy]

I think both thailer and I have perlite in our rez covering the drainage pipes, I just think it is better than having constantly wet soil. The perlite wicks just fine. The soil in sips very quickly becomes like worm castings, peat and compost breaks down very quickly, to have that dense medium starved of oxygen seems less than ideal to me!

I thought the same, may consider perlite. But the way I did it, I didn't leave big gaps for soil. There are 2 main "wicks" that are around 2"x4"x4". (Obviously not counting the little bits that get into the grooves and inbetweens). It's kind of like an earthbox. Sort of.


I'll have to see how much perlite I have left after making a new batch.

 

[thailer]

Both, actually. But that was a few weeks ago. EM1 was the only additive I added to the res. But I'm considering adding some olympus up.

don't need to add olympus up. just drain the reservoir and add your water. maybe flush it out a little with some fresh before the refill.



The ingredients for the LOS3.0 mineral mix is on the site. No lime. Depending on where you look, some of the ingredients can help buffer, but no serious lime is included. I'm wondering if this mix is more tailored to Coco.


1. BuildASoil Basalt - Our Favorite Rock Dust for trace minerals. Highly paramagnetic. 2. Gypsum Flour Pellets - Calcium and Sulfur
3. Vansil W-10
4. BuildASoil Premium Montomorillonite



I'm going to spin up a few more this weekend, and debating on LOS3.0 mineral mix + oyster -vs- just a little azomite + oyster/dolomite.



Again, since I wasn't able to get a decent pH right after potting -- I'm not sure if the mix would have done fine without the lime, or I just messed it up and made it anaerobic.


All future batches will be pH tested/limed before going into the totes.



i would avoid the azomite due to aluminum but even more so because the BAS 3.0 soil includes clay which should have aluminum also. shit if you got money to buy those fancy bagged mixes, then you got money to buy the fertilizers and mix your own.


My well water mix sits right around 7.0, so it should push the pH up a bit over time. My concern with the super low ppm mix I was using is the water being more of a solvent. It was pretty close to RO water (~20-30ppm). My well has a fair number of carbonates and iron, so I dilute. Now I dilute it down to 100ish.

my well water is 100 ppm and a ph of 6.8 but it has low alkalinity which is different than alkaline or high pH. Also, organic soil and peat moss are filled with organic acids so using an actual liming amendment is best.




I've done that before, can do it again. Once everything is in sips with a thick mulch layer, hopefully I can slow down on the gnatrol -- but I have some fabric pots going and they are always around. I've started bottom watering the fabrics, and in a month or so they will be gone.






Thanks for your help man, I do appreciate it.


Do you run cover crops? Now that I have a stash of greenage for mulch/worms -- I'm thinking it's more of a pain in the ass than it may be worth.
i used to run cover crops but i found that they compete with plants for root space and water. my plants yellow out prematurely with cover crops so most growers will stop using them the longer they grow and convert to a dead mulch like straw or cannabis mulch.

Also doing some avocado-tech with some oyster/crab shell in the mix there. Hoping those little buggers drag all that around a bit.


this right here is why you have fungus gnats; composting with food waste in your container. that avocado tech sounds pretty awesome and hip but i met that dude online and he talks a bunch of clout. He got on the future cannabis project and started to make a name for himself. he posted previously to this and said that the avocados were cool but they were making his plants get burnt tips and it was just too much but then people saw his hipster avocados and thought how cool does that look and now there is this avocadotech. it will green up your plants and the worms will go crazy. this is true but its also guacamole. lol

answers above in bold.

 

[thailer]

Growers tax paid.

Honestly didn't notice any smell, but didn't sniff the tube. Just noticed everything wasn't green, green. The clover was a little lime as well. Finally got a soil meter and.... 5.0. Most of them (including the clover) look better, but this one is still lime green. It may have been acidic long enough that those leaves won't recover. Dunno.
i don't trust soil meters myself. also if the water doesn't smell or look gross, it might not be that but you could try to give them a refill with fresh water. other reasons that plants go lime green are from overwatering them, not watering enough so soil goes hydrophobic, or root rot which would be the stinky smell.
I'm always down for more information. The LOS3.0 Nutrient mix seems fine, and I have a bunch left.
if you already bought it then i would use it for sure
The mineral mix... I'm fine with adding oyster after if that's needed -- not sure if Gypsum + Oyster is too much calcium. Or if there is such a thing as too much calcium in the real world.
i use a cup of oyster or CaCO3 lime as well as a cup of gypsum
Some people think just kelp is fine for micros, I also have Azomite -- which is less fancy but probably servicable after adding some oyster/dolomite.
azomite i mean is ok in small amounts i guess for micros just if you are using clay or extra rock dust, all of those have aluminum as well and there's some concerns about inhalation of heavy metals.
That's the problem I want to have. If I am being honest.... The only organic plant I have had that has stayed green throughout -- was grown in plain FFOF. Go figure.
FFOF has lime

But I don't want to throw out my soil, so amending, reamending has to be part of the program. I have about 20 gallons of used soil, plus more peat/aeration/compost. Thinking next batch will be a frankensoil of some sort. New + Old. I'll amend the new at 100%, old at ~50% and lime as needed BEFORE potting this time maybe you can get a soil test and you can see exactly what is going on at Logan Labs. they have a special combo test for soilless media like our mix

answers in bold above in quote.

 

[thailer]

em1 in the rez will create a film and odors if the rez isn't wicked up quickly by the roots and soil from my experience.

thanks cannavore!!

 

[thailer]

excellent observations and advice in here.
subbed.

thanks so much and i'm glad to have ya!!

 

[thailer]

Moses, you are too kind. thanks so much for the encouragement and kind words about my abilities.

 

[MICrazy]

don't need to add olympus up. just drain the reservoir and add your water. maybe flush it out a little with some fresh before the refill.

I was thinking more for liming/ph remediation -vs- a flush. It's been run dry a couple times since the EM1, I'm glad I didn't keep at it.

shit if you got money to buy those fancy bagged mixes

LOL

Just bought the mineral/nutrient packs. I made it with peat, perlite/rice hulls/biochar, and a mix of bagged composts. The FFOF was my oganic cherry, so to speak. Before I fell down the rabbit hole.

If I had a bed, I'd do a soil test -- but at this point I have multiple sips with a couple different combinations.

I haven't ruled it out -- but I wanna reach "read your plants" zen. Maybe I need to smoke more.

 

[MICrazy]

i don't trust soil meters myself. also if the water doesn't smell or look gross, it might not be that but you could try to give them a refill with fresh water. other reasons that plants go lime green are from overwatering them, not watering enough so soil goes hydrophobic, or root rot which would be the stinky smell.

I hear ya about meters, but my anecdotal evidence said... shitty lookin plants: 5.0. Nice green plants: 6.8.



Watering: SIP with a bi-weekly tea. So it's not that.


Never smelled any stink. And I just stuck my nose in all the fill tubes. No stink.

this right here is why you have fungus gnats; composting with food waste in your container. that avocado tech sounds pretty awesome and hip but i met that dude online and he talks a bunch of clout. He got on the future cannabis project and started to make a name for himself. he posted previously to this and said that the avocados were cool but they were making his plants get burnt tips and it was just too much but then people saw his hipster avocados and thought how cool does that look and now there is this avocadotech. it will green up your plants and the worms will go crazy. this is true but its also guacamole. lol

I confess, I'm susceptible.


The gnats preceded the avocados, tbh.


I like the idea of worms in a living soil. I don't have enough experience yet to say "yeah... that's stupid". But I'm hopeful.


I was hoping if nothing else, since the worms came in relatively small numbers from my worm bins -- that they would get jiggy and multiply quicker. And if they drag a tablespoon of crab shell around in the process... cool. But when you boil it down to composting in place -- it sounds less smart. LOL:yay:

 

[unregistered190]

Great thread, lots of good info. Thanks to all contributing

 

[moses wellfleet]

I am so overdue for automating ... As the years roll quietly by ha ha

To anybody who wants to give the sip system a go but doenst want to commit to drilling totes and a bunch of irrigation fittings you can do a sip in an intact tote with only the drainage pipe/perlite rez system and a refill tube. Top plants up by hand.

Even this system will be so much less work than hand watering regular totes with drainage holes. Obviously the fully automated system is where everyone aims to be.

 

[Bmac1]

To anybody who wants to give the sip system a go but doenst want to commit to drilling totes and a bunch of irrigation fittings you can do a sip in an intact tote with only the drainage pipe/perlite rez system and a refill tube. Top plants up by hand.

Even this system will be so much less work than hand watering regular totes with drainage holes. Obviously the fully automated system is where everyone aims to be.

The automation is the bees knees, no doubts. I did it as you mentioned above, just drilled a hole in a tote and off I went. It worked beautifully and even at its peak, my SIP was needing refilling every 3-4 days but 5-7 days usually.

I really wasn't precise in making mine either and just drilled a hole where I thought it should be for drainage. My measuring tape never came out, lol. I could maybe have had even more volume for water that I didn't capitalize on. But it worked well.

I am going to make a couple more in the very near future with 40 gallon totes and be a bit more precise. I am still on the fence about just perlite or peat/perlite/verm mix for wick. I will still be going manual watering but I dont mind with just 2, eventually 4 of them.

Loving the discussion though and learning lots.

 

[St. Phatty]

what does SIP stand for ?

probably not "Session Initiation Protocol".

 

[thailer]

what does SIP stand for ?

probably not "Session Initiation Protocol".

sub irrigated planter

 

[moses wellfleet]

Thailer is the albopepper youtube video still a good place to start for basic intro to sips?

 

[thailer]

Thailer is the albopepper youtube video still a good place to start for basic intro to sips?

he explains a lot and has the most extensive info online about SIPs. most people have one or two videos about their SIP so i like that he has a bunch.

 

[antheis]

Thailer is the albopepper youtube video still a good place to start for basic intro to sips?

That is who I watched to build my sip. He gives good info and a lot of angles to see how to build the sip properly.



I have put em1 in my res this grow as well as some other knf potions - water soluble calcium, fpj, and Comfrey vinegar. In the beginning the water would come out of the overflow slightly yellow in color and had a sulfur smell to it. I added these maybe twice a month straight to the res but since flower I've given straight water. The water since has come out clear and no smell.



Overall sips are great I plan to convert my other box after the grow in it is finished.