Welcome @Maddawg! Thank you! This thread was a labor of love setting up, but I’m glad I followed through. I learned (or relearned) a great deal organizing this thing.
Any and all experiences are welcome, cause I sure as shit don’t know it all.
As @nube said “SIPs are the way, the truth, and the light!”
Or BeagleZ clones perhaps , pretty sure they were in the soil when you got the ST
You may be correct. I’ve seen the mites you’re talking about in worm bins before and have even had them attack young worms as well. It would be cool if anyone here has an entomology background and could chime in. From what I’ve read Tyrophagus putrescentiae is a ubiquitous mite species in soil, stored products and house dust and is also pre-packaged with beneficials as a food source for the predators.
High humidity, fungal growth, presence of seeds / fragments / flours cause populations to rise exponentially.
Some more quotes that may or may not give insight into them
The grain or flour mites are one of the most important mites infesting food and feed products, cereals, dried vegetable materials, cheese, corn and dried fruits. Grain mites proliferate under high moisture conditions and are often found in conjunction with fungal growth. Severe infestations result in brownish tinge over the commodity, called “mite dust” because of the light brown coloring of the mite legs.
Grain mites primarily attack the germ. However, they will feed on other parts of the kernel, as well as mold growing on the grain. These mites are responsible for the spread of various fungal spores throughout a grain mass and into adjoining bins. When present in large numbers, the flour or grain mites promote sweating and impart a disagreeable odor to the grain. Grain mites can cause “grocer’s itch” in humans exposed to the mites. Some persons may be allergic to mites.
At humidities less than fifty-five to sixty percent (commodity at twelve percent moisture content or less) grain mites can not survive.
Grain mites are pests that can feed on a variety of processed or finely ground grains, wheat germ, yeast, cheese, powdered milk, flour, or mold spores. Under hot, humid conditions, very large populations of these tiny creatures can develop rapidly. Female grain mites lay up to 800 eggs on the surface of food materials.
Cause he can’t sell you any bottles 
I approve this message!
I would like to add that my local supply shop is great. I am pretty sure a few of the employees will be doing a SIP run soon…
They also carry BAS products.
I did observe what I guess was mite dust on the floor of my tent after thousands jumped ship.
I’ll have to take a pic of the corner of my tent for you guys lol
Ha! I think I had them last run also, which leads me to believe they came from the BAS 3.0
I will be putting this thread on watch. I would like to understand this method. I see it here but haven’t been able to understand the method.
I top water in fabric pots. I never had soil mites as, I make sure I have a wet very dry cycle.
Welcome @G-paS ! Any questions you may have, feel free to ask away! I hope this to be a safe place to ask questions, share our bogus journeys and triumphs!
The biggest reason this method doesn’t need a dry down is the microbial inoculate (LABS, em1, photosynthesis +)added to the reservoir. Since I’ve been top watering the soil is moist top to bottom 24/7 365 +1/4. Life just explodes when it’s warm, moist and tucked into their little sip bed.
Interesting article on how air effects LABS from my airstones in reservoir research.
The species of the genus Lactobacillus have been traditionally classified as oxygen-tolerant anaerobes , but it has been demonstrated that several strains are able to use oxygen as a substrate in reactions mediated by flavin oxidases and, in some cases, to synthesize a minimal respiratory chain.
If I hear back from him I will definately ask him to come by here he is a great person.
Thanks for the vid all ways good to see other people tek. I expanded my EM1 but I might actually make some LABS this time and only use LABS you know for science.
I’ve posted a video in this forum somewhere with a really simple method for making LABS no milk needed.
This si the video I’m talking about
I live on the other side of the world and don’t have access to BAS but I did use a premixed coots style soil, wasn’t exact but pretty similar and pretty sure they didn’t have MB in it I did top with bokashi a few days before planting
I’m also thinking of doing the same thing I know GrassBurner over on RIU is having great success with his air stones
@CrunchBerries Do you put anything on top of the pipes like landscape cloth? I know Greenthumb used to fill the void with vermiculite in one of his tubs
Watching! @CrunchBerries what are you using to hold the water in your SIP? Corrugated drain pipe? If so, did you put in multiple pieces or just one long piece? I’ve always used one long piece for my veggie SIPs…not sure if it makes a difference.
I’m not really versed in identifiying these critters good or bad so always welcome feed back and what they might be.
I’ve heard there’s a subreddit where they love to identify bugs might be worth posting on there one day.
I did use landscape fabric to cap the ends and vermiculite to fill the voids.
Welcome @unomas! Yes 3 pieces of corrugated drain pipe. These 27 gal’ers hold around 7 gallons of water. I don’t have an over flow hole just a water level gauge that is marked at the 7 gallon level.
I have two 2’x4’x6’ boxes I built and Las year I turned them both into sips. the growth rate rate was amazing but every run I did Last year molded horribly starting 5th or 6th week of flower.
now I have added a 5x5 grow area I want to try sips again. two of those 27 gallon totes would probably be all I could fit in there.
Hey bud, thanks for stopping in. Bummer to hear about the mold.
Yup that’s my plan to have two 27 gal’ers in my new 5x5 setup. We’ll see after the maiden voyage, but we might be able to squeeze an Earthbox in also.
I noticed that Grokashi is sold out at BAS and has been for a while. Here is the Grokashi recipe if anyone is interested. I’m sitting on a bag of Grokashi and 10lbs of Kashi blend, but I plan to make this in the very near future.
perfect, Thanks Crunch… the more im getting into this the more it pains me to pay for any of this stuff.
