I wouldn’t stress too much. In my case I bought food grade since I was buying them new and the small sizes I was using were food grade anyway. But, what grade of plastic are regular plant pots normally made from? I bet not the highest grade. I prefer JMS to using LABS these days as it is a broader spectrum of microbes but a couple tbs here and there of LABS is normally a good start.
Found this: Growing Food in Plastic - Is it Safe?
Cool! Thanks for the tutorial @bassman5420! Can’t wait to see them in action!! I’ve got a couple of those small BAS tubs that their dry amendments come in , that I’ve been thinking of turning into SIPs. [quote=“HeartOfDankness, post:2601, topic:78727”]
I’m interested in why you note that your buckets are food grade. Does that matter for plants?
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I would guess that it doesn’t really matter for plants, but we are ingesting said plants. [quote=“HeartOfDankness, post:2601, topic:78727”]
One more thing while I’m here…I made some LABS last week. What do now? Do you just put it in the reservoir? Approximately how much per gallon do you use?
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Nice! Separate the curds from the whey and you are on your way! I use approximately 1 tsp LAB per gallon of water.
You can do a hell of a lot more that just foliar! You can ingest it for gut health, accelerate composting, clean and deodorize pet stains, prevent/control powdery mildew, clear clogged drains, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on!!
Nice @HeartOfDankness !
LAB is the most powerful beneficial bacteria we know. It is like the protectors or guardians, they keep everyone in line and playing nice.
You can strain this and store it in the fridge as is or you can super saturate it by adding equal part brown sugar for shelf stable. 4ml per gallon is sufficient.
Plants look really happy by the way!
That’s cool your running the R&V EB. I’ve always wanted to try one out. If I remember correctly they say that it holds the same amount of soil as an OG EB. How many gallons does the reservoir hold?
Plants are looking great! Keep us updated!
In my experience they hold a little over one gallon which pissed me off when I found out because they claim 2 gallons. I preferred the original EB much more
Stonington soil, cover crop and an onion flower with a Lil bokashi and gn
arly barley makes for a lush beard in the CP.
Sippers 
@Bayarealivingsoil Well, look what the cat dragged in!! Welcome back big homie!!
That’s right! 
I think you’re right in that they say it holds 3 gallons. When I first filled it up it overflowed on me while I enthusiastically poured in my third gallon jug lol. So in reality it seems to be somewhere between 2 and 3 liquid gallons. It’s performing very well for me, but I probably won’t use it in the tent again just because it’s taller than the classic EB and as we all know height is at a premium in tents. I think I purchased 2 thinking they could sit side by side in my 2x4, which they could, but now I think I would lean towards either all EBJrs or one classic and a couple juniors. Will have to play some tetris one of these days haha. I think these R&V will live out their days on my deck or something like that.
Here are some closer plant pics. They are all doing very well and I’m stoked about it! My last run in Promix+salts was ROUGH, which is part of how I ended up here. It’s night and day. They’re all in BAS Light top dressed with a couple handfuls of Build a Flower and Craft Blend. I did pick up some Gnarly Barley a couple weeks ago, but I haven’t gotten around to adding it yet. Yes, I have become a BAS fanboy too 
.
Hard to tell from the pics but the Durban-Thai and Ortega are sharing the R&V. The Ortega has really dominated the space, which I’m not mad about since its poorly-grown sibling that was harvested too early gets me pretty high. The Durban-Thai is a clone of another plant from my very sad most recent grow. That plant had just about every deficiency you could think of with salts. I’m excited to have it reach something much closer to its potential this time around. The last pic is a Jr.
Hello Crunch and hello SIPpers. I come today looking for advice. I have 4 autos in 5 gal. Grobucket sips.
3 of the 4 have been struggling terribly since day 40 or so probably. 1 looks ok. I have a self watering system I’ve been using that bottom fills with a float valve in each bucket.
I’m wondering if its possible that I’ve been overwatering. I’ve collected runoff water from the drain hole near the bottom with a tube attached to a syringe. I noticed that the water in the worst ones has a rotten egg smell like something went anaerobic in there. Instinct tells me to dry back some but I’m not sure. These are almost done but I’d like to troubleshoot until harvest to try and learn from my mistakes.
Why torturous?
Hey bud, are you using any kind of microbial inoculate? Like LABS, EM1 or Photosynthesis+? If not, I would give one a try. Should definitely clean up your reservoir and add tons of life to your soil. Without those probiotics this system doesn’t really work as the soil would be too wet. Hope that helps!
mixed plant run. gonna be annoying managing the canopy lol
3x irene, 1x lemon tree (archive), 1x superboof (archive), 3x phenos of gmo x lemon tree (gmo dom stretch)
I feed a brewed tea called terp tea. It has some inoculants in it. I add recharge and molasses to that but that’s about it. I think I may have been drastically under feeding too but I’m not sure cause I’m trying a new product line.
yep wait for the rez to nearly dry out before watering again… BUT try not to wait til it’s bone dry, especially if you have roots in the rez (usually when the plant is well established).
but i’m seeing you added a tea to the rez? that is also probably the culprit. in my experience anything other than pure water or water with em1 and fulpower will make the rez anaerobic. if i’m looking to water with a fertilizer in the rez i’m making sure the plant is drinking the rez daily or twice daily. and even then ill use a weakened dose and also water into the rez at half the capacity i usually do to ensure a quicker turnaround in the plants drinking the rez.
top dressing in SIPs is your friend!!
I only intentionally put clear water in the rez. But when I feed I give a half gallon per bucket and some inevitably percolates down into the rez.
Maybe I’ll only topdress next run but I actually enjoy brewing the tea up it’s more emotionally satisfying.
