@CrunchBerries
We meet again my friend. Glad to see your hard at work still. I’m impressed to see what you and the community have added to this thread. I still have alot of reading to do, but I thought I’d pop in, say hi.
4 Likes
Welcome to the party @McShnutz!! I know we been chatting in the DM’s, but make yourself at home and update us on whatever you got going on!! Peace!!
6 Likes
Thanks brobro! I got a couple odd-ends to pick up yet today, but I’m going to get started on making a new SIP. So far I’m in love with this thread and you make it look so easy and far more rewarding.
4 Likes
Good Morning Everyone,
@MoBilly and @Oldjoints asked a couple questions and I was a bit shaky on how best to answer some of their questions. I thought I would post our communications here for everyone to chime in on…
"I have been asked a few questions by a friend that you would probably (definitely) give better answers to.
Here was his post to me in bold print.
I just bought 10 of those grobuckets and have a few questions for you. I know yours are home made but the same concept.
How old are the plants when you put yours in?
I put mine in when they were just ready to come
out of Solo cups and it seemed to work fine even if
they sit lower in the buckets than I like.
The reason I ask is because mine don’t go into 5 gallon buckets until they are about 3 feet tall or so. And in the time they are in the 5 gallon buckets they pretty much fill those buckets full of roots.
I could see a potential problem if i try to do a whole grow starting plants in these buckets.
Would a valve to drain these buckets really be needed and if so why?
He asked this because I suggested a drain valve low on the side might be added to my cat litter bucket system. I thought this might be beneficial in case I wanted to drain the water to reset the nutrition level or pH of the water as soon as possible.
When using nutrients wouldn’t there be a build up of nutrients in the reservoir if feeding every other time which is my usual feeding schedule.?
This question about nutrition levels has had me wondering as well. I wouldn’t think there would be much buildup since the plant takes most of it up but it’s a good point. There will always be some left in when you add more to raise the water level. I figure if its mixed the same ratio then it’ll be taken up and the fresh should be the same ratio of water to nutrients… I don’t know though.
I’ve been feeding 1/3 nutes in my jugs and just watching for problems which I am seeing in one plant. Not enough N going into the girl. That will be different after the next time I add to the res.
My PPM meter isn’t working so I need to purchase a new one. My plan was to monitor the ppm and make adjustments to keep it around 1000 ppm. I’m so new to this that I’m not sure though."
Here are my responses:
"Hey man, sorry for the late response! Been super busy with family and work recently. Honestly, some of your questions I don’t have the answer to and I honestly would ask the sip thread as a whole, to see what everyone has to say. This is still fairly new technology and a lot is just unknown or undocumented.
I try to put plants into sips that are as small as possible, because once the roots hit the reservoir they take off. Sometimes though I when Im starting plants from seed, they get a bit large (18-36ish inches) I sex them the old fashion way, no sex testing here, so they can get a bit large. My biggest concern is height as my flower tent is an ac infinity which is on the smaller end, and once the roots hit the rez they take off. Also, I’m organic, basically water/LABS only, so I don’t want to run out of juice too early if the plant gets too large. I normally hit them with a tea or nutrient/mineral concoction ( LABS, Silica, TM-7/Big 6, FAA, Comfrey) after transplant and maybe one after stretch, but that’s it.
I have an overflow drainage tube/hole in my diy sips because I don’t want anything to drown. It’s basically stoner proof. I’m glad I have one, as it got used this morning when I sleepily overwatered before coffee!
Not sure as I don’t put anything in the reservoir, but water and LABS."
Any help ya’ll can provide is appreciated!!
8 Likes
The only thing I’d be hesitant on is the PPM in the bottom resivore. Once those roots hit the bottom they’ll be sitting in nutrient and now it’s a hybrid system. Soil and water culture, similar to a DWC. Some plants can handle higher strength and some can’t, but I’d err on the side of caution and go with the lowest possible PPM.
Something else to consider is the parent material of the substrate and its CEC. Peat has a lower cation exchange capacity and as such tends to hold onto nutrients. So incorporating a hybrid nutrified water culture to a soil based system will certainly result in accumulated sodium if the PPM is maintained to high. Coco coir has a higher CEC. Less is More here and it’s easy to add, but not so easy to remove accumulated nutrient.
I’m my experience if nutrients are going to added to the bottom resivore, the best bet is to go with a hempy type substrate. 1:1 of coco pith and perlite. Treat it like hydro but with the convince of sub irrigation.
Otherwise I’d add dry ammendments to the substrate and go with plain water and some microbial beneficials
3 Likes
The whole reason I bought these was that they were a soil based system. I am not going to use a different medium.
I will either make these work with soil and figure it out or go back to my normal system of growing. If I can’t feed my plants then the system itself is flawed!
6 Likes
you can feed your plants, its just not a direct “IV” system. It is designed for nutrients to be in the medium and fresh water in the res like a fresh spring aquifer, to the best of my understanding.
I use water soluble nutrients in the form of KNF inputs and everything gets top watered into the soil, never into the res. The res only gets water and LAB.
I wouldn’t say the system is flawed it just has its own set of rules or guidlines.
7 Likes
Yea, echoing what @BeagleZ said, as I understand and have seen in practice you can feed nutrients into the medium in the form of top dressed solid amendments or water soluble nutrients just watered in as normal, but the res should remain a fresh water source, that allows the plant to basically “choose” to uptake what it needs vs being forced to uptake everything that’s in the medium. It can uptake here and there from the nutrient rich medium and then uptake freshwater as it likes from the res to balance things out.
5 Likes
This will be my last response on this topic.
To me it makes no sense thinking that the nutrients in a 5 gallon bucket are going to last through vegetation and flowering. As the plant grows it requires more nutrients and if using just the nutrients in the initial soil it will have less as the plants progress.
Plus I personally use different nutrients for these stages anyway.
Thank you all for your responses.
My questions were meant to be in private and not posted on a thread.
3 Likes
sorry, i was just trying to help. You do you bud, no worries.
Good Vibes 
4 Likes
Sounds like you got this then!! If it ain’t broke, why fix it. Keep doing what your instincts tell you and find resolve in your horticultural expertise.
2 Likes
You overload the soil with nutrients, top dress it if you want more shit not mixed in, but you are supposed to use water only in the res. This allows the plant to feed on whatever nutrients it needs up top, but it can drink as much clean water as it wants.
When you mix up nutrients into your water, you are essentially feeding it a milkshake. The plant HAS to take those up because it wants the water, but there’s other shit in the water so it drinks those anyways.
Plain clean water in the bottom is the key. You don’t have to worry about build up of nutes, or ppms or whatever else you normally need to worry about in other growing methods. The plant eats and drinks separately, and doesn’t over eat. It’s not forced to drink a slim fast shake for every meal, even if it’s already had its fill of nutrients, and is just thirsty.
This is a different growing system, not just a new pot that holds more water for your old system.
2 Likes
Thanks ya’ll for the responses!! I have very little time these days and I appreciate ya’ll sharing your time and experiences. @oldjoints when you do get going, please share your experiences here with us, so we can follow along with you.
4 Likes
I’m a “No Till Living Soil” kinda guy but I’ve had tremendous success in the past with SIP’s. So being the Tinkering Stoner that I am, I’m whipping up a small 12 gallon SIP. Staying TRUE the fundamentals of Sub Irrigation I’m going automated using a 9" Blumat Maxi supplied by a pump system with accumulator tank and a 300GPD RoDi.
I’ve been mixing my own substrate for many years now and have Mastered ORGANIC COCO COIR. I use less than 5% peat and it’s strictly for its acidic nature, everything else is humus, compost, EWC, leaf mold, hydroton, perlite, rice hulls, cocao bean shell, cypress fines. The coco portion is a combination of pith, chip and fiber.
For this SIP I’m keeping shit simple and using these ammendments:
Epsoma Tomato Tone
Fish manure/humus
EWC & Compost (homemade)
DTE Insect Frass
Azomite
Sulfur
Silica Quartz sand
13 Likes
I’ll throw up some pics when the soil has been blended and the clone tent is outfitted with all the gear.
The strain that’s going to make this SIP a happy home is Choco Lato (chocolope x gelato 41)
4 Likes
I’m not sure this was ever specifically addressed, so, I’m gonna chance a backpost here. The deal with the bags is that they are one-way breathable. Some of the gasses produced by the curing bud seep out the tiny-invisible ‘perforation’ but atmo-gasses cannot travel in. The weak point of the bags (usually) is that this can create a too-dry product if you you forget about the bag for a year. However, they offer a good, set it and forget it (RIP Rick Pompeil, sniff) curing option. It can be helpful to put the buds in a jar after the cure, and then use the bags for your next cure. Just an idea. I also use a DIY ‘bucket-cure tek’ that’s simple to build. Here’s a link to the build tutorial by my fave DIY-guy, The Grow Doctor, I’ve built everything he gives tutorials for except the grow cabinet, and they’ve all been just stellar.
…We now return you to your regular broadcast programming…
4 Likes
Oh hell yes.
2 Likes
Munson by Dominion. Next in line to flower. For the last few plants I added, I’ve been adding Dr. Earth dry amendments to my top dress. So far, I’m digging it and the plants seem to also. Check out how the soil looks!
14 Likes
Thanks!
I thought it would be pretty neat to see a SIP controlled by a blumat. I work alot and travel out of state so the blumats just made sense for my situation.
4 Likes
Plant looks great!!! Super happy and healthy. What’s your soil mix?
3 Likes