I’ve accumulated one earth box, two EB jr and two city sippers over the last year. After reading this thread I’m going to give it a try!! Hopefully I’ll have good results like you all. Thanks for the inspiration!!! Peace and joy
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Great news! Feel free to post any updates! Good luck!
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I need some advice hopefully its cool to jump on here and ask since sips are the route im taking.
I mixed 3cuft royal gold kings mix soil with 0.75cuft humus and manure and added the following
2c kelp meal
2c rock phosphate
2c azomite
1c organic rice
1c organic oats
1c oyster shell
2 tbsp sulfate of potash
2tbsp fulvic acid
1 gallon of EWC
Wet down with 4 gallons of lab infused tap water with molasses added.
I tested soil ph one day after mix and my soil ph is very alkaline over 7.5ph
Any advice on bringing this soil ph down?
I usually give up on things very easily but this is something im determined to learn and understand.
Pic attached is soil before mix on the left and after mix on the right
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My advice is to throw away your ph wand or strips. I haven’t ph’d anything since I left bottled nutrients. I wouldn’t actually throw them away, because you might find a use for them down the road, but I don’t ph shit any longer.
There is a more detailed description of the 3 ph zones I make available, so plants take what they want, when they want it up at the top of thread
@seeds2weeds its actually in the ‘Why Probiotic Sips?’ Section at the top.
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Thats a relief. Ill go looking for the 3 ph zone part of this thread now to read up thanks crunchberries
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Let sit a few weeks. You could plant a cover crop in there too. I don’t know how but when I plant a cover crop it seems to help balance the soil out and the plants explode in growth. So planting one before the cannabis would probably help. Once it has had time to settle out you could send a soil sample to Logan Labs. Then you’ll actually know where you stand.
You need to add some lime in there too. Besides the oyster shell. That probably won’t be available right off the get go.
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I thought with a sip you have to keep the lid on? I would be game to planting a cover crop but i thought the lid had to retain the moisture for the fungus to dominate the top of the soil
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Or Oyster Shell Flour
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I made an edit above. I’m not so sure oyster is available right away where as micronized lime probably is. I’d add a cup of micronized limestone and a half cup of gypsum for more calcium to help balance the PH
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Sorry I’m not familiar with the SIP technique. I know when making soil you want to let it sit. The longer the better or you get problems. It’s best to let it sit and break down over months rather than having it break down while the plants is in it. But…. that’s not always an option.
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So dolomite has magnesium. Where as limestone does not. I’m not sure about Oyster shells. Brant Mason from soil doctor doesn’t recommend Dolomite because of high magnesium. It has too much.
Disclaimer… I’m not trying to ruffle any feathers lol I’m just sharing what I know, and always willing to learn more.
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Don’t forget the worms @seeds2weeds 
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I am going to let it break down over the next month. Hopefully that is long enough
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That should be fine. Make sure it stays a little moist to help the process. You want to be able to squeeze a few drops of water out of a handful of soil.
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Yea i was gonna keep wetting it down with lab infused water and mix every 10 days
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I’m not a big fan of dolomite for that reason because it has 5x the mag to calcium ratio and if used along with other amendments like langbenite can throw yourself into a calcium lockout I find it best to use oyster shell flour and if needed do a light mg feed with epsoms if the plant is a heavy feeder for it
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I was thinking about this today, I want to add worms to a 11 gallon SIP but I’m not sure if they would need any special care? Is there a calculation for the number of worms for that amount space? Would the soil mix need to be made with worms in mind? Do you need to feed them? Soil PH?
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I would start a worm farm, before just adding them to your soil. A farm is going to continuously produce high quality castings and the worms will multiply. Adding fresh EWC to your soil will inevitably add worms and cocoons, so they will get there eventually. There are vermicompost threads on here and there is a link to the RIU mega thread at the top.
Once they are in your soil/ SIP while you are growing, they will need to be kept moist, so no extreme dry downs. Keep the reservoir filled and maybe topwater occasionally if the top couple inches of soil is dry.
Worm farms are one of the best things I’ve done for the garden and are super fun!!
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