Thinking about setting up some SIP buckets next cycle after my reset
Will this work with organic soil with amendments mixed instead of top dressed?
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If you are running 5 gal sips I would assume you would need to topdress occasionally to keep up. Are you using ROLS or new soil? Your soil will run out of fuel quickly in a 5 gal if you are using new soil, unless you keep plants small and flip early. Still, I would imagine a topdress or two would be necessary. Here is where I got my start with SIPs: https://rollitup.org/t/greens-probiotic-method.985411/
Here is another useful resource: https: https://rollitup.org/t/sip-thread-sub-irrigated-planter.904886/
I currently run 15gal earthboxes, but am working to get my 5x5 up and running, where I will build some 30 gals. Here is the design I’m looking to replicate:
Maybe I’m blind or don’t know how to use the search function, but OG needs a dedicated SIP thread!
Let me know if this helps or you have any further questions.
Happy Holidays,
Crunch
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I just mixed up an amended organic soil for my first organic SIP (earthbox) effort. I think it should get thru veg fine, and maybe even flower, on water only. I grew a ton of tomatoes and peppers water-only using the same mix. It is pro-mix based, with extra perlite and homemade compost, with some BAS minerals and craft blend, some other stuff like hi-N bat guano, kelp meal, azomite, dolomitic lime, greensand, EWC, and such. I will let it cook for at least 4 weeks while I start a seed or 2. Wish me luck. Hopefully I can get a few 2009 era Paradise Sensi Star, or some rez SD IBL seeds to sprout, but if not, I have plenty of other current genetics to try. Best regards.
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Very nice. Cant wait to see it 
I actually had 2 earth boxes sitting on my porch earlier from the nice UPS man (1 junior the other day as well) . I have some extra BAS take and bake that I used in my 3x3 bed and also my own version I threw together that I am using in my 2x4 bed. Cant wait to give the EB’s a try.
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I don’t run SIP so I cant say with 100% confidence, but I think if you’re adding top amendments you’d need to water top down instead of using SIP to incorporate them into your media. I know sip works great for living soil and super soils as theyre usually just add water soils to begin with.
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I haven’t used them yet, but I’ve been reading threads and researching in anticipation of it. It seems like the idea behind the plastic “shower cap” condensation cover is that it creates a mini rain cycle that helps keep top amendments moist and roots reaching the surface where it’s dark and moist, maximizing root mass.
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Excatlty & reduces water Evaporation 
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I’ve only been running them the last round, so my experience is limited, but I found that you can add top-dressing for sure, but best to water them in at least once from the top. You don’t have to go over board with the watering, just enough to get things moist. Then cover things back up and let the covers do the work of keeping the moisture in the beds and letting those dry amendments break down.
So far I’ve been really happy switching to SIPs. It’s going to be interesting to see what the roots look like after I finish my current round, and if I could possibly no-till the SIPs, or will I need to dump everything, then add back in some more dry amendments?
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With SIPs, bigger is better. 5gal is too small. You really need to start at 15gal or 2cuft of soil, and go up from there. The full size City Pickers SIPs fit great in a 4x4, but the Earthboxes not so much. Both hold similar amounts of soil.
Topdressing any SIPs under 15gal is basically a requirement at flip and around day 30, and like @iamyou_youareme said, water it in once, then cover and let the SIPs do their magic. They water from the bottom and it works as soon as your plant’s roots find the rez. When that happens you’ll see them visibly take off, and once they do, all you gotta do is keep the water full and their food supply steady. And then hang on because they’re going to overgrow your space if they have enough food.
Water only down the rez. You can put stuff in it, but you run the risk of it going sour, so why chance it when straight water works so well. There’s a great thread about SIPs on RIU, but it’s a long read. Well worth the effort if you want to get near hydro production and speed out of organic soil.
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I’m strongly considering giving them a go; they look a LOT easier tbh… Im just a bit worried as I don’t use living soil or super soil and add teas along with top amending. Has anyone else done top amending with SIPs by chance?
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You might check the RIU thread, but I haven’t read through the whole thing through. I bet you could get away with it if you left plenty of space to add your top amendments/more soil. You could run teas too, but I’d let the res go dry first, so you don’t over saturate everything and have you tea run to the rez, where is could go anaerobic. The manual of the city pickers actually says to NOT use organic stuff, just straight potting mix, with a layer of lime, then more potting mix and dry fertilizer, and to only use water. It’d be cool to run one with dry fertilizer and compare to organics, though. So far I haven’t had a problem running organics in them.
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I rarely ever top water to lessen a fungus gnat bloom. With that said,Earth boxes are known to dry out so top watering helps keep the wick intact and wicking. There are only two wicks, so they must be tamped firmly. Feeder roots will work on topdressings. I only topdress 3ish times in the lifecycle of a grow. Once when I’m setting up the sip, once at planting and once again at flip and your good. I topdress crab, barley, ewc, insect frass, compost and Grokashi. A microbial inoculate like em1, LABS, or photosynthesis + is important I believe. Fungal dominant top, bacterially dominate bottom. Party in the middle!
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Those RIU threads I posted earlier are a wealth of information on the subject.
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They are! I found these neat planters, thanks!
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If you have worms in your soil they will help move the amendments down from my understanding
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I learned recently that sip for seedlings in solo cups requires faster transplant. The roots all run down to the water holes and get bound up in the bottom of the cup. Had me thinking i overwatered. Doing good now that they’re in nursery bags.
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Let’s keep this thread going y’all! Here is my current project in 15 gal probiotic earth boxes. Bodhi Sunshine Queen and Orange Wookie x 88g13HP. Day 57F
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Cant wait for that Orange Wookie!
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Me too my old friend. Me too!
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