There is a crack in everything...

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Yes, I picked up some round ones that I tried to place directly under the wick. Since last run I only got water roots in the bubble path, I thought this might encourage them.



I look forward to seeing those. So far the handful of people on RIU who have used SIPs seem to have experienced that the res's don't need much cleaning or draining/refilling. I was the most 'paranoid' about that, and made a big deal out of wanting access, but so far I really haven't needed it. If you do make a drain system then you can add nutes to the res, but that's opening a whole regiment of monitoring that takes away from the beautiful simplicity of them that I'm after. Top feeding is interesting, I certainly have not mastered it.


What is "EM"?
Effective Microorganisms, or LABs, lactobacillus bacteria. I think it was hyroot who used it in the res. The are beneficial bacteria that can be grown yourself.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Yes, I picked up some round ones that I tried to place directly under the wick. Since last run I only got water roots in the bubble path, I thought this might encourage them.



I look forward to seeing those. So far the handful of people on RIU who have used SIPs seem to have experienced that the res's don't need much cleaning or draining/refilling. I was the most 'paranoid' about that, and made a big deal out of wanting access, but so far I really haven't needed it. If you do make a drain system then you can add nutes to the res, but that's opening a whole regiment of monitoring that takes away from the beautiful simplicity of them that I'm after. Top feeding is interesting, I certainly have not mastered it.


What is "EM"?
Sips: i want to have the pots ontop of some sort of table, with a hole drilled for the wick, the underneath have the res, propped up by a brick or 2, so it can be raised or lowered. Ive read that the length of wick between the pot and the surface is the main driver of how much water is wicked to your media. If you can raise and lower it you could adjust for your needs based on how thirsty your plants are and how hot it is. Also, if they can be cleared completely you could top feed liquid and if your res goes bunk you can clean and exchange. If i finally get my shit together and go indoor i would like to try this, keeping the tent ontop of the table and with the res outside. Mor vertical clearance, res wont be as heated by lights yadayada.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
takes allot of the simplicity out of it,,
but seems well thought out,,,will be interesing to see your finished set up for sure
i had my earthbox outdoors last summer,, with 2 HUGE tomato plants in it,, several weeks we had 100 degree weather,, and those plants drank 2 gallons per day,, and seemed Unfazzed by the high temp of the res,, its so unlike DWC,,
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
Very keen on seeing how that goes as if all ok it would make things so much easier. But at least have some plan for how to access if the res goes bunk
with my earthbox,, and with the octopots,, you can flush the res,,,, with the earthbox it works like a hempy bucket,, if the res has issues ( and my res has always overflowed pure clean looking water),,,, all you have to do is pour water down the fill pipe continuely,, and the over flow flushes out the res,, i would run the hose thru my SIP outdoors for a good five mintues somedays,, ,with the octopots there is a viewing window, and you can pump the water out thru the window if needed
there is a guy on here captain who grows in SIP octopots and he puts nutes in his res all the time,,, about half strength
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Weekly Update

Everything is going pretty well, I'm happy with it.

I flipped the 2x4 to 12/12 on Dec. 1st, so its just coming up on a week of flower. They were all under the screen when I flipped, so everything above that is new growth. Bud sites are just starting to establish. The two with fabric pots have a little peep-hole where I can see the res, which I use to gauge how much to fill them, so I snapped a quick pick of the Jack Herer's water roots that could be seen.

12.06_2x4.jpg 12.06_2x4canopy.jpg 12.07_2x4-early-bud-formation.jpg 12.06_JH-water-roots.jpg

The 3x3 is doing fine, the clones are adjusting to the soil and the early issues are clearing up. I up-potted everything on 12/02, so I'll probably wait until Friday to flip to 12/12 to give them a solid week for their roots to figure out the size of the pots they are in. I'm tempted to go longer... I'll see when Friday rolls around. The 2 gallon pots have more potential than I'll probably be tapping, and since I don't plan on topping them (a first for me) I imagine they'll have taller narrower shapes. I'm totally open to suggestions here, I've never tried growing this many plants at one time in one tent.

And the little runt is still alive and will get flipped with the others, although it may need more time to mature before it flowers, it will basically be 12/12 start to finish. It will have time though, because at least one of the clones I bought has a "9-11" week flowering time -- a couple of weeks past some of the others. This will definitely be a staggered harvest when the time comes.

12.07_3x3-youngins.jpg 12.07_3x3-canopy.jpg 12.07_3x3-runt.jpg

Last pic is just a curiosity, check out the difference in leaf size between the Island Sweet Skunk (left) and the NYC Diesel (right) clones.

12.06_leaf-sizes.jpg
 
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Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Random Update

In the 3x3, (so far?) I've had three boys, one of each strain so that worked out very nicely. The big surprise was that one of the clones I bought hermied. I was not expecting that, wasn't paying close enough attention (it was at the back of the tent) and by the time I caught it some of the balls had opened. It was so covered with balls (top to bottom) and it happened so fast, I actually wondered if they cloned a male plant. I had one hermie in the past, and it was a plant that was abused by multiple light changes throughout its life. It produced a few seeds on lower buds. This one was just crazy, and I have no idea why it happened.

The female seedlings had not shown sex yet, so they could be OK, but I'm pretty sure I'll be collecting seeds from the other two clones that were on either side of the boy. Not what I was after, but this grow is just for fun so if the whole thing goes south its no big deal. I've been spraying periodically with a Neem/Greencure mix, so I went ahead and hit them and the environment really well, that should kill any remaining pollen. For those who are curious, the boy/hermie clone was the Island Sweet Skunk, and the other clones that had started flowering are a NYC Diesel and a Wild Thai. Other than an apparently genetically weak ass father, could be interesting crosses.

Here's the remaining girls in the 3x3:

12.19_3x3-tops.jpg 12.19_3x3-angle.jpg 12.19_3x3.jpg

The 2x4 was getting cold, so I added an old Mars Reflector I had on the shelf to heat it up a bit. One of my fans on one of my DIY COBs had a fin snap off, and ran out of balance badly enough to make the whole unit shake. Luckily it was the 5000k COBs, which I have in the past dimmed or just shut off for flower, so I removed that unit (and then added the Mars). I'm not sure if I'll replace the fan or just switch my remaining fan-cooled COBs to passive heat sinks. Fans and their additional wires are a PITA. Bottom line is I won't need that light again until next November, so I have plenty of time to decide.

I put the second level onto the scrog because the Jack Herer threw up a few significantly taller branches than the other plants (it can also be helpful in general in terms of spreading out the branches evenly). Did a big trim a few days ago, these girls are growing like crazy. As I mentioned I've never flipped this early before (2.5 weeks of veg), so there's some learning curve for me. The branches are so thin and wispy, 90% of the branches on these plants are branches I would trim off of a "regular" plant. Had to recalibrate my brain so that I wouldn't remove too much. I'm really curious to see what kind of buds these skinny little branches produce.

These pics are a couple of days old, but they are the most recent ones I have at the moment.

12.16_2x4-dupl.jpg 12.18_2x4dupl.jpg
 
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Humanrob

Well-Known Member
4 weeks since flipping to 12/12 in the 2x4...

I've let this one go a little wild, but no issues so far. The Jack Herer is stacking nicely, she's the biggest plant of the group and I've had to reign her in a couple of times after finding her growing all over the tent. The odd one is the Chernobyl, it is the thinnest/tallest/stretchiest with the longest spacing between buds, but it also has frost all the way to the tips on the fan leaves, and frost all over the stems...

12.30_2x4chernobyl-frost.jpg 12.30_2x4jack.jpg
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
3+ weeks since flipping in the 3x3

This has been a real learning experience. I have two clones in this tent that reacted as I'm used to, within a week of flipping buds started forming. The seedlings were apparently not mature yet, because they took what seemed like a long time to show sex (males showed up first and were pulled) and then start to bud. I've never done "12/12 from seed", so I don't know how long it usually takes -- and these were veg'd for about 2.5 weeks before they were flipped.

The two clones -- NYC Diesel and Wild Thai
12.31_3x3nyc-d.jpg 12.31_3x3Thai.jpg

Two of the seedlings, showing some are more mature than others
12.31_3x3not-mature.jpg 12.31_3x3seedlingbud.jpg

Shots of the overcrowded canopy... I'm kind of assuming that's what a "sea of green" does?
12.31_3x3canopy-nikon.jpg 12.31_3x3angle.jpg 12.31_3x3pots-sides.jpg

And a full shot of the tent. This is the least vertical amount of space I've ever used (i.e. shortest plants), although the girls I started from seed are not nearly done stretching.
12.31_3x3full-tent.jpg
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
I'm really surprised, I've heard that SIPs can speed up flower times, but this is week 6 and I have a lot of amber trichomes and brown hairs. At least some of the top buds will be coming down earlier than expected. I was playing around with my phone and my loop, and got a couple of shots of the amber trichomes on the Jack Herer. The Jack is also starting to foxtail, this is the second time I've had a plant do that under these COBs.

01.12_2x4tichs1.jpg 01.12_2x4trichs2.jpg

Jack Herer
01.13_2x4jack.jpg

Lemon Diesel
01.13_2x4lemonD.jpg

Chernobyl
01.13_2x4chernobyl.jpg

Cinex
01.13_2x4cinex.jpg
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
HumanRob, Hows the cinex??? I've been thinking bout giving that one a shot
Haven't tried it yet, it will be coming down later this week, then a week to dry and at least two to cure and we'll give it a smoke. I'll let you know. I've read its a great high, so far all I can say is its not much of a producer. Makes small buds spaced far apart. Frosty as hell, but not a lot of meat on the bones.
 
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