SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

Hollatchaboy

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
myke said:
My tap is pH7.2 ish 120 ppm pretty hard.I use fresh from the tap so I get chlorine to help keep the res clean.Seams to work.
Click to expand...
I know the chlorine gets dealt with (I believe by the humic? ), but I'm always nervous about adding it. Maybe I'll try. I know I seen a worm in the res thru the filler tube.
 
hot_box_enthusiast

hot_box_enthusiast

Well-Known Member
Love this thread. About to embark on a mission into the SIP world and look forward to more learning and sharing. Being in Canada, I settled on trying some Gaia Green products for my amendments; and so *have made the same post in the Gaia Green thread*.

Looking for feedback on my plan which I will paste below. I have almost everything at this point and am ready to get mixing. I've been growing with PromixHP and Advanced Nutes up until now.

**copied post**

Looking for feedback on my planned mix & setup. I have already purchased most of everything, so feedback will more be in relation to the ratio of inputs, need to cook or not etc.

Preamble - Have wanted to try soil for a while and am taking the plunge. I really liked the Build A Soil video series, and was considering Earthbox or No Till Beds. When I found Earthboxes at 50% off, and noted how well they might fit in my space, I decided it was meant to be.

My plan is to start with a perpetual harvest for my flower room for a few reasons:
  • I am new to mixing my own soil, and know there will be plenty of learning curves for watering etc compared to running bottles in promix; therefore rather than just filling up my space, I figured I would stagger them in one or two earthboxes at a time
  • pests// my understanding is good and bad pests are part of the deal with growing in soil. My thought is adding one box a week and maintaining good IPM will give a better chance for success than just cramming the space full
  • variations on how I mix and amend the soil; I will run some known clones to start, and figured that I would be able to experiment a bit with how I feed them. For example Week 1 I start 2 earthboxes with identical clones. As time goes on I can top dress and amend slightly differently to see how they respond. Furthermore I can consider whether I want to change my initial mix. If I just mix a yard of soil all at once, I can't do this.
  • My veg space should be able to support perpetual better
  • it gives me a bit of time to recycle the soil at end of run, then use for the next veg
So in total I plan 16 earthboxes... 4 in Veg and 12 in Flower. I will use an 11 week haze that I love to start, and so will add one earthbox approx every 8 days. That will give them about 4 weeks in veg room (4x6). Setting up a wormbox for future use and have a compost tumbler, both of which I plan to keep inside under stairs.

My space is about 10x7, and has 4 x HLG 550 and C02 (sealed although I run a very slight continuous exhaust for fresh air ; yes this is different than keeping in sealed during lights on and exhausting at night).

Here is plan...


earthbox plan.jpg


Not shown in the photo ; Anden 95 dehum, Mini Split AC, and 2x Hurricane Oscillating Fans, Fresh air intake (filtered) and 4" AC infinity for the slight exhaust.

Now to the MIX.
It's just a variation of Coots and Build a Soil and a lot of reading time spent on RIU.


mix.jpg

(note: ocean farm fort organic mixes)

Also note:
  • I have Humic Acid for the Initial Mix.
  • I have Aloe Flakes and Yucca Powder
  • I have Gaia Green Power Bloom 2-8-4 for top dressing in Flower


Here was my reasoning on the mix of OSF, Gypsum and Pril Lime

liming.jpg


FWIW I have purchased most of the above inputs, normally buying 10 or 20KG bags to save $$.
The final cost of the above recipe is $21.04CDN per f3; the pumice is the largest component of that cost. That having been said, its choice should hopefully allow me to recycle this mix long into the future and shouldn't break down like perlite.

cost.jpg


Questions:
  • anything obvious I am missing?
  • does this plan make sense?
  • Are there any obvious errors I have made with respect to my initial mix?

Cheers!
 
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raggyb

raggyb

Well-Known Member
hot_box_enthusiast said:
Love this thread. About to embark on a mission into the SIP world and look forward to more learning and sharing. Being in Canada, I settled on trying some Gaia Green products for my amendments; and so *have made the same post in the Gaia Green thread*.

Looking for feedback on my plan which I will paste below. I have almost everything at this point and am ready to get mixing. I've been growing with PromixHP and Advanced Nutes up until now.

**copied post**

Looking for feedback on my planned mix & setup. I have already purchased most of everything, so feedback will more be in relation to the ratio of inputs, need to cook or not etc.

Preamble - Have wanted to try soil for a while and am taking the plunge. I really liked the Build A Soil video series, and was considering Earthbox or No Till Beds. When I found Earthboxes at 50% off, and noted how well they might fit in my space, I decided it was meant to be.

My plan is to start with a perpetual harvest for my flower room for a few reasons:
  • I am new to mixing my own soil, and know there will be plenty of learning curves for watering etc compared to running bottles in promix; therefore rather than just filling up my space, I figured I would stagger them in one or two earthboxes at a time
  • pests// my understanding is good and bad pests are part of the deal with growing in soil. My thought is adding one box a week and maintaining good IPM will give a better chance for success than just cramming the space full
  • variations on how I mix and amend the soil; I will run some known clones to start, and figured that I would be able to experiment a bit with how I feed them. For example Week 1 I start 2 earthboxes with identical clones. As time goes on I can top dress and amend slightly differently to see how they respond. Furthermore I can consider whether I want to change my initial mix. If I just mix a yard of soil all at once, I can't do this.
  • My veg space should be able to support perpetual better
  • it gives me a bit of time to recycle the soil at end of run, then use for the next veg
So in total I plan 16 earthboxes... 4 in Veg and 12 in Flower. I will use an 11 week haze that I love to start, and so will add one earthbox approx every 8 days. That will give them about 4 weeks in veg room (4x6). Setting up a wormbox for future use and have a compost tumbler, both of which I plan to keep inside under stairs.

My space is about 10x7, and has 4 x HLG 550 and C02 (sealed although I run a very slight continuous exhaust for fresh air ; yes this is different than keeping in sealed during lights on and exhausting at night).

Here is plan...


earthbox plan.jpg



Not shown in the photo ; Anden 95 dehum, Mini Split AC, and 2x Hurricane Oscillating Fans, Fresh air intake (filtered) and 4" AC infinity for the slight exhaust.

Now to the MIX.
It's just a variation of Coots and Build a Soil and a lot of reading time spent on RIU.


mix.jpg


(note: ocean farm fort organic mixes)

Also note:
  • I have Humic Acid for the Initial Mix.
  • I have Aloe Flakes and Yucca Powder
  • I have Gaia Green Power Bloom 2-8-4 for top dressing in Flower


Here was my reasoning on the mix of OSF, Gypsum and Pril Lime

liming.jpg



FWIW I have purchased most of the above inputs, normally buying 10 or 20KG bags to save $$.
The final cost of the above recipe is $21.04CDN per f3; the pumice is the largest component of that cost. That having been said, its choice should hopefully allow me to recycle this mix long into the future and shouldn't break down like perlite.

cost.jpg



Questions:
  • anything obvious I am missing?
  • does this plan make sense?
  • Are there any obvious errors I have made with respect to my initial mix?

Cheers!
Click to expand...
i'll take a shot at a quick and dirty. like yours my base is something like 1/3 pete, 1/3 perlite, 1/6 ewc and 1/6 compost. then I added ammendments and wrote down all amounts. First time I did this I filled a cup with holes in the bottom and measured the ppm of the drainoff. it was like twice what I thought it should be, so I doubled the batch by adding double the base amounts and no ammendments. recalculated my formulas. ive been using that ever since and haven't felt much need to adjust that mix. different plants still need corrections sometimes and my mix may not be perfect but this method worked pretty well for me.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
I think they were pretty dry this morning,Ill bet half of the 8 litres went straight up the wick so an hour after I filled it was half empty.
 
Robar

Robar

Well-Known Member
Well I have all materials needed to make 6 planters and am going to get started sometime this weekend. Got to thinking about soil and thought since I had a bale promix hp sitting around I would use it. What would you add to it? I have most the normal stuff on hand that an organic guy might be expected to have. Worm Castings, coast of maine lobster compost, kelp meal, bone meal crab meal, green sand and the list continues nearly into infinity. I'm also planing to use Garden-Tone (3-4-4) as my base fertilizer. The one thing I don't have on hand is perlite as I am out but will get some this weekend.

I've read through a bunch of this thread and have seen different folks use different things so what would you add to promix HP? Any fancy layers anything that I should be aware of as far as this style of grow is concerned?

Also any last minute hot tips before I start cutting and drilling are welcome too.

Totes I'm using are these 12 gal from homDep
 

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myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Those look like mine their 10g 45L. Unless they make different sizes in the US?here I can get 45. 65. And 103 litre
 
Robar

Robar

Well-Known Member
myke said:
Those look like mine their 10g 45L. Unless they make different sizes in the US?here I can get 45. 65. And 103 litre
Click to expand...
Yes we can get them in a lot of sizes. the interior size of these are 11x11x16 those are all rounded as there is point what ever after the whole number but you get the drift. As I was inspired but your grows and success with this planter I went with what I thought was close to yours. I like growing a bit bigger plant plus long flowering sativas so I thought the twelve gallon was a good choice.

***EDIT went back to where I posted actual measurements this is the real interior size. 15.75 in. L x 11.25 in. W x 11 in. H
 
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