SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Salts and Sips are new to me,Ive only added a bit of salt to get over the finish line.

I came from RDWC also,switching to sips and organic had me thinking id have to aerate the water ph etc.None of the above.Make a simple organic mix ,let cook and plant. Its amazing really just how simple it is.

I suggest you give it a try. Promix and some dry food a splash of compost and your off.
I'm moving away from dwc, because of how easy the sip is. No mixing, no pH'ing, no monitoring ph and ec. Just add water, top dress a few times, and let grow.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
An update on my sheet covered sips. When I transplanted these in I didn’t see any fliers so thought all was good. I have a worm bin so it was time to harvest and add to the sips. Sitting in my garage I’ve been closely monitoring it for gnats. Seemed it was good so I added the ewc in. Wrong! I guess the added warmth of my room hatched some dormant eggs and wham I got gnats again. Shit. So I removed the top one inch of all my sips. Yes a PIA. Added back plain cooked soil and here we are.
Numbers have slowly declined I’ve since harvested all my worms from my bin gave them a wash and just dumped them in to the sips. So ea sip now has a 20-40 worms. Will see how that goes.
the rest of my worm castings are outside frozen. Shame to kill it off but it just didn’t produce in my garage even with the heater on. Gnats we’re always there so it was time to get rid of it.
Some pics of the girls.
I even added a coco plant this run for shits and giggles. Use up some of my old hydro food. 8EE1EAFB-5FA0-4165-A107-CBAD26735825.jpegAB4F9E4C-B49E-4B25-8E3B-3ABFE582DBCB.jpegA4B40676-1738-47EE-A6A6-22FCDFB7831C.jpeg1BEFFAC6-BE25-44D9-891D-A68241E32CF2.jpeg
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
An update on my sheet covered sips. When I transplanted these in I didn’t see any fliers so thought all was good. I have a worm bin so it was time to harvest and add to the sips. Sitting in my garage I’ve been closely monitoring it for gnats. Seemed it was good so I added the ewc in. Wrong! I guess the added warmth of my room hatched some dormant eggs and wham I got gnats again. Shit. So I removed the top one inch of all my sips. Yes a PIA. Added back plain cooked soil and here we are.
Numbers have slowly declined I’ve since harvested all my worms from my bin gave them a wash and just dumped them in to the sips. So ea sip now has a 20-40 worms. Will see how that goes.
the rest of my worm castings are outside frozen. Shame to kill it off but it just didn’t produce in my garage even with the heater on. Gnats we’re always there so it was time to get rid of it.
Some pics of the girls.
I even added a coco plant this run for shits and giggles. Use up some of my old hydro food. View attachment 5088457View attachment 5088458View attachment 5088460View attachment 5088463
Sorry to hear about the gnats man. Have you used predator mites?
I have so many insects running around in my sip, I get dizzy trying to watch them. There's thousands and thousands. Springtails, soil mites, hypoaspis miles, etc....
I never see any gnats in my flower tent with the sip, and I have a mom tent in the same room, that usually has a few fliers. Do you have a high diversity of insects running around?
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear about the gnats man. Have you used predator mites?
I have so many insects running around in my sip, I get dizzy trying to watch them. There's thousands and thousands. Springtails, soil mites, hypoaspis miles, etc....
I never see any gnats in my flower tent with the sip, and I have a mom tent in the same room, that usually has a few fliers. Do you have a high diversity of insects running around?
Yup Ive always had good soil life,hypo myles etc.They never really took over though,lazy I called them lol.There was always just more gnats I guess.Tried nematodes, they did nothing last run.

The sheets are working,there right on top of the soil.I find dead ones when I lift it up.

Sand always works so thats my back up, but for now sheets are nice very easy to top dress.

Sure like the new bigger sips,a lot of surface area to top dress.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Yup Ive always had good soil life,hypo myles etc.They never really took over though,lazy I called them lol.There was always just more gnats I guess.Tried nematodes, they did nothing last run.

The sheets are working,there right on top of the soil.I find dead ones when I lift it up.

Sand always works so thats my back up, but for now sheets are nice very easy to top dress.

Sure like the new bigger sips,a lot of surface area to top dress.
Yea the sheet is likely effective. Maybe the cover is the key. Could be why I don't get them, but I'm sure I add some when I add ewc, and compost. I wonder if adding predator mites to the ewc/compost, a couple weeks before top dressing would help?
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Ive just learned to live with them,they dont hurt anything.I just keep killing them back. Maybe one day Ill be Gnat free but every summer there's millions around so pretty hard to stop them.
Yea, I guess they don't really do that much damage, at least not that I've ever noticed, but they sure are pesty as fuck. I usually keep a cup with a lil apple cider vinegar, with a couple drops of dish soap in my tent, during flower, to try to keep the flier numbers down, so they don't stick to the buds.
 

CrunchBerries

Well-Known Member
Ive just learned to live with them,they dont hurt anything.I just keep killing them back. Maybe one day Ill be Gnat free but every summer there's millions around so pretty hard to stop them.
What do you feed your worms? Since I’ve been making my own ewc, I’ve been basically gnat free.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
As awesome as SIPs are, they won't solve my fertilizer problem! Ha!

This plant is the biggest hog ever! I grew its mother, so I know it wants lots of N.

I uppotted from 5g to 15g at first sign of flowering. Soil was hot, so I didn't fertilize for a couple weeks (it went from regular plant green to deep, dark green in a few days).

Then I started to load it up on top. First week of feeding, 1/4 cup 4-4-4. Next week, fresh alfalfa top-dress. Next week, 1/4 cup 4-4-4. Then 8 oz. FPJ (made from mother trimmings). Then 1/4 cup 4-4-4. Then 8 oz. compost tea. I followed this "pattern," feeding about every week--until week eight when the fade started. It wasn't bad at first, so I let it go. Week nine brought a faster fade, so I gave it some compost tea in stronger concentration. No noticable difference!

This is week ten. Four days ago, in mild annoyance, I pulled out all the stops and dropped one full cup of 4-4-4. I also began giving it 16oz. of even stronger compost tea. I have been giving it this compost tea every day for four days.

Today the leaves have perked up a bit. The fade seems slowed, but I'll need a couple days to monitor and be sure.

This plant need ten times the fertilizer I have given any plant ever!
What ended up happening ? was the soil not charged enough.
 
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