SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
What's the longest you folks have left your SIP alone after filling up the res? I've read that one guy on here did not add water for over 20 days and counting which is insane.

Plastic leeching really does come to mind with these setups. No synthetics or heat would keep any leeching to a minimum but if there's an expert on plastic.. I'd love to hear from you.

Most walmart Totes are PP and LDPE, which is more safe? My DWC buckets are HDPE which is what I thought was the best. I would love to find a BRUTE Rubbermaid food grade tote but am not sure what type that is.. but they look dope.
I did 40 days without watering.
 

Polyuro

Well-Known Member
What's the longest you folks have left your SIP alone after filling up the res? I've read that one guy on here did not add water for over 20 days and counting which is insane. This is my main focus. I've loved living soils for a long time but have also enjoyed DWC runs for their growth rates (not the soul-less buds) I'm just trying to decide how big of a tote I'm going to need to leave them be for around 10-12 days at a time for two plants filling up a 4x4. I'm guessing the 14-16 gallon totes aren't going to make the cut. The earthbox says it holds 1 cubic foot of soil. Is there two sizes? Please feel free to throw up a link of any earthbox/growbox you recommend if there's a deal out there.

Plastic leeching really does come to mind with these setups. No synthetics or heat would keep any leeching to a minimum but if there's an expert on plastic.. I'd love to hear from you.

Most walmart Totes are PP and LDPE, which is more safe? My DWC buckets are HDPE which is what I thought was the best. I would love to find a BRUTE Rubbermaid food grade tote but am not sure what type that is.. but they look dope.
Use LDPE over PP. It’s made for waterproofing and is “ph proof.”
 

natureboygrower

Well-Known Member
That's amazing. What size container do you use? Anything to help understand your individual setup would be much appreciated.
I've got two plants 5 weeks into flower sharing a 15gal EB that requires a gallon of h20 a day. The reservoir holds 3 gallons total. That being said, I have held off watering completely the last week before harvest before. It's not good for the 'system' to run completely dry mid grow.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
I have two sips a full size earthbox and a full size growbox , they both hold the big 1.5 cubic feet of soil, but the earth box has a res about twice as large, so I can go further between watering at least 4 days if not more , the biggest advantage I found to the growbox was the fill Port on the front, and because you fill it on the front there is an opening with a lip on it and you can see the water level and you can see the water roots, so when you fill it you can stop before it overflows and you don't have a mess like you do with the earthbox , it was nice ditching the fill tube and the over flow port underneath
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
thread is still rather dead I see well, I have no worries posting into the aether! Here are some bodhi strains in some 5 gallon SIPs. I think i am going to start trying a perpetual 5 gallon SIP grow. 4 weeks seedling, 4 weeks veg 8 weeks flower. Atm I have 2 rooms with a 3rd and 4th about to be constructed ( the 4th is just my new office for work for now) I have cob fixtures for the 2 rooms (one runs 10 cxb3590s in a 3 x 5 approx. The other runs 15 cxb3590s im a 5x5) i have been looking at getting the mass medical custom diy kit from rapid led as another flower light. But anyway here are some pics. The purples are heavenly hashplant.
 

Attachments

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
thread is still rather dead I see well, I have no worries posting into the aether! Here are some bodhi strains in some 5 gallon SIPs. I think i am going to start trying a perpetual 5 gallon SIP grow. 4 weeks seedling, 4 weeks veg 8 weeks flower. Atm I have 2 rooms with a 3rd and 4th about to be constructed ( the 4th is just my new office for work for now) I have cob fixtures for the 2 rooms (one runs 10 cxb3590s in a 3 x 5 approx. The other runs 15 cxb3590s im a 5x5) i have been looking at getting the mass medical custom diy kit from rapid led as another flower light. But anyway here are some pics. The purples are heavenly hashplant.
Hey buddy happy w see you growing looks really good
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
It's a daily watering cycle for those big girls in 5 gal sips. They look great my man! Have a few bodhi too. Lavender Aura around a month in flower. What bodhi u growing?

Here are a couple cookies & cream f3's:
Atm some purple wookie, thunder wookie and heavenly hash plant. Got some black raspberry, nice sunshine and magenta hash plant on the way.
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
It's a daily watering cycle for those big girls in 5 gal sips. They look great my man! Have a few bodhi too. Lavender Aura around a month in flower. What bodhi u growing?

Here are a couple cookies & cream f3's:
Honestly this huge bitch is the real water hog atm lolz

This is thinder wookie in a approx 15 gallon sip straight from the original pdfs in the beginning of this thread. I vegges her way too long so a lot of the big fans are dying off due to very spent soil im sure. Just giving top dressed teas and very light fox farms beastie blooms and cal mag phed to 6 in the rez every other time I fill it.
 

Attachments

Polyuro

Well-Known Member
Honestly this huge bitch is the real water hog atm lolz

This is thinder wookie in a approx 15 gallon sip straight from the original pdfs in the beginning of this thread. I vegges her way too long so a lot of the big fans are dying off due to very spent soil im sure. Just giving top dressed teas and very light fox farms beastie blooms and cal mag phed to 6 in the rez every other time I fill it.
Very nice! Looks very happy. I ran into feed problems too and ended up using @Richard Drysift suggestion of jobes evergreen tree spikes. Easy peazy. Just add right before flower for 2 months. If flowering longer then another at 1.5-2 month mark.
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
Very nice! Looks very happy. I ran into feed problems too and ended up using @Richard Drysift suggestion of jobes evergreen tree spikes. Easy peazy. Just add right before flower for 2 months. If flowering longer then another at 1.5-2 month mark.
I will just ride this one our since only about a month or less to go. But if the five gallons get deficient maybe I will try that out. I do still have a bunch of old fox farms bottles but not sure if they are worth even trying at this point since they are so old.
 

NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member
Setup for my next SIP run and thought I'd share with this crowd that for this round I'm trying with a new soil mix. Hoping it's not too hot or too high in P as I used seabird guano this time - a little powder form and some pellet for slower release.

The big variable this time is I'm actually packing the soil fairly firm all the way down into the wick. No alternate media for the wick just the same straight soil mix and tamped down really firm into the wick itself. If you look at the 'feet' on my wicks you can see why I wanted this packed so tightly. I meant to put something in there to help prevent soil from falling out - hoping compaction works.

My last run was ho-hum from trying a coco/ewc mix and using other goodies to feed but I slacked - might as well be doing hydro at that point; So back to super soil for me. Same 2 phenos I've been running so it will be interesting to see if I can top my prior best which was a modestly hot soil mix and towards mid/end flower I was dropping goodies from NFTG in there with some teas.

Also for this time around I have my 'shower caps' from EPDM rubber sheets I'm going to cut out and use large rubber bands to secure around the totes to see if I can keep the top of my mix from drying out like I had from going open-air previously.

The plants are actually clones that sat around for over a year in little 2 gal smart pots - which suck to transplant from btw - and have very well established root balls. Didn't destroy them too badly getting them out of smart pots. From now on cloth pots are for moms and final planting only.
 

NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member
I will just ride this one our since only about a month or less to go. But if the five gallons get deficient maybe I will try that out. I do still have a bunch of old fox farms bottles but not sure if they are worth even trying at this point since they are so old.
I'm in the same boat, sitting on a big ass bottle of Botanicare Kind Bloom that I haven't used since starting organics and then SIPs. I might micro-dose with it here & there even with organics... mild enough to not kill the herd. Question would be bottom-feed and put into rez or as part of a top-feed. The NFTG goodies I used being organics I was planning to use top-feeding. Along with SLF-100, Photo+, etc.
 
Top