SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

[Humanrob]

Hey Rob. My sips are rocking. I'm doing something very similar. 5gl smartpots on a 5gl bucket. The 27gl tubs w the 10gl and two 5gl have roots in the rez and.they are white. Fabric pots are staying perfectly watered as far as I can tell.
View attachment 3656102

They look great! Thanks for the update!

My versions that have cloth pots are for my outdoor, because of height restrictions in my tent. The short one (3.5 gal buckets) are about 21" to the soil line. My Rubbermaid bin versions are 15-17" depending on how high I fill them. If I plan better, I can probably use either next time, but this run is going to be shoe-horned in.

In about a week I'll be harvesting these

And replacing them with these

My current scrog is about 30" off the deck, the soil line will be 16" and the girls going in are already about 20" tall... so they will be pushed under the scrog right away. I'm going to do a two-tier scrog this time, so the first will flatten them and the second will support buds. I'm going to be pushing my luck in terms of vertical space... but that's the plan so far.

 

[Tim Fox]

Hey Rob. My sips are rocking. I'm doing something very similar. 5gl smartpots on a 5gl bucket. The 27gl tubs w the 10gl and two 5gl have roots in the rez and.they are white. Fabric pots are staying perfectly watered as far as I can tell.
View attachment 3656102

are those air stone lines going into the fill tubes?

 

[Tim Fox]

They look great! Thanks for the update!

My versions that have cloth pots are for my outdoor, because of height restrictions in my tent. The short one (3.5 gal buckets) are about 21" to the soil line. My Rubbermaid bin versions are 15-17" depending on how high I fill them. If I plan better, I can probably use either next time, but this run is going to be shoe-horned in.

In about a week I'll be harvesting these
View attachment 3656116
And replacing them with these
View attachment 3656117
My current scrog is about 30" off the deck, the soil line will be 16" and the girls going in are already about 20" tall... so they will be pushed under the scrog right away. I'm going to do a two-tier scrog this time, so the first will flatten them and the second will support buds. I'm going to be pushing my luck in terms of vertical space... but that's the plan so far.

your teens look great rob, and check out those leaf,, your plants are going to love being in a sip and geting the right amount of water at all times,, i love that part of sips

 

[Humanrob]

your teens look great rob, and check out those leaf,, your plants are going to love being in a sip and geting the right amount of water at all times,, i love that part of sips

Thanks! They are pretty big for their pots so they are probably getting a bit root bound, which makes keeping them optimally watered more difficult. I will very carefully spread their roots when I transplant them into the sips, and I think they'll find the res in a matter of days. It'll be kudzu after that.

 

[SomeGuy]

are those air stone lines going into the fill tubes?

Yup. 1 medium stone per tub. Each tub was down about 9gl over two weeks or so. The haircuts and tying down to the screen took longer than filling the tubs. Lol

FYI. My screen is 31" off the deck. And I left the posts tall so I could stretch a trellis for a second layer of support later. I plan to end up maybe a foot or so from the lights w the canopy.

 

[Humanrob]

Yup. 1 medium stone per tub. Each tub was down about 9gl over two weeks or so. The haircuts and tying down to the screen took longer than filling the tubs. Lol

FYI. My screen is 31" off the deck. And I left the posts tall so I could stretch a trellis for a second layer of support later. I plan to end up maybe a foot or so from the lights w the canopy.

How many gallons do they each hold? I did a leak test on my water level indicator, and when I dumped the water it filled a 5 gallon bucket, so that's about the capacity of mine.

I wasn't originally planning on topping mine any more, but I might have to take clones, so they may get a trimming after all.

 

[SomeGuy]

They are 27gl tubs w about 18-20 gl in them I leave a little more gap at the top than in the other sips. My wicks are long and having zero watering issues. I still plan to top feed a quart or two of tea per plant several times through flower.

Interesting note. I grew hydro for years. I'm seeing hydro type growth and the stems where trimmed will pop crazy vegetation. Definitely a bit of soil/Dwc hybrid thing going on I. These large octopots.

How many gallons do they each hold? I did a leak test on my water level indicator, and when I dumped the water it filled a 5 gallon bucket, so that's about the capacity of mine.

I wasn't originally planning on topping mine any more, but I might have to take clones, so they may get a trimming after all.

 

[Humanrob]

They are 27gl tubs w about 18-20 gl in them I leave a little more gap at the top than in the other sips. My wicks are long and having zero watering issues. I still plan to top feed a quart or two of tea per plant several times through flower.

Interesting note. I grew hydro for years. I'm seeing hydro type growth and the stems where trimmed will pop crazy vegetation. Definitely a bit of soil/Dwc hybrid thing going on I. These large octopots.

Excellent information! I was worried that 5 gallons might be a lot of water, lol. These first ones are in Rubbermaid bins, so I don't think they'll be as much evaporative water loss. I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll cover them. I might during flower just to try and contain the humidity in the tent.

I only topped mine once for a couple of reasons, mostly because they are stressed from a long veg in a somewhat small pot, and not enough humidity in their environment -- so I couldn't bring myself to take any growth off. I should probably get over it and top them again, it would allow me to veg them for a couple of weeks in the sip so they can establish full root structure before I flip to flower.

What did you use for wicks?

 

[SomeGuy]

Here ya go. Netpots. They cut easy and connect easy w zip ties. I don't line them just fill w wick material. (Coco, peet). This is my 5gl bucket. Will have water 5-6" from top when full.

 

[Humanrob]

Here ya go. Netpots. They cut easy and connect easy w zip ties. I don't line them just fill w wick material. (Coco, peet). This is my 5gl bucket. Will have water 5-6" from top when full.
View attachment 3656133 View attachment 3656134

Very Cool!

I am very interested to see how this works over time. Lots of great experiments going on. I'm seeing a lot of variation on how perforated different people's wicks are, so hopefully everyone (you, and @hyroot so far) will keep us up to date on what's working and what's not.

I've never done hydro so I don't know anything about "water roots", but I imagine that they should not be allowed to dry out? If that's the case, then at least initially I should keep the res pretty full to allow them to grow deep into it so that as the water subsequently rises and falls the roots are never completely exposed? Just guessing...

I'm hoping that once it gets going the top couple of inches of soil will dry out, and that keeps the gnats at bay. I've had a hell of a time eliminating them this run and I'd love it if they became a thing of the past. My intention at the outset is not to water from the top at all, if possible. I suppose if I have to add nutes during flower, I might, but I've been thinking about putting in tubes that go a couple of inches into the soil, and feeding the soil through those to avoid wetting the top... but I haven't fully thought that out. In the end I'll do whatever is necessary, plans are only ideas that seemed good at the time.

 

[SomeGuy]

Oh yes. The tops will dry. About 3/4 of the pot will stay slightly moist. The gnats are getting beaten away through a number of offensives. Lol

 

[Lucky Luke]

Ive used something like this http://greensmartliving.com.au/water/greensmart-pots/ before in an out door garden grow.

Plants got big for the size of the pots due to not having to have a huge root ball. I didnt use an airstone and if using outside would be more trouble than its worth. (there is an air layer between the water and roots anyway, although the tap root/s do end up in the reserviur with no ill effects). Was done in Sydney Australia. So decent heat temps with no problems.
I just watered with water but did use time release fertilizer capsules in the soil.

 

[Humanrob]

Ive used something like this http://greensmartliving.com.au/water/greensmart-pots/ before in an out door garden grow.

Plants got big for the size of the pots due to not having to have a huge root ball. I didnt use an airstone and if using outside would be more trouble than its worth. (there is an air layer between the water and roots anyway). Was done in Sydney Australia. So decent heat temps with no problems.
I just watered with water but did use time release fertilizer capsules in the soil.

That's an interesting design for a fill spout that is also a water level indicator. There's always room to improve on these, that's a nice upgrade.

I've seen plenty of adds and videos for growing veggies in these outside, it's good to hear that cannabis likes the system too.

 

[Tim Fox]

Ive used something like this http://greensmartliving.com.au/water/greensmart-pots/ before in an out door garden grow.

Plants got big for the size of the pots due to not having to have a huge root ball. I didnt use an airstone and if using outside would be more trouble than its worth. (there is an air layer between the water and roots anyway, although the tap root/s do end up in the reserviur with no ill effects). Was done in Sydney Australia. So decent heat temps with no problems.
I just watered with water but did use time release fertilizer capsules in the soil.

looks very much like an earthbox

 

[Tim Fox]

Hey, how are those plants doing in the new SIP?

 

[Humanrob]

Hey, how are those plants doing in the new SIP?

Too soon to tell. It was only three days ago that I transplanted clones that had been vegging for almost 6 weeks. They are doing very well overall, but they were moved from 2 gallon root bound pots into about 10 gallons of fresh water-drenched soil mix, so they are revived and full of new growth just from the soil upgrade.

The res level has not changed yet, so the water from the initial drenching has not been used by the plants and/or evaporated enough to start wicking water up, but that's not surprising (I don't think?). So, no news yet. I suspect in a week or three things will begin to happen.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

One nice thing about this design is that it looks like you can see into the res so that you can know when its full without actually having water run out -- nice when its indoors. I went with a system using a tube to show res water height.

View attachment 3656101

I Was thinking of using the bucket from my root spa setup as the outside/bottom SIP bucket for this reason, then I can mark the water line like I did for DWC and it makes life easier on filling and what not.

My confusion is this..... I see a lot of SIP's like @hyroot and it doesn't look like a second 5 gal is on the top, so what is being used? The lower profile of his setup interest me because right now in the current tent height is not unlimited......

Edit: I found Hyroot's explanation of his bucket in another thread!

Thanks

 

[hyroot]

Too soon to tell. It was only three days ago that I transplanted clones that had been vegging for almost 6 weeks. They are doing very well overall, but they were moved from 2 gallon root bound pots into about 10 gallons of fresh water-drenched soil mix, so they are revived and full of new growth just from the soil upgrade.

The res level has not changed yet, so the water from the initial drenching has not been used by the plants and/or evaporated enough to start wicking water up, but that's not surprising (I don't think?). So, no news yet. I suspect in a week or three things will begin to happen.

Mine, once big they're drinking a gallon every 2 -3 days on veg and flower. I had one 5 gal.in flower get dried out. ..... I fucked up. I'm adding a gallon to each sip every 2-3 days now.

New transplants take a little over a week to drink a gallon of water. Once the roots are in the resi. They drink a whole lot more and faster. But they grow huge at a faster rate too.

I think I'd rather have larger resi's. I'm going to try 5 gal fabric pots on top of home depot buckets n lids. With a longer wicking pot.

 

[Evil-Mobo]

How high do you fill the water line up to in the "res"?

Also guys, if using R/O water do we add cal mag like in DWC?

 

[Humanrob]

I Was thinking of using the bucket from my root spa setup as the outside/bottom SIP bucket for this reason, then I can mark the water line like I did for DWC and it makes life easier on filling and what not.

My confusion is this..... I see a lot of SIP's like @hyroot and it doesn't look like a second 5 gal is on the top, so what is being used? The lower profile of his setup interest me because right now in the current tent height is not unlimited......

Edit: I found Hyroot's explanation of his bucket in another thread!

Thanks

View attachment 3665525

You need to leave about an inch of air space between the bottom of the top bucket, and the top of the water line. @hyroot is using a 5 gallon plastic plant bucket as his soil pot part, I believe because its shorter than the 5 gallon outer bucket and allows for a larger res. The method that you have in the picture would not leave you with much of a res, and I imagine that you'd be refilling it frequently to keep it from drying out.

One thing to do is grab a "homer" bucket at Home Depot, and then walk it over to their garden department and look for 5 gallon pots that fit in but don't slide all the way down. That's what I did for a couple that will be part of my outdoor this summer.