Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
Great thread. I love this method in the garden and I’m making several SIPs. I’ve bought an earth box too and plan on using this more.
SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)
- Thread starter Humanrob
- Start date
Tstat
Well-Known Member
Nice avatar!
Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I’ve got a couple that I rotate. That is some more great music that I’ve been into for 25 plus years. I’ve been looking for this thread forever. Great info here.
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Love my earthbox I ha have some tomatoes growing in my sips this summer
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Full size plants can drink 1 galloon per day easy , I can leave mine for a long weekend ok ,
Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
I’ve got a pepper going in a 5 gal bucket SIP and trying to get a watermelon started in the EB. I think the EB would be great for an inside grow.
natureboygrower
Well-Known Member
They are.I just started my second sips grow using eb.The first grow I had two plants sharing a 15gal,and one all alone in a 15g(which got massive).SIPS is it for me.No more nutes no more phing,no more headaches! I topped off every morni g(before lights out) with 1/2g of h20.So easy.
KISS
Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
Plus 1. I wonder how many would work in a SOG type grow with an EB? 3 getting a ft or so tall? Just speculating. I’m still digging thru this thread.
natureboygrower
Well-Known Member
Depending on strain,you probably could go 3 per.I have a very small space(just fit 2 earthboxes) 5ftL×4ftH×20" wide .I had one Bodhi Lucky Wookie in its own EB that probably could have filled up my whole cab.So if you kept them short,and they were noted for being compact,you could have a really nice 3 plant SOG.
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
Yup that right there, I gravitate towards easy
Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
The ones that I have peppers and melons in are super easy to maintain. I think they would make an awsome outdoor or indoor system for erb.
Tim Fox
Well-Known Member
I ran several earthbox grows through my grow can earlier in this thread they do amazing indoors
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
NewGrower2011
Well-Known Member
Sharing my first SIP build; I had already identified these RubberMaid brute totes and was considering them for rez's as they're the thickets/strongest I've been able to find locally - though these are still pretty hard to find as some Lowes have them, some do not. They do have food-grade white as well and if not mistaken though grey these are food safe as well. In another thread somewhere here I discussed the dimensions and how I stress tested the use of the nesting and if it could handle the weight.
First, my wick parts: A simple toilet flange and an 'atrium' foot for drainage. These both accommodate either 3" or 4" pipe which means it works fine with corrugated drainage pipe. I packed the bottom half with coco - hopefully not a bad decision. I used some cheese-cloth to help keep everything in the 'atrium' footer deal. The rest of the wick is then the actual soil/media I'm loading.
The tubs were drilled so that the flange hole was just small enough to be snug and smaller than the drain pipe; This allows the drain pipe to provide a little bit of spring/support to the base of the top/nested tub if you cut your lengths correctly. I didn't get perfect on them all but those that were long enough I could tell it gave some extra support.
I used some pipe foam to build a set of 'shoulder pads' that would fit the tubs; Here shown on the top/nested tubs but actually used on the bottom reservoir tub to help get a more air tight seal where the tubs are nesting
.
Before I had 2 heat mats for the 4x4 area to help with nighttime temps so I kept those in place, but I'm not currently using them as I don't want to add heat/funk to the reservoirs which did get a good activated EM drink and I'm running without air-stones. I'm not running with a 'shower cap' on these at this time but I suspect humidity challenge may come in flowering. They do dry out a good bit at top but the middle to lower levels are good & moist but I've been top-feeding at first with transplanting. As I wasn't prepared initially I'm actually dropping 2gal smart pots into the tubs and surrounding with my well cooked refreshed soil with a few new goodies added/etc. I think it's wicking but they're not drinking enough to really measure any drop as I've been top-feeding as well. Time will tell...
In the past, lazy watering is what I suspect held me back; And possibly night-time temps. I'm hoping with these SIPs I can alleviate at least one of those shortcomings and make life easier in the process. Also being elevated up off the floor and air-gapped is likely going to help root zone temps especially at night I'm hoping. I'd rather not run those mats and heat the rez; If I need heat I'd almost rather get those in-ground heating cables you can get for gardens but I'd need such a tiny run/loop I doubt it comes that small.
I'd have to find my math notes but I can easily have multi-gallon capacity; I think I figured it was just shy of 7 gal to floor of the top tote so leaving a 2" air gap I still had around the 5 gal range iirc. Either way far more than those EB and other commercial offerings which is a primary reason I didn't grab some of those other brand ones from Lowes when they were just $20 a pop. These brute totes cost more than that - each...
So this is basically a 'tool-less' install once the parts are made; it can be broken down, cleaned, re-assembled easily. I only used zip ties to keep the atrium foot deal in the corrugated pipe - the toilet flanges basically made a good connection the way they went together it held the pipe to the tub nicely and routed any dirt down into the wick/pipe rather than falling out. Those flanges are like $3 something a pop but worth it imo.
First, my wick parts: A simple toilet flange and an 'atrium' foot for drainage. These both accommodate either 3" or 4" pipe which means it works fine with corrugated drainage pipe. I packed the bottom half with coco - hopefully not a bad decision. I used some cheese-cloth to help keep everything in the 'atrium' footer deal. The rest of the wick is then the actual soil/media I'm loading.
The tubs were drilled so that the flange hole was just small enough to be snug and smaller than the drain pipe; This allows the drain pipe to provide a little bit of spring/support to the base of the top/nested tub if you cut your lengths correctly. I didn't get perfect on them all but those that were long enough I could tell it gave some extra support.
I used some pipe foam to build a set of 'shoulder pads' that would fit the tubs; Here shown on the top/nested tubs but actually used on the bottom reservoir tub to help get a more air tight seal where the tubs are nesting
.
Before I had 2 heat mats for the 4x4 area to help with nighttime temps so I kept those in place, but I'm not currently using them as I don't want to add heat/funk to the reservoirs which did get a good activated EM drink and I'm running without air-stones. I'm not running with a 'shower cap' on these at this time but I suspect humidity challenge may come in flowering. They do dry out a good bit at top but the middle to lower levels are good & moist but I've been top-feeding at first with transplanting. As I wasn't prepared initially I'm actually dropping 2gal smart pots into the tubs and surrounding with my well cooked refreshed soil with a few new goodies added/etc. I think it's wicking but they're not drinking enough to really measure any drop as I've been top-feeding as well. Time will tell...
In the past, lazy watering is what I suspect held me back; And possibly night-time temps. I'm hoping with these SIPs I can alleviate at least one of those shortcomings and make life easier in the process. Also being elevated up off the floor and air-gapped is likely going to help root zone temps especially at night I'm hoping. I'd rather not run those mats and heat the rez; If I need heat I'd almost rather get those in-ground heating cables you can get for gardens but I'd need such a tiny run/loop I doubt it comes that small.
I'd have to find my math notes but I can easily have multi-gallon capacity; I think I figured it was just shy of 7 gal to floor of the top tote so leaving a 2" air gap I still had around the 5 gal range iirc. Either way far more than those EB and other commercial offerings which is a primary reason I didn't grab some of those other brand ones from Lowes when they were just $20 a pop. These brute totes cost more than that - each...
So this is basically a 'tool-less' install once the parts are made; it can be broken down, cleaned, re-assembled easily. I only used zip ties to keep the atrium foot deal in the corrugated pipe - the toilet flanges basically made a good connection the way they went together it held the pipe to the tub nicely and routed any dirt down into the wick/pipe rather than falling out. Those flanges are like $3 something a pop but worth it imo.
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Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
@NewGrower2011, if you do a journal or thread let us know. That looks well done. 
NewGrower2011
Well-Known Member
I would -- but I live in a red state; End of the show once plants go in. 
Yes, my state is going to be surrounded by legal states. The 'asshole' neighbor state the others don't want to drive through anymore. The donut hole of ignorance and intolerance. Our leadership has clearly state 'not until the feds change' so we're fucked here unless we can get these old fucks out of office and bring in some modern thinking.
Yes, my state is going to be surrounded by legal states. The 'asshole' neighbor state the others don't want to drive through anymore. The donut hole of ignorance and intolerance. Our leadership has clearly state 'not until the feds change' so we're fucked here unless we can get these old fucks out of office and bring in some modern thinking.
NewGrower2011
Well-Known Member
I will say that with 2 weeks in, they have grown considerably and flower sites are popping nicely. I should have gave them a little longer of veg post-transplant to be honest but I basically flipped 1 week after going into these new sips. If I had gave them more time I'm sure my root system would be better. As I was using what was on hand already I'm using 2 per SIP and they're already crowding a bit. 1 per is likely the best bet and a screen on top to help spread things out. As these sit they'd be perfect for 1/2/3 per which for me is a plant count consideration (even if legal, a consideration). But someone who wanted to do a SOG in these for instance could easily do 12 or maybe 16 in that 4x4 space easily. I'd think 12 would produce nicely. But being a red state I always want to aim for the most effective while lowest plant count. Next time I plan to run 1 per and have a much longer veg time.
Deadhead13
Well-Known Member
I’m in the same shape and completely agree. It sounds like you are off and running well with these SIPs. I’m making another one from a 5gal bucket and 1 from an 18gal tote at the moment.I would -- but I live in a red state; End of the show once plants go in.
Yes, my state is going to be surrounded by legal states. The 'asshole' neighbor state the others don't want to drive through anymore. The donut hole of ignorance and intolerance. Our leadership has clearly state 'not until the feds change' so we're fucked here unless we can get these old fucks out of office and bring in some modern thinking.
Tstat
Well-Known Member
Nope, I used a supersoil mix and additives.
So, I just harvested my first SIP. It was SSDD (2) and I got 5 OZs. Now, that's "OK" I guess, but here is what happened...
I went away for 2 weeks to work on my FLA home. When I left it was in the 70's here in NE. The temps jumped up over 90 here for pretty much the entire time I was gone. I had my son watering the SIPs, but he doesn't know much about growing. Anyway, temps rose, I had a fan malfunction. My plants were vegged too long to begin with and were unruly as hell, even before I left.
I came back to PM, mites, flopped over branches, and more. It was a near disaster and some of the other SIPs did not fare well. I had way too many unruly plants in the room and it just exasperated the heat issues.
The one thing I notice is the floppy branches. Now I don't know it is due to the described issues I had or something else. I am cutting way back on how much I cram into that space. I leave again for Lockn' at the end of next month and then back to Florida, so I need to simplify and reduce the watering, etc. the kid has to do.
NewGrower2011
Well-Known Member
One of the additives in the NFTG line there's a video where they discuss how some growers that were facing massive wind issues a year or so ago were using one of their items due to the insane branch hardening that occurred. They were laughing about don't apply this stuff if you're trying to train into a net/screen. I was trying to remember which one that was and get a dose going since I didn't build a screen this time around. I think it's the one that has the lignin in it as another calcium source. That might help with the floppy branches perhaps... Even though plenty should be in the soil perhaps foliar feeding the silica could also do the same. My last foliar included a dash for the hell of it...