Cali Cajun Indoor Grow #4: Acapulco Gold

Greetings, fellow growers! This is my third indoor grow, and I will be moving from a super soil mix to Clackamas Coot’s organic soil recipe, purchased premixed from Buildasoil. I popped four Acapulco Gold seeds from Barney’s Farm, and all four germinated. After germination they were moved to a small 2’ x 2’ veg tent under CFL lights. I will keep them in the veg tent while my current grow finishes up, moving them from CFLs to a 135 watt LED after I transplant into 1 gallon smart pots.

Once the flower tent is free, I plan on experimenting with a no-till grow. I am thinking of running two plants in the flower tent, putting one in a 20 gallon smart pot and experimenting with a self-watering SIP setup in a 27-gallon plastic tote. Because this is a large sativa-dominant strain, I will probably try my first SCROG. Each container will have a handful of earthworms added from my worm bin, and I will occasionally top-dress with worm castings, kelp meal, and malted barley powder. Once a week I will be doing a neem / karanja oil foliar spray for pest remediation.

Yesterday I transplanted from solo cups to 1 gallon smart pots. All seedlings are rooting nicely and growing vigorously. I turned off the CFLs and transitioned to a small quantum board LED, starting an 18 hour light cycle today.

Doh!! I just noticed that I labeled this thread as indoor grow # 4; it is actually grow # 3. Never trust a stoner...

Yesterday I began my little SIP (Self Irrigating Planter) experiment. For those not familiar with the concept, there is a lot of great information on this forum. The albopepper site also is very informative, and has some great design ideas. SIPs take advantage of the adhesion qualities of waters to create self-watering systems where plants are more fully in control of the water they consume. When thirsty, they wick water from a reservoir to take a drink. The system mimics how water tables work in nature, and plants supposedly can really thrive when things are setup and working properly.

I'm using a very simple design where a wicking agent (in my case 1/4" - 1/2" lava rock) is placed into some sort of reservoir container (during veg I'm using a plastic dish tub). Water is then poured into the reservoir up to 1" of the top of the lava line. I cut the bottom off a clear plastic cup and placed it into the lava rock so that I have a visual indication of the water level at any given time. Plants are then placed on top of the wicking material and given a good watering so that the wicking action can take effect. It's important NOT to fill the water level too high: the plant containers should not be sitting in standing water. A minimum of 1" of air space is recommended.



Last night I put the system together and began a test: I placed my left two plants onto the SIP, and left the right two plants as controls to see if the SIP had any impact / effect. I gave all plants a watering and zipped the tent up for the night.



This morning, the SIP plants did see to be a bit more perky, but definitely noticeably so: leaves were more alert and "praying", and the top of the plant containers were noticeably more moist than the two control plants. So far it seems to be working...

The plants as of yesterday morning. The control plant at upper front right initially had been the largest of the four plants. The two SIP plants seem to have caught up and surpassed it in lateral / horizontal growth.


Water level is slowly going down in the reservoir. I need to cover the top of the plastic cup with plastic; a couple of bugs managed to meet their end in there...

A few more shots from yesterday. All plants together...



the SIPs...



...and the controls.

And this morning. Moisture level at the top of the SIP containers is noticeably damper than the controls, and the SIP plants continue to seem perkier. I am going to wait on top watering until the controls show the first signs of wilting, which probably will happen tomorrow or the next day.