SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Jp.the.pope said:
I bought a micro clover mix from build a soil. It has like 12 different kinds of seed. All help fix different nutrients.

I'll see if I can find a link. On a side note, all my plants are loving it. Sip and no sip.
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So I'm a bit confused on this; do these cover crops add nutes to the soil in a similar way that legumes are nitrogen fixers? Do you till them in at some point? I'm curious about the mechanism involved.
 
Evil-Mobo

Evil-Mobo

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
So I'm a bit confused on this; do these cover crops add nutes to the soil in a similar way that legumes are nitrogen fixers? Do you till them in at some point? I'm curious about the mechanism involved.
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In my soil I layer the cover crop with Barley mulch. With new pots of no till usually after about the second go around you look underneath and then see the white film. Then the house is a rocking! I just layed down my first layer of mulch over the first cover crop layer tonight, can't wait, the worms were all happy up top too.

:bigjoint:
 
Humanrob

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
So I'm a bit confused on this; do these cover crops add nutes to the soil in a similar way that legumes are nitrogen fixers? Do you till them in at some point? I'm curious about the mechanism involved.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that clover is a nitrogen fixer like legumes. We use it as a cover crop in our outdoor gardens for areas that we are not using.
 
PDX Joe

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
Check this out. I just root pruned my fig tree... getting it ready for spring. I lined the entire whiskey barrel with weed cloth and a double layer of weed cloth on the bottom, but check out how aggressive the fig roots are. This tree has been in this pot for three years and the roots grew right through the fabric. Just goes to show you can't fight the roots. They will find the reservoir.
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ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
PDX Joe said:
Check this out. I just root pruned my fig tree... getting it ready for spring. I lined the entire whiskey barrel with weed cloth and a double layer of weed cloth on the bottom, but check out how aggressive the fig roots are. This tree has been in this pot for three years and the roots grew right through the fabric. Just goes to show you can't fight the roots. They will find the reservoir.
View attachment 3909509
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I'm still wondering what the advantage is in keeping the roots out of the res to begin with? I've run RDWC for a long time and roots in the res was kinda the whole point!
 
PDX Joe

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I'm still wondering what the advantage is in keeping the roots out of the res to begin with? I've run RDWC for a long time and roots in the res was kinda the whole point!
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Three years of uninhibited root growth could maybe clog up the reservoir, overflow holes and fill tube cutting down on water capacity and limiting air intake from the bottom. But, with an annual plant I suppose it really wouldn't be much of an issue. I'm going to omit the weed cloth for my indoor SIPs and see how it goes.
 
N

newguy41410

Well-Known Member
hey guys, forgive me if i am posting in the wrong section, but i am growing a pretty unique style and i think SIP is the most similar concept to mine (capillary action and perlite) so i am hoping you guys can give me your experienced SIP feedback as I am a first-time grower.

I germinated seeds in paper towel and put them in 16 ounce solo cups filled with 100% perlite. These cups have holes in the bottom where 8" long thermolam (fleece) wicks hang out. I drilled three-inch holes in the lid of a Ten-Gallon Tote for the solo cups to sit in. So the solo cups sit in the holes where the wicks hang and soak in 300 PPM jack's+Calcinit solution. So capillary action should pull water up throgh the wicks into the perlite cups.

if you frequent icmag.com you probably know this design as the "PPK Cloner" but has been known to propogate seeds just as well.

Im just wondering if you guys suggest I top water using a kitchen baster once in a while when using this method? if so, how often and how much water at a time (kitchen baster holds one ounce of water btw)? or should i never top water and just let the wicks keep the perlite moist/dry for me? What would my babies appreciate more??

sorry, i am a first-time grower and IMO perlite feels drier to the touch than other mediums do so im so tempted to top water. just dont know if its a good idea or how much i should specifically, if so.




 
PDX Joe

PDX Joe

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
hey guys, forgive me if i am posting in the wrong section, but i am growing a pretty unique style and i think SIP is the most similar concept to mine (capillary action and perlite) so i am hoping you guys can give me your experienced SIP feedback as I am a first-time grower.

I germinated seeds in paper towel and put them in 16 ounce solo cups filled with 100% perlite. These cups have holes in the bottom where 8" long thermolam (fleece) wicks hang out. I drilled three-inch holes in the lid of a Ten-Gallon Tote for the solo cups to sit in. So the solo cups sit in the holes where the wicks hang and soak in 300 PPM jack's+Calcinit solution. So capillary action should pull water up throgh the wicks into the perlite cups.

if you frequent icmag.com you probably know this design as the "PPK Cloner" but has been known to propogate seeds just as well.

Im just wondering if you guys suggest I top water using a kitchen baster once in a while when using this method? if so, how often and how much water at a time (kitchen baster holds one ounce of water btw)? or should i never top water and just let the wicks keep the perlite moist/dry for me? What would my babies appreciate more??

sorry, i am a first-time grower and IMO perlite feels drier to the touch than other mediums do so im so tempted to top water. just dont know if its a good idea or how much i should specifically, if so.




Click to expand...
I suggest top watering them for the first watering in order to start the capillary action, and then rely exclusively on the wicking action after that. I've never used 100% perlite, so I don't know at what rate water will evaporate from the top of the cups and if the top of the cups will dry out too fast. Although, if you room air humidity is up in the 60 - 70% range then I wouldn't think the perlite would dry out too fast.
 
meangreengrowinmachine

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
meangreengrowinmachine

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
PDX Joe said:
Check this out. I just root pruned my fig tree... getting it ready for spring. I lined the entire whiskey barrel with weed cloth and a double layer of weed cloth on the bottom, but check out how aggressive the fig roots are. This tree has been in this pot for three years and the roots grew right through the fabric. Just goes to show you can't fight the roots. They will find the reservoir.
View attachment 3909509
Click to expand...
Hesus christ man! you are literally growing TREES!? that's awesome! i need to get off my ass dang I'm slacking...
 
meangreengrowinmachine

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
hey guys, forgive me if i am posting in the wrong section, but i am growing a pretty unique style and i think SIP is the most similar concept to mine (capillary action and perlite) so i am hoping you guys can give me your experienced SIP feedback as I am a first-time grower.

I germinated seeds in paper towel and put them in 16 ounce solo cups filled with 100% perlite. These cups have holes in the bottom where 8" long thermolam (fleece) wicks hang out. I drilled three-inch holes in the lid of a Ten-Gallon Tote for the solo cups to sit in. So the solo cups sit in the holes where the wicks hang and soak in 300 PPM jack's+Calcinit solution. So capillary action should pull water up throgh the wicks into the perlite cups.

if you frequent icmag.com you probably know this design as the "PPK Cloner" but has been known to propogate seeds just as well.

Im just wondering if you guys suggest I top water using a kitchen baster once in a while when using this method? if so, how often and how much water at a time (kitchen baster holds one ounce of water btw)? or should i never top water and just let the wicks keep the perlite moist/dry for me? What would my babies appreciate more??

sorry, i am a first-time grower and IMO perlite feels drier to the touch than other mediums do so im so tempted to top water. just dont know if its a good idea or how much i should specifically, if so.




Click to expand...
i would just use hempy bucket logic on something like this
 
bicit

bicit

Well-Known Member
Hmm just a question, haven't read the thread all the way through. I've noticed that most of you seem to use fabric pots with some sort of soil wick dripping down into the reservoir. I was wondering why you choose that design?

I've been setting up beds similar to this(picture shamelessly stolen off the interwebs). Using a 27 gallon tough tote and 3" perforated drain pipe Coiled around the bottom and plastic over the end's. I plan on dropping an air stone down the watering pipe in the future, but so far growth has been rather explosive. Threw off my training cycle a bit lol. Anyone have thoughts on this style compared to the soil wick method?



Also, I had one other question for those of you using rice hulls. What ratio of rice hulls too your other aeration components do you recommend? I recently found out it's cheaper for me to order rice hulls online than it is to buy verm/perlite locally :P
 
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