I'm not a big fan of Styrofoam but your structure looks good. 
Bubba Glue - Unknown - SIP & Bottom Feeding With HM Nutes - Knowledge Welcome!
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jmrl
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I was tight on the cash and didn't have anymore perliteI'm not a big fan of Styrofoam but your structure looks good.
I don't think it's inert like perlite would be my concern.
There are larger sized flower pots, probably holding 7 to 10 gallons of soil, that are a type of styrofoam. Also D.I.Y. projects to make planters out of old Stryofoam coolers. Downside is that the plant roots might grow into any tiny opening in the foam and will never let go.
Styrofoam beads are not manufactured to the same standards as cups or the raw meat trays. It does off gas chemicals for awhile. Then there are some chemicals that might leach out and mix into the water. After all that I would think that it is safe for the intended use.
Only real problem is how to get it out of the soil. Awfully hard to separate it so the soil will have to go to the landfill. Tossing the soil on a compost pile just compounds the plastic litter problem.
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jmrl
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very understandable. I didn't think about my soil afterwards
. Lesson learned... I will toss as you suggest after the use most likely unless the styrofoam is very noticable at just the bottom then I might just toss the bottom half etc.. :/ It's all a new process for me, I like it and we will see how it turns out. Im excited to see how it effects the growth 
Thanks for everything guys
What do you mean good sir? inert ? Thanks
Here it is finished.
I am not @Azimuth but I had been thinking of including the "inert" in my previous msg as one of the downsides but forgot. So I hope it is OK if I pick it up now.
It is a very common term for a material that does not supply nutrients to the plant. It does not decompose. Science is not even sure that it will ever decompose. So references say 500 years if ever. And the rest of the references say it will never decompose. Some think it will be worse than many common plastics in that regard.
Perlite is also inert but it is made out of stone and not chemicals from crude oil like plastics are. Peat Moss and Coco Coir are considered inert because it takes them a long time to decompose and until then they supply little in the way of nutrients.
What @SmokingWings said above about off gassing and leaching stuff you don't want into the soil and then into your buds.
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jmrl
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Thanks for this!
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jmrl
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Well guys I got some progress to show, and some questions to ask
Well as you can see, they are going along but I have some issues at hand that need to be addressed quickly.
I had changed my light to 75% at 30" - Now I have brought it down to 70% and raised 3-4", I was using a scented Epson salt. The one on the left has had more direct contact such as waterings with the the scented Epson Salt. I have stopped and went to PH Neutral Water with no additives. You may not see but I am starting to get Purple tips and edges on my leaves.
The leaves at the bottom on the SIP Grow are staying darker green.. This again let me think it was me using the salts as part of my foliar spray.
I know you guys know a lot more as I am learning still. Doesnt hurt to ask. HOPE IT HELPS AND LET YOUR GOD BLESS YOU!!
Also the one on the left, has had a watering between the photos, 2 days difference.
some stats again.
vsf6400 light
soil that has cooked for a good month prior
ph neutral waterings
Well as you can see, they are going along but I have some issues at hand that need to be addressed quickly.
I had changed my light to 75% at 30" - Now I have brought it down to 70% and raised 3-4", I was using a scented Epson salt. The one on the left has had more direct contact such as waterings with the the scented Epson Salt. I have stopped and went to PH Neutral Water with no additives. You may not see but I am starting to get Purple tips and edges on my leaves.
The leaves at the bottom on the SIP Grow are staying darker green.. This again let me think it was me using the salts as part of my foliar spray.
I know you guys know a lot more as I am learning still. Doesnt hurt to ask. HOPE IT HELPS AND LET YOUR GOD BLESS YOU!!
Also the one on the left, has had a watering between the photos, 2 days difference.
some stats again.
vsf6400 light
soil that has cooked for a good month prior
ph neutral waterings
Hey apologies I’ve been on the road again but finally circled back around.
couple of thoughts…
know this- if / when when you go the DIY route and make your own gear on anything weed related …. homemade nutes, blending a do it yourself soil mix or cooking biochar whatevs you do study up first and follow a well known recipe.
Maybe you have a store bought biochar blend? I know my local hydro shop has some periodically.…what they had was fine ground and I was not impressed, theirs looked more like coco coir.
I could be wrong here but I believe once you pyrolyze the wood it’s necessary to ”load it“ with an N source so it doesn’t suck resources from your soil mix. After the wood is torched…think I did 2X wet soak / evap on my homebrew biochar in great white powder, Neem seed meal 6-1-1 and Down to Earth Bio-Live 5-4-2 just using fan to slow evap the water off let it dry for a week and repeat wet soak process.
Case is point Azi makes metric shit-tons of cool shite, he’s brewing & fermenting his tail off but it’s all based on KNF princples and known recipes, now that he’s got it mastered he can experiment out the wazoo.
yes I believe most styro turds like shipping peanuts are closed cell or chemically sealed so they really dont hold oxygen they just float & take up space. Dunno about toxicity tho… whoops hope it will be cool!
The best part of your build is that landscape fabric!! You nailed it… so when it’s time to recycle… BTW’s it takes forever for sip swick soil to dry out. anywho let her dry out and remove the soil, once you get down to landscape fabric maybe slide 2 trash bags over the end of the tub and dump the dirty wet styro peanuts in the bag,
things might go wonky for a minute or two while adjusting to the sip but she should perk up and before you know it she will throat punch the ole fuel injector.
color is slightly off, they do look a bit hungry in last pic. The soil really looks dry, almost hydrophobic… let’s get Azi to drop intel but looks like it might need a good soak…maybe it’s time to water up the res?? He’s got game so I definitely defer to Azis eye and experience!!
Pump sprayer… so one possible downside to a pump sprayer is that with repeated use it could lead to soil compaction but on the upside it enables you to water any spot on demand or do other tricks like spraying only the outside perimeter of the tub while leaving the center of the rootball dry.
hope something here helps!!!
couple of thoughts…
know this- if / when when you go the DIY route and make your own gear on anything weed related …. homemade nutes, blending a do it yourself soil mix or cooking biochar whatevs you do study up first and follow a well known recipe.
Maybe you have a store bought biochar blend? I know my local hydro shop has some periodically.…what they had was fine ground and I was not impressed, theirs looked more like coco coir.
I could be wrong here but I believe once you pyrolyze the wood it’s necessary to ”load it“ with an N source so it doesn’t suck resources from your soil mix. After the wood is torched…think I did 2X wet soak / evap on my homebrew biochar in great white powder, Neem seed meal 6-1-1 and Down to Earth Bio-Live 5-4-2 just using fan to slow evap the water off let it dry for a week and repeat wet soak process.
Case is point Azi makes metric shit-tons of cool shite, he’s brewing & fermenting his tail off but it’s all based on KNF princples and known recipes, now that he’s got it mastered he can experiment out the wazoo.
yes I believe most styro turds like shipping peanuts are closed cell or chemically sealed so they really dont hold oxygen they just float & take up space. Dunno about toxicity tho… whoops hope it will be cool!
The best part of your build is that landscape fabric!! You nailed it… so when it’s time to recycle… BTW’s it takes forever for sip swick soil to dry out. anywho let her dry out and remove the soil, once you get down to landscape fabric maybe slide 2 trash bags over the end of the tub and dump the dirty wet styro peanuts in the bag,
things might go wonky for a minute or two while adjusting to the sip but she should perk up and before you know it she will throat punch the ole fuel injector.
color is slightly off, they do look a bit hungry in last pic. The soil really looks dry, almost hydrophobic… let’s get Azi to drop intel but looks like it might need a good soak…maybe it’s time to water up the res?? He’s got game so I definitely defer to Azis eye and experience!!
Pump sprayer… so one possible downside to a pump sprayer is that with repeated use it could lead to soil compaction but on the upside it enables you to water any spot on demand or do other tricks like spraying only the outside perimeter of the tub while leaving the center of the rootball dry.
hope something here helps!!!
@Azimuth can you take a look at the OPs pics above??
I make my own biochar that I use in my mix. Pretty easy to do but you do need to charge it first otherwise it'll work like the carbon filter in your ventilation system. That activated charcoal removes odors from the air while uncharged char will tie up the nutrients you thought you were feeding your plants.
Well, he's got a bunch of non-standard things going on so who knows what the issues are or the fixes for those issues. We don't know what the proportions of the stuff that's in his mix is, and just because you cook it first doesn't mean it becomes magical.
Compost is a component for example, but what's in the compost? I've been on a journey to self provide everything I can for my grow and have made major upgrades to both my compost and my worm castings. Neither of them get random inputs but rather specifically selected things.
Another thing I'd question is whether or not he's got enough active microbes in his organic mix. I know he's got compost and manure in there but I like to add new microbes every week to make sure there's enough life in there to work with the plant. Growing in containers is different from growing outdoors in the ground where new microbes are constantly added via earthworms and other things.
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- #34
jmrl
Well-Known Member
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jmrl
Well-Known Member
I make my own biochar that I use in my mix. Pretty easy to do but you do need to charge it first otherwise it'll work like the carbon filter in your ventilation system. That activated charcoal removes odors from the air while uncharged char will tie up the nutrients you thought you were feeding your plants.
I SEE - That may be why Mine seem to be suffering nute wise when in all aspects it should have plenty of at least a few more weeks. But I have been spraying the soil the past few days , off and on. The middle seems to stay pretty damp. I believe its my fan right on the surface. I am using a pump spray to drench it. I did not think about compactification. My next grow I will need to be more specific I can only learn. But when I transplanted I did Add MycoDynmo to help, plus the perlite as you may see.
Thanks for the info. I have grown a few hydro grows, this is only my 2nd soil run and the first one prior to this one which was outside and in pots. done decent. I fed it Miracle grow when it turned yellow like this and it fixed the issue, I have prior hit it with a weak foilar spray and it def showed some improvements in the leave stance together. I will continue that again tonight and and tomorrow to see what happens. It is a weak tea based off coffee grounds
PS EDIT: I have recently started an indica strain bubba glue. I will be makign sure my soil is well documented this go round. I can not buy any pre mix at the moment as I am currently on disability and funds are an issue. I saved for a while for the tent and light, for the fall. I know its a process for sure !! Thanks again mates
Take good notes because it sounds like you're trying random stuff and organic inputs can often take a couple of weeks to see results and by then you might have forgotten what you did.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of experimenting and I document many of them in my Alchemy thread, but you just have to understand you're way outside the norm in terms of growing what can be a very demanding plant and many recommendations are going to assume you have certain infrastructure things in place that you don't.
Thanks Azi,
Yes it’s hard to know what a non standard soil mix will do.
Hey JMRL can you tell us what country you are located in? Reason I ask is- depending on location a bag of either of these premixed soils… HP Pro-Mix or Sunshine #4 and then Geoflora organic dry mix or even MC can really make your grow life simple.
the geoflora is totally organic you add it to your soil when potting up and then every 2 weeks you top dress more and water in… you will need 2 bags: one is veg formula, the other is for flower cycle since the NPK ratios are different.
the other one MC I believe it’s considered as veganic (shh we gotta say this on the down low) but its megacrop non sponsor and you must have digital scale since it’s measured by grams per gallon. You read the plant and either stay on same dose or bump up by half a gram
for either of these nutrient products above ran on one of those soil mixes I mentioned there’s a virtual crapton of experienced users here that can guide you. Shit there’s a huge thread for MC here and there’s another thread just for Geoflora
once you get a stash like built up then you can experiment more
Yes it’s hard to know what a non standard soil mix will do.
Hey JMRL can you tell us what country you are located in? Reason I ask is- depending on location a bag of either of these premixed soils… HP Pro-Mix or Sunshine #4 and then Geoflora organic dry mix or even MC can really make your grow life simple.
the geoflora is totally organic you add it to your soil when potting up and then every 2 weeks you top dress more and water in… you will need 2 bags: one is veg formula, the other is for flower cycle since the NPK ratios are different.
the other one MC I believe it’s considered as veganic (shh we gotta say this on the down low) but its megacrop non sponsor and you must have digital scale since it’s measured by grams per gallon. You read the plant and either stay on same dose or bump up by half a gram
for either of these nutrient products above ran on one of those soil mixes I mentioned there’s a virtual crapton of experienced users here that can guide you. Shit there’s a huge thread for MC here and there’s another thread just for Geoflora
once you get a stash like built up then you can experiment more
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- #38
jmrl
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Alright, mates. A little progress update.. I have started creating a few teas from microbes for growth encouragement and nute intake, I have seen some great results so far, with only a few drenches from some softened water. So I have gone into more research and just finished a Seed Sprout Tea which After one watering I started to ferment. This is a new game for me but I am determined to learn what I can.
@Azimuth I found the JADAM book and have started reading it. thanks for that reference. and your content is awesome.
a Picture of my growth I am finally seeing vigor growth.
And of the Seed Sport Tea from the Unconventional Farmer Page
When I am fermenting is it best to have in a dark container? Currently, it's in a Large Condiment Container. It said a dark place, I was hoping to get some I could still keep them in my tent to ferment for the heat. So maybe Plasti-Dip which would coat it well. That stuff is amazing!
Thanks for any input on my process all the updates and wise replies have helped a ton, guys!
@Azimuth I found the JADAM book and have started reading it. thanks for that reference. and your content is awesome.
a Picture of my growth
I am finally seeing vigor growth.And of the Seed Sport Tea from the Unconventional Farmer Page
When I am fermenting is it best to have in a dark container? Currently, it's in a Large Condiment Container. It said a dark place, I was hoping to get some I could still keep them in my tent to ferment for the heat. So maybe Plasti-Dip which would coat it well. That stuff is amazing!
Thanks for any input on my process all the updates and wise replies have helped a ton, guys!
Microbes are supposed to not like light. Can you wrap the container in something, aluminum foil or something?
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jmrl
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Yes, I like that idea! I did a soil drench today with my finished microbe solution. I noticed that I had started getting gnats again. The neem oil drench worked well in the past, but now I am worried that it may kill off the microbes I am using.
The beneficial ones that is. I have read that neem helps against fungi, and this is where I am hoping you guys have some knowledge for me
.I was thinking of doing a drench with neem oil this evening, to help with the qnats. Is this a solid idea?