Cbdhemp808's Comparison Grow - HI-BISCUS SIP Bucket Vs. Nursery Pot

StoneOtter said:
I found with my LOS that if I top water, the extra roots seem to act as wicks and starve roots for o2. My best SIP grows have been rez only. The issue with that is brix if that's important to you. Mine make around 9 rez only and appear very healthy and robust. Not 15 or 17 though.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna try this with the two I have in veg right now that are looking great, a Blueberry and a Sweet Critical CBD. I top-fertigated a couple days ago, and now I'm just waiting to confirm that the wicking is strong.
 
Greetings SIPsters!

PART 1: SIP Root Reveal

My conclusion is that the soil got too wet toward the end and the plant stopped drinking. This also happened with the nursery pot, but to a lesser degree. I think this is primarily because the medium became root-bound. Today is the 5th day after the harvest, and the SIP root ball is still heavy, indicating the water is still being retained. It's like the water is literally locked into the root ball.

I grabbed the stump and easily pulled the root ball out. The remaining dome is the one with the drain tube in it.
SIP_bucket1.jpg

SIP_bucket1.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal. Empty SIP bucket.

The root ball was dense and solid.
SIP_roots1.jpg

SIP_roots1.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal.

The domes show very little root intrusion.
SIP_roots2.jpg

SIP_roots2.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal. View inside two of the domes.

Close-up of the surface of the root ball. Roots look healthy. There was a little bit of browning. In PART 2, I'll compare this root close-up with the nursery POT's.
SIP_roots3.jpg

SIP_roots3.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal. Root ball surface, close-up.

Here's the bottom of the root ball showing where the 3 domes were. This is interesting, because it shows the roots inhabited about 1/2 of the vertical space of the R-zone (saturated reservoir area), so about 2.5" of the top of the zone, which has a total depth of about 4.5" (height of the domes). This means the roots were living in the top of the reservoir, but didn't extend to the bottom of the reservoir (or at least not very much).
SIP_roots4.jpg

SIP_roots4.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal. Bottom showing where 3 domes were.

The side view of the above. The root ball was dense and strongly held together.
SIP_roots5.jpg

SIP_roots5.jpg

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Comparison grow, SIP root reveal. Bottom of root ball, side view.

Next up, PART 2: Nursery POT Root Reveal...
 
PART 2: Nursery POT Root Reveal & Comparison to the SIP

The root ball came out very easily by pulling the stump, and was very dense and solid. It was still retaining water, but not as much as the SIP's root ball.
Nursery_POT_roots2.jpg

Nursery_POT_roots2.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal.

The pot was absolutely root-bound, as would be expected with less than 5 gal. of soil.
Nursery_POT_roots3.jpg

Nursery_POT_roots3.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal. Bottom of root ball.

Nursery_POT_root4.jpg

Nursery_POT_root4.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal. Root detail.

The root ball was very tightly held together, noticeably more so than the SIP's.
Nursery_POT_roots5.jpg

Nursery_POT_roots5.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal. Side and bottom of root ball.

Close-up of the surface of the root ball. Roots look healthy, and there was less browning than the SIP's root ball.
Nursery_POT_roots6.jpg

Nursery_POT_roots6.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal. Root close-up.

The root ball wasn't easy to break apart at the bottom.
Nursery_POT_roots7.jpg

Nursery_POT_roots7.jpg

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Comparison grow, nursery POT root reveal. Root ball broken up some.

Comparison of the two root balls. Here we can really see the vertical nature of the SIP plant's roots, as they stream to the reservoir and self-prune, as compared to the nursery POT's roots that wrap around the inside of the pot. My sense is that the SIP produced significantly more roots, resulting in too much root density, which in the end caused water buildup and suffocation.
Root_ball_comparison1.jpg

Root_ball_comparison1.jpg

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Comparison grow, root ball comparison.

Here we see a comparison of the lower roots, on the surface of the root ball. The SIP roots are more vertically oriented, while the nursery POT roots have grown more laterally. The SIP roots are thicker and more densely packed, shooting for the reservoir, while the nursery POT roots are more fine and feathery, with more secondary/lateral roots, and wrapping around the inside of the pot laterally.
Root_closeup_comparison1.jpg

Root_closeup_comparison1.jpg

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Comparison grow. Root closeup, SIP compared to nursery POT.

Next up, PART 3: HI-BISCUS SIP vs. CBD#9 SIP
 
PART 3: HI-BISCUS SIP vs. CBD#9 SIP

Here I'm comparing two SIP grows, one is the HI-BISCUS from the comparison grow, and the other is my CBD#9 pheno that was harvested at the same time. Both were grown in the same type of 5 gal SIP bucket with the same soil. While the HI-BISCUS SIP was water logged at the end, the CBD#9 SIP was dry. The CBD#9 plant did fairly well and produced a decent harvest, consider the seasonal low-light conditions in the greenhouse; whereas the HI-BISCUS suffered a lot from leaf spot mold, water build-up, and senescence.

First, the CBD#9 SIP root reveal...

I grabbed the stump and easily pulled the root ball out. The remaining dome is the one with the drain tube in it.
CBD_SIP_bucket1.jpg

CBD_SIP_bucket1.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno. Empty SIP bucket.

The root ball was dense and solid, but a lot less dense than the HI-BISCUS SIP, and the bottom was crumbly.
CBD_SIP_roots1.jpg

CBD_SIP_roots1.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno.

The domes show zero root intrusion. In comparison, the HI-BISCUS SIP had a little bit of root intrusion.
CBD_SIP_roots2.jpg

CBD_SIP_roots2.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno. The view inside 2 of the 3 domes.

Close-up of the surface of the root ball. Roots look healthy. There's a little bit of browning, same as with the HI-BISCUS SIP.
CBD_SIP_roots3.jpg

CBD_SIP_roots3.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno. Root ball surface close-up.

Here's the bottom of the root ball showing where the 3 domes were—basically the same as with the HI-BISCUS SIP, except the soil was dry and a lot more loose and crumbly. The roots inhabited about 1/2 of the vertical space of the R-zone (saturated reservoir area), so they didn't extend to the bottom of the reservoir (or at least not very much).
CBD_SIP_roots4.jpg

CBD_SIP_roots4.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno. Bottom showing where 3 domes were.

The side view of the above. The root ball was dense, but dry and a lot less strongly held together.
CBD_SIP_roots5.jpg

CBD_SIP_roots5.jpg

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Root reveal, SIP grow of my CBD#9 pheno. Bottom of root ball, side view.

Comparison of the two root balls. The roots are similar in that they are oriented more vertically (than was seen with the nursery pot), but the HI-BISCUS root fibers are thicker, while the CBD#9 root fibers are more feathery and have more lateral /secondary roots. The roots close to the reservoir/air are more brownish.
HI-BISCUS_SIP_vs_CBD#9_SIP-1.jpg

HI-BISCUS_SIP_vs_CBD#9_SIP-1.jpg

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HI-BISCUS SIP vs. CBD#9 SIP, root ball comparison

Close-up comparison of the roots.
HI-BISCUS_SIP_vs_CBD#9_SIP-2.jpg

HI-BISCUS_SIP_vs_CBD#9_SIP-2.jpg

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HI-BISCUS SIP vs. CBD#9 SIP, root ball close-up comparison

Enlargement detail of the area above and below the reservoir. False color (pink) highlights the light-brown color of the roots near the domes and in the reservoir.
SIP_compare_root_detail1.jpg

SIP_compare_root_detail1.jpg

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HI-BISCUS SIP root ball vs. CBD#9 SIP root ball, showing detail above and below the level of the...
 
That's a lot to take in!

Some observations...

1) The biggest standout to me right now is the difference in the roots of the HI-BISCUS SIP vs. the CBD#9 SIP. It makes me think that HI-BISCUS is a strong plant that needs a lot of nutrients and a lot of space for roots. Growing it in such a small pot just seems... impossible. The plants start out beautifully when they are young, but what happens is that the canopy turns out to be very weak. HI-BISCUS is a balanced 50/50 hybrid, meaning it has a lot of sativa genetics. I'm starting to feel like indica is best for SIPs. Indeed, I think the CBD#9 is strongly indica (it's a perfect little Christmas tree).

2) Root self-pruning down by the reservoir/domes is very positive, and the whole vertical orientation of the roots in the SIPs is positive, as opposed to the nursery pot situation of densely packed roots at the very bottom, and wrapping around the pot laterally.

3) I'd like to hear from anyone who knows about root ball differences between indica and sativa. I have a very short indica plant, my CBD#18, that I just planted in a SIP today, so it'll be interesting to see how it does. I predict it will do just fine, especially if I resolve the sunlight issues in my grow, and be careful about watering/fertigation (using the fill tube exclusively, once the plant gets established).

4) Lastly, I'm feeling like flipping sooner may solve the root overgrowth problem with plants like HI-BISCUS. For the comparison grow, I flipped HI-BISCUS at 3.5 ft tall. CBD#9 was significantly taller when I flipped her, probably over 4 ft tall. That said, I'm generally not too impressed with this particular HI-BISCUS pheno, and I may only keep one clone to try one more time, in the springtime. I'm leaning more toward looking for a new 50/50 to try out, and one that has more promise for leaf mold resistance as well as bud rot resistance.

:ciao:🎄🌟
 
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