Fun fact. The original Earthbox was developed by an old tomato farmer in Florida, US who needed a better way to grow his crop in the heat and rain in his climate.
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- #842
Well, there's definitely something going on with the Sensi Cheese. The yellowing is getting worse and is spreading to some upper branches. I've verified that the reservoir pH is ok (6.0 - 6.5). I think the leaves are telling me Potassium Deficiency.
and to a much lesser extent, here's a leaf on the China Cat.
I added a little more potassium to my nutrient mix today, so we'll see how that goes in the next couple of days... if it's still standing. The plant is a little bit top-heavy for the amount of soil that the roots can grab onto. It was a little breezy yesterday (remnants of the tropical storm Hilary to my south) and the plant almost fell over. The pot was solid as it is filled with 2.5 gal of water, but the trunk was leaning over to the point if I had left it much longer, it would have fallen over and come out of the pot.
I had to tie the plant to a patio umbrella pole to keep it up-right. It was still standing this morning, so fingers crossed. I'm still pondering that while I deal with the leaf issue.
I added a little more potassium to my nutrient mix today, so we'll see how that goes in the next couple of days... if it's still standing. The plant is a little bit top-heavy for the amount of soil that the roots can grab onto. It was a little breezy yesterday (remnants of the tropical storm Hilary to my south) and the plant almost fell over. The pot was solid as it is filled with 2.5 gal of water, but the trunk was leaning over to the point if I had left it much longer, it would have fallen over and come out of the pot.
I had to tie the plant to a patio umbrella pole to keep it up-right. It was still standing this morning, so fingers crossed. I'm still pondering that while I deal with the leaf issue.
Nice job getting it tied up before it takes out a car!
The yellowing looks like nitrogen def since K would leave you with brown edges. I'd start by wrapping the pot in wet towels...worked for me.
The yellowing looks like nitrogen def since K would leave you with brown edges. I'd start by wrapping the pot in wet towels...worked for me.
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- #844
The pictures don't really show it, but the leaves do have browning of the edges as well. My original thought was N deficiency, but I increased the N for several days, and situation continued to escalate. I'm going out there right now to give the pot a towel wrap - thanks for the reminder!!
She doesn't appear to have burnt tips, except on the yellowing leaves, so you've got some leeway- you could probably go a bit heavy on the potassium...
My SIP plants seem to tolerate stronger bloom nutes than plants I've grown in regular pots.
Grow Dots sound perfect for this. Something for later to pick it up might be needed. Carcass? top dresses it for that I think. How would we do that in these SIP's? HmmmI think LOS sounds pretty ideal for SIP growing with auto watering - no worries about adding nutes to an "always full" reservoir. I'm pretty sure I'm going to purchase an auto watering system from Earthbox for next season. Maybe I'll try Growdots with it. I'm not smart enough to make LOS.I have tomato plants in my other Earthbox, and it needs filling twice a day as well.
Did you bury the dolomite in the tomato grows? If so I wonder how it's going to look when it's over and if it can be removed so the soil stays balanced at recycle?
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- #847
Yeah, I'm still on the fence on the best way to supplement the Grow Dots in a SIP. I think Carcass adds directly to the reservoir.Grow Dots sound perfect for this. Something for later to pick it up might be needed. Carcass? top dresses it for that I think. How would we do that in these SIP's? Hmmm
Yes, I did. I mixed in the dolomite as per the Earthbox instructions and also put a pound of balanced fertilizer in a trench about 2 inches deep from the top. Tomatoes are pretty happy in there, although one of the varieties that I planted were a little unhappy giving me blossom-end rot. Just that variety though, and just a few. The ones in the garden soil had it as well - just that variety (Roma VF).
I just picked these today. Most of them came from the Earthbox plants. They are Roma/Paste varieties.
There's a video on the Earthbox site that actually demonstrates how to reuse your soil for next season. If I remember correctly, the guy in the video just scoops out the old fertilizer that was trenched. It was mostly still intact. I think he recommended mixing in dolomite once again, and then a pound of fresh fertilizer in a trench. Maybe if I use Grow Dots, I could just put it in a trench the same way, instead of mixing it into the soil.
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- #848
Today's update is mostly pictures.
China Cat
CC is still looking good and is on day 41 since flowering began.
The buds are starting to smell nice so BT spraying has begun. First spray was last weekend, and then sprayed again yesterday.
Sensi Cheese
I think maybe the leaf yellowing has slowed down. Over the past week, I've increased the N and K considerably and have wrapped the plastic pot with a towel that I wet down twice each day to help keep the reservoir cooler. I've also had to add external staking to keep the plant from falling over. The plant is top-heavy and the pot is so small and soil so moist that the plant's roots are having difficulty grabbing onto something. It looks ugly, but it's effective so far.
In spite of the leaves dying off, the buds look pretty good and continue to build. The plant has been flowering for about 27 days.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.
China Cat
CC is still looking good and is on day 41 since flowering began.
The buds are starting to smell nice so BT spraying has begun. First spray was last weekend, and then sprayed again yesterday.
Sensi Cheese
I think maybe the leaf yellowing has slowed down. Over the past week, I've increased the N and K considerably and have wrapped the plastic pot with a towel that I wet down twice each day to help keep the reservoir cooler. I've also had to add external staking to keep the plant from falling over. The plant is top-heavy and the pot is so small and soil so moist that the plant's roots are having difficulty grabbing onto something. It looks ugly, but it's effective so far.
In spite of the leaves dying off, the buds look pretty good and continue to build. The plant has been flowering for about 27 days.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.
That frost is coming on strong so good timing on the BT! They're both looking great and I'm putting a white towel in the mail for you for the SIP. 
And we're okay with that.
Oh great! I'll check it out! I saw it in the paperwork that came with the boxes. I'm hot to trot to try it now! Mag and calcium are the only issue I have I'm pretty sure. I can't wait to trench me up some dolomite! For Science!
Good to see the SC on the mend!
She sure is!
Mine's still yellowing also- extra P,K, and N haven't done much this time, so I added a gram of MC to her rez this morning...if that doesn't help within 4 or 5 days,, I'll add a tsp or 2 of Grow Dots to the rez next...
I usually water with warm water(80f), but I've used cool (straight from the tap) for the last week, in case "too warm" roots are part of the problem...
Fortunately, the buds seem impervious to what the leaves are doing..
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- #852
They're both looking great and I'm putting a white towel in the mail for you for the SIP.
I had a feeling I would get some grief for using a dark colored towel. It was handy and already earmarked for outdoor use so I didn't have to ask permission to use it.- Thread starter
- #853
Mixing in small increases in N and K didn't seem to do much for it, so the last couple days I pretty much doubled the core nutrients and added 10ml/gal of Terpinator. I didn't notice any new yellowing this morning, so I'm hopeful.
Heavenly Hybrid
Well-Known Member
Quite the scaffolding project on that sensi cheese, and she’s not even heavy with buds yet! Always growing such fantastic beasts, Beez. 
The leaves on CC are awesome!! Stacking up too!
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- #856
Thanks, Heavenly. The downside of that "scaffolding" is that the plant is no longer portable. I'm hoping I don't need to move it in the next month or so.
Thanks, Age!
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- #857
It's time again for an update to my Summer grow.
China Cat
As a reminder, this plant is a dispensary clone that was purchased in May. It's listed as a 50/50 hybrid and a cross of Trinity x NYC Diesel.
It looks to me like it's leaning more heavy toward indica. It's been a mostly hands-off grow so far. It did start to show some leaf yellowing (maybe potassium deficiency) and I've upped the nutrient levels a bit. I did give the plant a pretty thorough flush a couple days ago, which is something I usually do during early flowering.
The buds are building up nicely and getting decently frosty and quite sticky. The aroma is also picking up, and I've begun spraying BT weekly. So far no sign of caterpillars. This could be ready by early October.
Sensi Cheese
This plant came from Cannapot Seeds as part of a prize package. It is listed as 80% Indica and is a cross of Sensi Star x Buddha Cheese. I chose to grow this plant in the SIP because of the mostly indica characterization. My past experiences with sativas have been that they grow too tall and take too long to mature in my climate. Well, this plant does not appear to be indica at all. Oh well...
This plant has certainly had its share of ups and downs. It grew like a beast during veg, then broke a main branch and starting leaning to one side ready to fall out of its pot. I managed to mend the branch and stabilize the plant, and then leaf yellowing began. Thanks to an assortment of inputs from folks, I've upped the nutrients and wrapped the Earthbox with wet towel to help keep the reservoir cooler. The yellowing has gotten much better, but not cured yet.
I'm now getting some nutrient burn on the tips so I've backed off on the N and K boosting.
I'm also seeing a lot of the leaves looking oddly speckled.
I'm not really sure what this is, as I've searched various leaf symptom sites to no avail. Maybe a virus of some sort? Possibly pH issue, but the reservoir pH is fine. I really think I need to do a flush of this plant, but not sure how to do that in a SIP.
In spite of the leaf issues, the bud building is coming along fine, though a bit too slow in my opinion. I'm afraid this plant won't be ready for harvest until November.
Thanks for stopping by.
China Cat
As a reminder, this plant is a dispensary clone that was purchased in May. It's listed as a 50/50 hybrid and a cross of Trinity x NYC Diesel.
Sensi Cheese
This plant came from Cannapot Seeds as part of a prize package. It is listed as 80% Indica and is a cross of Sensi Star x Buddha Cheese. I chose to grow this plant in the SIP because of the mostly indica characterization. My past experiences with sativas have been that they grow too tall and take too long to mature in my climate. Well, this plant does not appear to be indica at all. Oh well...
I'm now getting some nutrient burn on the tips so I've backed off on the N and K boosting.
I'm also seeing a lot of the leaves looking oddly speckled.
Thanks for stopping by.
With a Shop-Vac down the fill tube if you've got an attachment narrow enough.
Or, you could set up a siphon with some narrow gage flexible tubing. Suck it through like you're 16 and need some of your father's gas to go on your date.
Once it gets going you should find the input rhythm that matches the outflow.
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- #860
Actually, that's exactly what I was doing 30 minutes ago!
I realized that I could flush top down with as much water as I needed, and the reservoir overflow tube would take care of the runoff. Once that was done, I grabbed some aquarium air tubing I had on hand and began a syphon to lower the res. Worked great! Thanks for helping to get my brain running. 