Spectacular garden. Green and lush with vegetables.
I'm a committed SIP evangelist now, as you know. In fact, I'm going to nearly abandon the huge 3' (H) x 5' (w) x 35' (L) raised bed I built 18mos. ago (Hugel Kulture-style), and use it only for a big potato and sweet potato harvest next year, because the SIPs outgrow it by
at least an order of magnitude (x10). At least. Doesn't matter if it's tomatoes or summer squash, cukes or green peppers, pole beans or w.h.y., the fertigated SIP rules all. The raised bed cannot compete even though it is also south-facing, very well amended and fertilized, etc, etc. It all paints a very clear picture with a single message that I'd be a fool to ignore. And the SIPs are so easy to care for. Drag out my 6-gal laboratory carboys, fill and mix, then attach battery operated pump. Every couple of weeks refill each with 6-10 gallons of 1-part MegaCrop (original or 2 part) and 1-part Sweet Candy at 1000-1200ppm (500sc). Matrix is used Promix.
I'm pretty stoked for next year, I've a few 50-gallon plastic drums I'm turning into SIPs (stuff in pics is 35-40gal uprights or my 27gal totes) that will go up on the roof next spring and get some Northern Lights stuffed in them and do a gravity, control bucket feeder. They get quite a long day up there, excellent DLI, so there's def. some potential to create something... monstrous.
SIPs are so kick ass.
I did get a 12-tray worm-farm rolling last fall, indoors where I can take care of them, and I grew 3, 35-gal veggie SIPs using my custom worm-castings and Promix, plus extra perlite. I like 30% perlite in SIPs regardless, but especially with organics. I cheated with some Sweet Candy every two weeks to keep feeding the fauna, and no other ferts. They grew just as well as the fertigated in peat/perlite. My castings are really customized though so I don't know what garden-store castings would do, but my guess would be ''not too shabby''. I also experimented with some KNF and JADAM potions, but nothing radical. Just trying to get a feel for 'organic' shows again, it takes time to adjust to the resources at hand with LOS grows, and I'm not in a rush. If I was growing weed in these, and doing ''store-bought organic'', I'd likely do castings, fish ferts, and bone meal. I usually can't make myself buy expensive premixed supersoils, mostly out of misplaced pride and a light wallet.
Sometime between Feb 2022 - Feb 2023, I invested in 2x 25lb Sweet Candy 0-27-27, 2x 25lb MegaCrop 9-6-17, 1x 25lb Mega Crop 5-12-26, and 1x 25lb Calcium Nitrate 16-0-0. Good ferts are kinda my version of toilet paper, I think, so, having found a real stunner, I just figured prices were only going to go up, and stocks go down. So... a lifetime supply, probably for my daughter too. ha.
