SIP Club - Getting Hydro/Coco Results In A Soil Based Medium

[g-one-three]

My plants took just shy of 2 weeks to show bud signs and then the stretch continued about another week until it started slowing. Your bud sites are looking good though anyway now they should start getting fuzzy.

I'm only in day 28 of 12/12 right now, if your interested stop by my journal and check it out. I've kept up with days and heights of the plants pretty consistently if you want an idea of how its going in my SIPs.

 

[TerpsNThyme]

My plants took just shy of 2 weeks to show bud signs and then the stretch continued about another week until it started slowing. Your bud sites are looking good though anyway now they should start getting fuzzy.

I'm only in day 28 of 12/12 right now, if your interested stop by my journal and check it out. I've kept up with days and heights of the plants pretty consistently if you want an idea of how its going in my SIPs.

Thanks G. I’ll definitely go check it out

 

[Azimuth]

I apologize for my questions. When I posted my questions I had read thru this thread to page 10. Now I'm at page 20 and my questions have all been discussed.

Ha! No worries. If you haven't noticed by now we like talking about this stuff and even repeating ourselves now and again.

Steady progress. How long does the stretch usually go before its starts forming buds.

I've noticed 1-3 weeks, and seems to take longer in cooler temps, much like everything canna, I suppose.

Also I noticed some of the leaves have water droplets on them. Is this something to be concerned about

That's increased transpiration which is not that much of an issue on veg, but in flower you'll definitely want to adjust. So, good airflow with fans, thin out the lowers for better air circulation, desolate a bit if necessary, etc.

Watch the humidity levels in the room and add a dehumidifier if necessary.

 

[TerpsNThyme]

Ha! No worries. If you haven't noticed by now we like talking about this stuff and even repeating ourselves now and again.


I've noticed 1-3 weeks, and seems to take longer in cooler temps, much like everything canna, I suppose.


That's increased transportation which is not that much of an issue on veg, but in flower you'll definitely want to adjust. So, good airflow with fans, thin out the lowers for better air circulation, desolate a bit if necessary, etc.

Watch the humidity levels in the room and add a dehumidifier if necessary.

I’ve been trying to hold out on defoliation until after the stretch. When do you recommend stripping the lower leaves

 

[Azimuth]

I’ve been trying to hold out on defoliation until after the stretch. When do you recommend stripping the lower leaves

If you're having moisture issues in flower there's no reason you can't (and probably should) start earlier. That said, unless you have actual buds on other plants in the room, extra humidity before bud set isn't all that much of an issue.

After stretch the plant's pretty much done making new leaves and roots so it's easier to see what you'll be left to work with but other than being less efficient than doing it once at the end of stretch, doing some now to help with air flow would seem to outweigh any disadvantages.

 

[TerpsNThyme]

Few more weeks and she should be ready for the chop.

 

[Hash Hound]

Best practice with Geoflora nutes is to feed every two weeks as a top dressing as they suggest and to water in that feeding from the top. Between feedings simply pour your water down the fill tube.

I've been experimenting with mixing a double dose of the GF into the soil and skip the top dressing with my swicks with no problems or deficiencies so far.

 

[Chuckeye]

Prepping a SIP with ProMix HP for transplant, i.e., watering !

Caution, may not be for everyone

It's an experiment on maxing out medium/water content !

To recap, basically I have "charged" the roughly 4 gallons of ProMix HP with 1 3/4 gallons of water

A gallon from the top (no measurable run off to the reservoir), transplant and then add 1/2 gallon to the reservoir.

The next day another 1/4 gallon from the top !

Last grow I filled the reservoir 24 hours before transplanting and maintained a 1/2 full reservoir as needed for the next couple of weeks (?).

Then the girls started leaning from lack of upper roots and I started watering from the top roughly every three cycles.

A week from transplant....

And the daily rotation. Later on it will also be clockwise

Cheers

 

[Absorber]

Prepping a SIP with ProMix HP for transplant, i.e., watering !

Caution, may not be for everyone

It's an experiment on maxing out medium/water content !

To recap, basically I have "charged" the roughly 4 gallons of ProMix HP with 1 3/4 gallons of water

A gallon from the top (no measurable run off to the reservoir), transplant and then add 1/2 gallon to the reservoir.

The next day another 1/4 gallon from the top !

Last grow I filled the reservoir 24 hours before transplanting and maintained a 1/2 full reservoir as needed for the next couple of weeks (?).

Then the girls started leaning from lack of upper roots and I started watering from the top roughly every three cycles.

A week from transplant....

And the daily rotation. Later on it will also be clockwise

Cheers

Looking good mate, have you started a journal for these babies

 

[Chuckeye]

Looking good mate, have you started a journal for these babies

Thanks @Absorber !

It's in my signature

Cheers

 

[BoohdahLovah]

Hey SIPers. A quick update on my Cereal Milk clone (because I’m real slack at updating my journal). I’m currently in the later half of the 8th week of flower. Next time I probably won’t defol so hard, but I think she’s looking not too bad. I reckon I’ll cut her down by next weekend.

 

[ThirdUncle]

Looking good , whats the smell like ? Could go for a bit longer , @BoohdahLovah

 

[Ramblinrose1965]

I only top water a little bit until I can see its feeding from the reservoir then I no longer top feed but I don't use your nutrients i use MegaCrop.
Here's my SIP design

20230718_130620.jpg

• Absorber
• Jul 17, 2023
• 5

20230718_131244.jpg

• Absorber
• Jul 17, 2023

20230718_131255.jpg

• Absorber
• Jul 17, 2023

I used two 20ltr buckets per SIP a 90mm to 100mm reducing bush, I cut the 100mm part of bush leaving a large shoulder to support the floor of the pot above the reservoir. The bush fits onto a bit of 90mm stormwater pipe that I either drill or slot with 5 inch grinder with skinny cutting discs, the floor of the pot is made from the bottom of the second bucket I cut the bucket in half 14cm up flip the bottom upside down cut hole in the centre for bush to poke through and drill heap of holes in the base.
The top part of the bucket i fit into the top of the SIP for extra dirt holding capacity.
SIP will hold about 6-7 litres roughly.
Good luck with your construction

Good Afternoon Absorber,

I just about have all my supplies gathered for my first SIP build.

Got a couple of questions.......

The piece of pipe used for wicking up the water, what medium do you use to fill it? I was going to use perlite.

How high above the the bottom of the soil does the pipe extend?

Any recommendations for hole size in the bottom of the SIP. I'm using FF Ocean Forest and I want the holes big enough for air exchange but not big enough for the soil to drop into the reservoir. Would landscape fabric be advisable to keep the medium from falling into the reservoir?

Thanks from a greenhorn in the SIP world.

 

[013]

Hey RR,

I hope Mr. Absorber won’t mind…. the fill pipe should be wide open not filled with perlite, unless he’s doing something unique with his setup. I drop mosquito bits down the fill tube or pop them in the overflow hole

Ok, so no holes in bottom or else the res drains out- right? The holes go in the side and serve as res overflow, water stays below the hole- air gap above the hole with plant on top of air gap obviously. I did 2 holes 180 degrees apart… said differently 1 hole on each side

dealers choice but pipe should extend about 2 to 4 inches above the soil

landscape fabric will work but you need something to hold the space open so the weight of soil above won’t collapse it... some use cheapie dollar store colander and pack the soil around outer edges to serve as wick foot. No honey I haven’t seen your kitchen strainer drainer thingy… he, he, he!

instead of colander a drilled out inverted plastic tub works fine.

best of luck hope it helps!

 

[Schnookie]

Just got my SIP set up and added my 3 babies. 2 (front row) Red Pure CBD Auto and 1 Tropicanna Poison auto. These are now about 3 weeks old plus or minus.

This container is pre-built so no DIY here. Called Bountiful Harvest [TM]

 

[Ramblinrose1965]

Hey RR,

I hope Mr. Absorber won’t mind…. the fill pipe should be wide open not filled with perlite, unless he’s doing something unique with his setup. I drop mosquito bits down the fill tube or pop them in the overflow hole

Ok, so no holes in bottom or else the res drains out- right? The holes go in the side and serve as res overflow, water stays below the hole- air gap above the hole with plant on top of air gap obviously. I did 2 holes 180 degrees apart… said differently 1 hole on each side

dealers choice but pipe should extend about 2 to 4 inches above the soil

landscape fabric will work but you need something to hold the space open so the weight of soil above won’t collapse it... some use cheapie dollar store colander and pack the soil around outer edges to serve as wick foot. No honey I haven’t seen your kitchen strainer drainer thingy… he, he, he!

instead of colander a drilled out inverted plastic tub works fine.

best of luck hope it helps!

Thanks 013

If theres nothing in the pipe how does the water migrate up to the soil?

Size of the holes I'm refering to are the ones that seperate the air space from the soil.

 

[013]

Ok perhaps my bad cuz there are a few different design types

in most cases the pipe is the fill pipe where you add water to the res and the fill pipe sticks up above the soil. However a few designs (mostly large tubs) have used an internal 4 inch corrugated pipe as the wick foot.

the water travels up by wicking or capillary action and the wicking is facilitated by the 40% extra aeration added to your soil mix. Sounds kinda crazy but yup more aeration allows water to defeat gravity and climb up uphill

i used a 1/2 bit for res overflow holes

 

[Carcass]

The piece of pipe used for wicking up the water, what medium do you use to fill it? I was going to use perlite.

Do you mean the wicking foot? (the part of the medium that contacts the rez)
If so, I fill mine w/ Promix HP, but I'm sure perlite would do the job just fine...

 

[Absorber]

Good Afternoon Absorber,

I just about have all my supplies gathered for my first SIP build.

Got a couple of questions.......

The piece of pipe used for wicking up the water, what medium do you use to fill it? I was going to use perlite.

How high above the the bottom of the soil does the pipe extend?

Any recommendations for hole size in the bottom of the SIP. I'm using FF Ocean Forest and I want the holes big enough for air exchange but not big enough for the soil to drop into the reservoir. Would landscape fabric be advisable to keep the medium from falling into the reservoir?

Thanks from a greenhorn in the SIP world.

I use the soil mix in the wicking foot and I drill 4mm holes and use landscape fabric over holes in bottom of the pot floor I have about1.5 inches of pearlite over the landscape fabric , my pipe extends about 1.5 inches into pot because of the reducing bush i use to hold the base of the pot up from sagging . If you want a photo of the reducing bush let me know it might clear things up.
Ask as many questions as you need I don't mind .
I also fit the drain at the bottom with a short but of pipe and 2 elbows and a grommet. I will take some pics now and add them , nothing like seeing it first hand . Bush on the left is new the one on the right has been trimmed to create the shoulder to support the floor

With the drain fitted like that I can spin it around to drain pot if I need too and it stops ants going into pot through drain.

Also if your pot is outside wrap it in something loose so it doesn't heat up in the sun

 

[Ramblinrose1965]

I use the soil mix in the wicking foot and I drill 4mm holes and use landscape fabric over holes in bottom of the pot floor I have about1.5 inches of pearlite over the landscape fabric , my pipe extends about 1.5 inches into pot because of the reducing bush i use to hold the base of the pot up from sagging . If you want a photo of the reducing bush let me know it might clear things up.
Ask as many questions as you need I don't mind .
I also fit the drain at the bottom with a short but of pipe and 2 elbows and a grommet. I will take some pics now and add them , nothing like seeing it first hand . Bush on the left is new the one on the right has been trimmed to create the shoulder to support the floor

With the drain fine like that I can spin it around to drain pot if I need too and it stops ants going into pot through drain.

Also if your pot is outside wrap it in something loose so it doesn't heat up in the sun

Thanks Absorber
That helps immensely
BTW i love the cammo covering