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

So, what’s the final consensus on feeding these sips? Am I ok to feed from the top?
I don’t want a bunch of gunk and wasted nutes building up in the res but, was wondering how everyone else was doing it.
I plan to have mine up and running by next weekend and that’s pretty much the last detail I need to work out.
 
Olddog Newtrick said:
So, what’s the final consensus on feeding these sips? Am I ok to feed from the top?
I don’t want a bunch of gunk and wasted nutes building up in the res but, was wondering how everyone else was doing it.
I plan to have mine up and running by next weekend and that’s pretty much the last detail I need to work out.
Click to expand...
I precharge my SIP's by watering a gallon from the top, preferably the day before transplant.

I keep the reservoir half full until they drink that within two days, then fill daily.

Roughly two weeks later I will fill the reservoir by watering from the top every third or so fill.

But, this winter conditions have changed and as spring approached my humidity jumped to 54% and I quit watering from the top.

Basically if your soil is wet within an inch of the top I wouldn't bother with top watering. After all the whole idea is self watering from the reservoir !

BTW > I'm using ProMix HP and there is no gunk buildup in the reservoir and if you don't overfeed there are no wasted nutes ;)

Cheers
 
A little more information...

Before I started my first SIP run my research indicated the accepted way to start was to fill the reservoir the day before transplant and then maintain a half full reservoir for the next few weeks.

When I went to transplant the bottom of my prepared hole was barely damp.

But, I use yogurt container solo cups, they are 3" wide and 5" deep. So the space from the bottom of the prepared hole to the top of the reservoir is only 3" or so. Doesn't take long for the seedlings to get there !

The issue started about two weeks later when I noticed my plants starting to lean over.

I checked and my medium was dry down about 4" (?).

Now the idea is for the seedlings to grow water roots ASAP but I felt I needed more moisture up top to build feeder roots to help support the plant.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

Cheers
 
Chuckeye said:
A little more information...

Before I started my first SIP run my research indicated the accepted way to start was to fill the reservoir the day before transplant and then maintain a half full reservoir for the next few weeks.

When I went to transplant the bottom of my prepared hole was barely damp.

But, I use yogurt container solo cups, they are 3" wide and 5" deep. So the space from the bottom of the prepared hole to the top of the reservoir is only 3" or so. Doesn't take long for the seedlings to get there !

The issue started about two weeks later when I noticed my plants starting to lean over.

I checked and my medium was dry down about 4" (?).

Now the idea is for the seedlings to grow water roots ASAP but I felt I needed more moisture up top to build feeder roots to help support the plant.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

Cheers
Click to expand...
I’m wondering more about feeding rather than watering. I’m using fox farms nutes. I’ve been bottom watering first in solo cups and now in 1 gallon pots. I tried feeding by just partially filling the drip tray and letting it soak up into the pot. That left behind a heavy residue, and I’m afraid of it gunking up my auto shutoff. These may be better suited for LOS type grows but, I have to go with what I have at the moment.
 
Olddog Newtrick said:
I’m wondering more about feeding rather than watering. I’m using fox farms nutes. I’ve been bottom watering first in solo cups and now in 1 gallon pots. I tried feeding by just partially filling the drip tray and letting it soak up into the pot. That left behind a heavy residue, and I’m afraid of it gunking up my auto shutoff. These may be better suited for LOS type grows but, I have to go with what I have at the moment.
Click to expand...
Sorry I can't help with that !

I have No experience or interest with anything Fox Farm :yahoo:

Cheers
 
Chuckeye said:
I precharge my SIP's by watering a gallon from the top, preferably the day before transplant.

I keep the reservoir half full until they drink that within two days, then fill daily.

Roughly two weeks later I will fill the reservoir by watering from the top every third or so fill.

But, this winter conditions have changed and as spring approached my humidity jumped to 54% and I quit watering from the top.

Basically if your soil is wet within an inch of the top I wouldn't bother with top watering. After all the whole idea is self watering from the reservoir !

BTW > I'm using ProMix HP and there is no gunk buildup in the reservoir and if you don't overfeed there are no wasted nutes ;)

Cheers
Click to expand...
Chuckeye said:
A little more information...

Before I started my first SIP run my research indicated the accepted way to start was to fill the reservoir the day before transplant and then maintain a half full reservoir for the next few weeks.

When I went to transplant the bottom of my prepared hole was barely damp.

But, I use yogurt container solo cups, they are 3" wide and 5" deep. So the space from the bottom of the prepared hole to the top of the reservoir is only 3" or so. Doesn't take long for the seedlings to get there !

The issue started about two weeks later when I noticed my plants starting to lean over.

I checked and my medium was dry down about 4" (?).

Now the idea is for the seedlings to grow water roots ASAP but I felt I needed more moisture up top to build feeder roots to help support the plant.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

Cheers
Click to expand...
This is an excellent breakdown of proper SIP management.
 
Olddog Newtrick said:
So, what’s the final consensus on feeding these sips? Am I ok to feed from the top?
I don’t want a bunch of gunk and wasted nutes building up in the res but, was wondering how everyone else was doing it.
I plan to have mine up and running by next weekend and that’s pretty much the last detail I need to work out.
Click to expand...
I think you can try. I wonder if I saw Emilya Green do something like this in her SIP work? I remember some grower letting the rez go low and feeding from the top then filling the rez with water again when ready. That's the very basic scenario anyway Olddog. I bet you could though I never have.
 
Highya guys,

Yeah, SO mentioned that's the way I do. Last year (outdoors, first time with SIP) I put all nutrients on top and watered it in, then filled the resevoir with plain water. The dirt was a little to wet, so this year I'll keep the resevoir level lower. But the plants grew fine in there. Happy Smokin'
 
thanks guys, I’ll try it this way and see how it goes. The way mine are set up, the pot is easy to pull out and I do have a drain in the res. And a shutoff on the water supply so, I should be able to control it if I have to. I’m just worried top watering will destroy the gradient.
I’ll start by only feeding a half gallon from the top, hopefully twice a week.
The problem I seemed to have in 5 gallon fabric pots was the length of time it took to dry back. If I tried to do feed/water/water they would only get fed once every 12 days. I did feed/water/feed and still had deficiencies.
I’m hoping a sip will let me do smaller 1/2 gallon feeds twice a week. I guess we’ll find out.. lol
Gonna wet test the sips again tomorrow and try to adjust my auto shutoff so the res only holds 1/2 gallon. Then fill em with soil and see what we have to work with before I put plants in it.
I hope to have plants in it by the weekend.
I’ll log everything in my banana jealousy sip thread in my sig for those that want to follow along.
 
Olddog Newtrick said:
thanks guys, I’ll try it this way and see how it goes. The way mine are set up, the pot is easy to pull out and I do have a drain in the res. And a shutoff on the water supply so, I should be able to control it if I have to. I’m just worried top watering will destroy the gradient.
I’ll start by only feeding a half gallon from the top, hopefully twice a week.
The problem I seemed to have in 5 gallon fabric pots was the length of time it took to dry back. If I tried to do feed/water/water they would only get fed once every 12 days. I did feed/water/feed and still had deficiencies.
I’m hoping a sip will let me do smaller 1/2 gallon feeds twice a week. I guess we’ll find out.. lol
Gonna wet test the sips again tomorrow and try to adjust my auto shutoff so the res only holds 1/2 gallon. Then fill em with soil and see what we have to work with before I put plants in it.
I hope to have plants in it by the weekend.
I’ll log everything in my banana jealousy sip thread in my sig for those that want to follow along.
Click to expand...
With my GroBuckets I found you do not need dry back.

When I water from the top until the reservoir is full the plants don't miss a beat !

Cheers
 
NickHardy said:
Emilya I think said she’d water from the top every two weeks or so?

Chuckeye style as it shall henceforth be known.
Click to expand...
It does seem to work for me ;)

Front left is Cafe Racer, from the floor to her top bud is 6' 4" o_O

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Cheers
 
Fenderbender said:
So are you not getting that result if you're feeding purely from the reservoir?
Click to expand...
Don't know,

I started watering from the top about a 1/4 of the time on my first SIP grow when my plants started to lean ;)

Cheers
 
Chuckeye said:
Don't know,

I started watering from the top about a 1/4 of the time on my first SIP grow when my plants started to lean ;)

Cheers
Click to expand...
Well yeah I get that, If I only water from the res I'm basically doing hydro and there's not much root mass in the soil, but I don't have that problem since I keep things low.

I'm wondering what the soil will look like this time as I'm only watering via the res now as I put time released pellet feed in the soil and I think if I topwater that would make a concentrated mixture in the res but I do wonder if more roots have explored the soil as that's where the nutes are.
 
Hmmm the leaves on my channel are very bitter, that's new where does that come from?.. an arugula type of bitterness, I do munch on leaves on occasion when I'm clearing as well I don't eat enough leafy greens 😆 and the cats munch em too.
But this bitterness is new, the peppery flavour was also there but that I know as it's typical for the strain, it's like a very classic skunk flavour and smell but someone was heavy handed with the black pepper.
It was a young offshoot though at the bottom of the branches, maybe that's why.
 
Just a quick hit on the Sour Diesel that I beat the hell out of...
I don't know much about the heavy and hard topping of plants, I've topped everything I've grown but never like this little lady...
Anyway the first pic was taken the day I cut her up and the 2nd is this morning, what a difference 10 days make...
I was almost certain that the person that had me do this to my plant just helped me kill it, but I guess I couldn't have been more wrong.. So at this point in the game , what started with 4 branches now has 32 that I have achieved with one chop job.
I've always had a fear of cutting plants other than the topping here and there but that fear is over after seeing this happening right in front of me.
According to the fella feeding me the advice on this plant, at 21 days from the last chop job I can either flip the 12/12 switch or do another chop and turn 32 into 64 but I'm not sure if I'm going there yet or not.
Anyway I just wanted to touch base with the SIP Club and let you know what's happening with her..
Today is the end of week 7 above the surface and the plan is 12 above before the flip but now I'm not sure if we're going to stay with that or increase maybe a few more weeks or so..
SIP on my friends 💚

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Wow! Looking good.

64 is probably going to be too many unless you're going for a huge plant since the hormones will get spread too thin and you'll end up with a lot of very small buds.

And if your planning on another 5 weeks or more of veg, good luck. That plant in the SIP is kicking into gear and, unless you have a really big flower space, you're going to run out of room quickly. Remember, it will likely double in size at the very least after flip so take that into account.

How big is your SIP container?
 
Finally got em in the sip. I don’t have the external res hooked up yet but, this will give me a better feel for what’s going on while I figure out the details.

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Azimuth said:
Wow! Looking good.

64 is probably going to be too many unless you're going for a huge plant since the hormones will get spread too thin and you'll end up with a lot of very small buds.

And if your planning on another 5 weeks or more of veg, good luck. That plant in the SIP is kicking into gear and, unless you have a really big flower space, you're going to run out of room quickly. Remember, it will likely double in size at the very least after flip so take that into account.

How big is your SIP container?
Click to expand...
The SIP is probably right around 8 gallons.
And I think you're right about the 64 and extended veg time, so I'm throwing the switch at day 21 and let her do whatever she needs to do.
 
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