ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
Thanks mate, appreciate the detail.
SIP Club - Getting Hydro/Coco Results In A Soil Based Medium
- Thread starter Azimuth
- Start date
I’m a sipper, you’re a sipper, everyone’s gonna be a sipper too . . . .
I bought all the stuff and am gonna build a Single Bucket Sip following the directions given here - utilizing 4” perforated pipe as the air gap. Outdoors on a patio where it can get hot. I’ve always struggled with proper watering.
Using a 5 gallon white bucket and will wrap the bottom third with blue painters tape to reduce light hitting the water. Soil will be 3/4 FFOF with 1/4 perlite. Or should I use more perlite?
@Carcass - I’m gonna follow your lead and use Grow Dots. Your recent grow turned out awesome! Start adding Purpinator in late flower - correct?
I did not get the Extended Veg Grow Dots (for outdoors). I figured I would feed FF Trio until I up-pot into the SIP container with dots - probably end of May. This gives me another 5 weeks of veg and then into flower usually around July 4th. This should match up with the grow dots timed release. Until I up-pot I am dunk watering to get them used to it.
Is it recommended to cover the top of the soil?
Any other advice?
I'm building two identical SIP buckets and will give one to my brother to grow. So it needs to be easy-peasy.
I bought all the stuff and am gonna build a Single Bucket Sip following the directions given here - utilizing 4” perforated pipe as the air gap. Outdoors on a patio where it can get hot. I’ve always struggled with proper watering.
Using a 5 gallon white bucket and will wrap the bottom third with blue painters tape to reduce light hitting the water. Soil will be 3/4 FFOF with 1/4 perlite. Or should I use more perlite?
@Carcass - I’m gonna follow your lead and use Grow Dots. Your recent grow turned out awesome! Start adding Purpinator in late flower - correct?
I did not get the Extended Veg Grow Dots (for outdoors). I figured I would feed FF Trio until I up-pot into the SIP container with dots - probably end of May. This gives me another 5 weeks of veg and then into flower usually around July 4th. This should match up with the grow dots timed release. Until I up-pot I am dunk watering to get them used to it.
Is it recommended to cover the top of the soil?
Any other advice?
I'm building two identical SIP buckets and will give one to my brother to grow. So it needs to be easy-peasy.
ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
Ooooh, if it's not too late save the water from wiping down that colander - those are primi-primo humates, already having gone through yet another digestion, or two, by bacteria after being raised to the surface from its pre-prehistoric tomb. Doesn't get better (unless it was digested one more time)!Speaking of SIPs-
My 3 gallon air chamber type SIP got harvested 10 days ago, and now that the pot is dried out a bit, I figured I'd have a peek at the roots on the Amnesia Haze...
Here's what she looked like after 93 days in her little SIP...(grown with Grow Dots and Purpinator)
She developed a bit of bud rot, so she had to go about 4 days ahead of schedule..
With most of the fan leaves removed...(this was 10 days ago)
And, today...
I cut the zip tie on the fill tube, and she lifted right out.
The black residue is from the Real Growers Recharge....I don't know if the RGR helped anything or not
but it goes with the Grow Dots, so I used it once every week..(it didn't hurt anything either)
I was surprised I didn't find a critter or 2 in there.. at times, the rez was a bit stinky.....
Only about 20 roots grew down through the collander, and they were coated with the RGR also, as was the collander
Mostly just small roots above the air chamber..
It's hard to tell, but she had a lot of small roots about an inch below the surface, not much from there up, though...
No actual taproot on this one, just a lot of fairly "big" roots..
she was started in a solo cup SIP, maybe she figured a taproot wasn't necessary...
And here she is today-...not real bad for a 17" plant.
5 ounces of weed from a $2 SIP!
And that's it for that one!
I really enjoy growing in a SIP, so that's how I'll do it from now on!
Thanks again, @Azimuth , for getting me started with the SIPs!
ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
Who got this close to immortality for naming a weed strain "Panty Bunch"and then backed out last minute?
Agreed. However, I discovered that as you go up the scale in size the compromise is much easier to live with rather than the small-pot design keeping the tube out of reservoir. It also increases its chances of getting plugged marginally on some designs, more radical jeopardy for others.
...oh you devious...
you know I'm beginning to realize something...
it is, however, remember that you can use it as a control, lifting it off if you feel the plant looks really puffy or for whatever reason you'd like to clear some pot moisture more quickly. For this reason I like to use cardboard or plastic, or even mylar as it can be removed without damage and very easily. Not a very romantic sight, but, each must choose his own worthwhile sacrifices, right?
Without cover you can often achieve a 1-2 cm dry layer on top, thus if you have fungus gnat problems you might want to leave it open, (I successfully controlled gnats that way once). I also think it ought to be left uncovered at least for its first two weeks, try a month. You want the plant to recognize that a moisture gradient exists, convincing it to send a deep taproot, something much easier and more likely to be successful, the greater the delta between bottom-layer wetness and top-layer dryness. This advice, in my opinion, still stands for transplanted clones, however very mature clones will adapt more slowly and less overall to the new scenario and thus are somewhat compromised yield-wise, but I've done it a few times and am convinced that it still offered the best yield possible for those mature ''clones'', excepting DWC if the exporting clone is a bubble or aeroponic cloner and I don't think there's much to be gained over SIP by DWC even in this circumstance.
If top-feeding nutrients that need to be broken down by microbes in order to be plant-available, placing plastic or cardboard covers on soil speeds up absorption into the soil much more quickly. @Emilya Green feed's Geo Flora this was in some of her new SIP threads.
Yeah, I know that last one was a yes or no question, but it is just not in me.
Thanks RD!
I always look forward to your input. Your posts are thoughtful and eloquent.
I started with the Purpinator around day 70
(counted from GrowDot activation)
I really should of started a little earlier, like day 65.. 15ml/gal. worked for me, but you may need to dial that in for your plant(s)
I didn't, but some folks do...tbh, I didn't even think about it till the plant was almost done...
Use the "heavy" dosage, plus a smidgen for good measure (3 tsp./gallon, plus a little
)And then, don't forget to water them.
Really, that's about it - it doesn't get much easier than the Dots...
Thanks, RD! it's still on the collander-I'll save it!
What do I do with it?
Amend the soil for the next grow?
Add some to their feed?
I imagine that the sludge in the bottom is also good stuff, I'll save it too
Thanks Carcass!I started with the Purpinator around day 70
(counted from GrowDot activation)
I really should of started a little earlier, like day 65.. 15ml/gal. worked for me, but you may need to dial that in for your plant(s)
I didn't, but some folks do...tbh, I didn't even think about it till the plant was almost done...
Use the "heavy" dosage, plus a smidgen for good measure (3 tsp./gallon, plus a little
And then, don't forget to water them.
Really, that's about it - it doesn't get much easier than the Dots...
Thanks, RD! it's still on the collander-I'll save it!
What do I do with it?
Amend the soil for the next grow?
Add some to their feed?
I imagine that the sludge in the bottom is also good stuff, I'll save it too
I did the same as Res Dog.
- Thread starter
- #1,909
No, no glue. Unless you have little kids around that like to push and pull on stuff, the friction of the soil, and ultimately the roots will hold it in place. I don't ever touch it really. I use another, larger coupler at the top which is large enough to hold the neck of a water bottle top which acts as my funnel which I leave on for the duration of the grow. To water I just pour my liquids down the funnel without ever touching it.
- Thread starter
- #1,910
We will stop at nothing short of world domination.
The drainage pipe works, but it's easier in a rectangular storage tote where you can just lay it straight in the bottom. For round containers like buckets I like to use round food storage containers or colanders from the dollar store.
But all work to serve the dual purpose of water reservoir and air chamber.
Fenderbender
Well-Known Member
There's some sippers in this house, if you see them call them out..
You're Welcome, GB!
There's probably more- as I think of things, I'll let you know..
although, with the Dots, there's not much to it...
One thing I really like about the Dots- they're not complicated, and there's no way to make them complicated...
you mix them in to the medium, and forget about 'em till day 65 or so, when you start adding a pK booster.
and that's it.
At least that's how it worked for me, hopefully, your experience is close to the same...
Why stop there when there's a Mars launch coming! Someone has to grow weed on Mars! Ok Moon is next I see.
Hey if my plants turn out half as good as yours I will be happy.You're Welcome, GB!
There's probably more- as I think of things, I'll let you know..
although, with the Dots, there's not much to it...
One thing I really like about the Dots- they're not complicated, and there's no way to make them complicated...
you mix them in to the medium, and forget about 'em till day 65 or so, when you start adding a pK booster.
and that's it.
At least that's how it worked for me, hopefully, your experience is close to the same...
RedskinnedRhino
Well-Known Member
5 weeks in a SIP is a long time. A 36 day veg and now mine is 5'5 tall and 3ft wide. She'd be 4ft wide if the tent were bigger, I should have flipped at 20.
I'm hoping these outdoor ladies get BIG!
In the past flowering began around July 4th, so I'm counting backwards from there. Trying to pick an up-pot date to coincide with the DOTS timed release schedule. I'll have 4 in fabric pots and 2 in SIP buckets. The SIPs will be grown using DOTS so they should be much larger.
Although now that I think about it, if I really wanted to do an outdoor comparison I would do one SIP in DOTS and the other using FF Trio. Then one fabric pot in DOTS and the other three using FF Trio.
Hmmm . . .
ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
I'm assuming you know that this thread's response will be 100% PRO-COMPARO! We all want to learn at your expense. lol.
ReservoirDog
Well-Known Member
When they finally let the Intl. Space Station fall into the atmosphere to burn up, I guarantee you'll get a whiff of the chronic. Those peeps are up there a loooooonnnnngggg time.
I need to get back to Res’s just epic book cover, I can’t unsee it. I’m wondering if I need to read all 1250 pages of it? 
I have a question. Our main grows are all just pure coco. We use liquid hydro/coco nutes from Dutch P. We feed off a 200L tank which gives 3-4 daily feeds before we mix again. Depends. Every day though we have to Ph down again to (our) Magic 5.8. This is because Ph down doesn’t remove those minerals. It just temporarily lowers the Ph. EC and PPM don’t change from when its mixed
I assume DWP has the constant dose Ph machines?
For this little SIP - whatever. Its an 80ml Res and she’s taking nearly double at the moment per day. Not the easy watering regime they’re designed for!
Its not there long enough for it to change too much!
But yep - Pure Coco doesn’t seem like a great fit for medium in a SIP (though first grow we used Dutch P Soil Blend in Coco and it came out 6.5 every mix and worked great
)
Anyway - any thoughts on using pure coco in a SIP I guess my question?
Nick
I have a question. Our main grows are all just pure coco. We use liquid hydro/coco nutes from Dutch P. We feed off a 200L tank which gives 3-4 daily feeds before we mix again. Depends. Every day though we have to Ph down again to (our) Magic 5.8. This is because Ph down doesn’t remove those minerals. It just temporarily lowers the Ph. EC and PPM don’t change from when its mixed
I assume DWP has the constant dose Ph machines?
For this little SIP - whatever. Its an 80ml Res and she’s taking nearly double at the moment per day. Not the easy watering regime they’re designed for!
Its not there long enough for it to change too much!But yep - Pure Coco doesn’t seem like a great fit for medium in a SIP (though first grow we used Dutch P Soil Blend in Coco and it came out 6.5 every mix and worked great
) Anyway - any thoughts on using pure coco in a SIP I guess my question?
Nick
Dunno about pure coco in a SIP (Vet didn't do well with it for one reason or another), but most folks in DWC will check and adjust pH daily as you do.