SIP thread -- (Sub-Irrigated Planter)

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Ok, so its finally time for me to do some SIPs with ganja :cool: Hoping this outdoor run will be a trial for running same sips indoor. I wanted to make them quite flexible, the res is small so i figure i can do the occasional top watering with nutes and then easily pour out the run off and reapply with just water in the res.

The pots are about 14'' a side on the top and have like small leggs they stand on, these will act like the wicks, so 4 in total. As wicking medium i chose hydroton (i believe is the english name, here in spain its called arlita). It was what worked best for wick last years non canna-sips. Tried doing a tomato sip with these pots a few weeks ago and had problem with overwicking, so now i will add much more hydroton. Will also be carefull when filling the sip the first time so it dont drown my babies.

The question i have is what medium would people recomend on top of the hydroton? How much aeriation? Will have some passive nutes in the mix and also EWC, about 25-35% but i dont have access nor time to do anything like super soil. I was thinking something like around a 1/3 each of soil, ewc and aireation but i could go for coco instead of soil.

Last pic is of the seedlings getting used to the sun: Fruitpunch Autos, flowering in 80 days according to supplier.

Any advice is very welcome
IMG_20170724_154321.jpg IMG_20170724_154331.jpg IMG_20170724_154910.jpg 2017-07-24 16.21.53.jpg



Anyone no anything about biobizz premix for this?
 

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Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Ok, so its finally time for me to do some SIPs with ganja :cool: Hoping this outdoor run will be a trial for running same sips indoor. I wanted to make them quite flexible, the res is small so i figure i can do the occasional top watering with nutes and then easily pour out the run off and reapply with just water in the res.

The pots are about 14'' a side on the top and have like small leggs they stand on, these will act like the wicks, so 4 in total. As wicking medium i chose hydroton (i believe is the english name, here in spain its called arlita). It was what worked best for wick last years non canna-sips. Tried doing a tomato sip with these pots a few weeks ago and had problem with overwicking, so now i will add much more hydroton. Will also be carefull when filling the sip the first time so it dont drown my babies.

The question i have is what medium would people recomend on top of the hydroton? How much aeriation? Will have some passive nutes in the mix and also EWC, about 25-35% but i dont have access nor time to do anything like super soil. I was thinking something like around a 1/3 each of soil, ewc and aireation but i could go for coco instead of soil.

Last pic is of the seedlings getting used to the sun: Fruitpunch Autos, flowering in 80 days according to supplier.

Any advice is very welcome
View attachment 3983526 View attachment 3983528 View attachment 3983532 View attachment 3983535



Anyone no anything about biobizz premix for this?

I'm glad to see you are experimenting with cannabis and sips, and I look forward to seeing how it goes. I've used peat moss/coco/perlite growing mixes in my sip wicks, but found they clouded up the water in the res so I switched to just packing the wicks with the same soil I was growing in. So I can't help you with your question, sorry... but I am interested to see how it works!
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
I'm glad to see you are experimenting with cannabis and sips, and I look forward to seeing how it goes. I've used peat moss/coco/perlite growing mixes in my sip wicks, but found they clouded up the water in the res so I switched to just packing the wicks with the same soil I was growing in. So I can't help you with your question, sorry... but I am interested to see how it works!
I was more concerned about what to put on top, as in proportion of aereation, ewc and soil, for good proportions for aereation and wicking.

The first tomato test on this pot was overwicking. Ill probably top water until im certain i have roots to handle the sip.

For nutrients im thinking some passive, some topdress i can even do liquid nutes and just clean the res after. 2017-07-24 21.26.40.jpg

Sits in snuggly and acts as its own lid.
 

dubekoms

Well-Known Member
Sorry I'm not sure if this has been asked yet but what size wick would yall recommend for a 10gallon fabric pot on a 10 gallon res. I was thinking either a 6 or 8 inch net pot..
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
Sorry I'm not sure if this has been asked yet but what size wick would yall recommend for a 10gallon fabric pot on a 10 gallon res. I was thinking either a 6 or 8 inch net pot..
I've not used net pots so I have no direct experience with that combo, although I just did a run with 10 gallon fabric pots over 10 gallon rubbermaid bin/res's, and I used a 5" perf'd drain pipe (that I enlarged the holes on considerably) as my wick. I would imagine a net pot would work, but they seem kind of short?

Depending on the net pots length be sure you know how low you can let your water go so that your wick is always at least touching water. If for example the res is 8" deep but the net pot/wick is only 4" deep, you are wasting half of your water capacity.

That's why I like using the drain pipe, I cut it to be long enough to touch the bottom of the res, and I can let my water level go down to 1" before refilling them -- which this last grow was every 7+/- days. I just happened to take down that grow last night, and took these pics...

07.26_cannatonic-water-roots.jpg 07.26_sip-setup.jpg

EDIT - Correction... I just checked, and my fabric pots are "#7" so I guess I was using 7 gallon pots over 10 gallon res's. Just trying to keep it accurate.
 
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dubekoms

Well-Known Member
I've not used net pots so I have no direct experience with that combo, although I just did a run with 10 gallon fabric pots over 10 gallon rubbermaid bin/res's, and I used a 5" perf'd drain pipe (that I enlarged the holes on considerably) as my wick. I would imagine a net pot would work, but they seem kind of short?

Depending on the net pots length be sure you know how low you can let your water go so that your wick is always at least touching water. If for example the res is 8" deep but the net pot/wick is only 4" deep, you are wasting half of your water capacity.

That's why I like using the drain pipe, I cut it to be long enough to touch the bottom of the res, and I can let my water level go down to 1" before refilling them -- which this last grow was every 7+/- days. I just happened to take down that grow last night, and took these pics...

View attachment 3984731 View attachment 3984730

EDIT - Correction... I just checked, and my fabric pots are "#7" so I guess I was using 7 gallon pots over 10 gallon res's. Just trying to keep it accurate.
The res is 9in deep, a 6in net pot is about 5in and I can zip tie a smaller 4in pot on the bottom but I do like the drain pipe idea. What do you put on the end to prevent soil from coming out?
 

Humanrob

Well-Known Member
The res is 9in deep, a 6in net pot is about 5in and I can zip tie a smaller 4in pot on the bottom but I do like the drain pipe idea. What do you put on the end to prevent soil from coming out?
The first year I glued caps that had holes (kind of looked like a grate) in them that I found in the same section as the drain pipe at Home Depot. This year I used window screening held in place with a large zip-tie positioned into the bottom corrugated groove.
 

Skylander

Well-Known Member
How many weeks can I veg before top dressing is needed.Everything looks good so far but I don't want to wait too late.IMG_20170730_011952.jpg IMG_20170730_012004.jpg I mixed my own soil using the coots mix from buildasoil.
2 cu ft Coco
2 cu ft compost
1 cu ft castings
Buildasoil Coco mineral kit

I also use additives like optiveg, em1, fulvic acid, etc.
 

Joomby

Well-Known Member
Check this out if you love free shit it's actually Preety cool I just want 2 more hits for free shit haha.
 
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greg nr

Well-Known Member
I harvested my first crop from the sips containers and they did really well. I got 15 full quart mason jars off 3 plants (2 in one sip, one in another). Haven't weighed them yet, but the nugs are good and dense so it should do well. Those were the select buds. There was a fair amount of secondary harvest that will will be used for extract.

What impressed me though was that when I pulled up on the stalk that was one plant to sip, all the dirt in the container lifted out. The container is something like 30" long by 19" deep. I expected a root mass in the center, but not all the way out to the edges. There were a LOT of roots.

Interestingly, none of the roots were below the bottom of the soil (into the res). I let the res dry out at times, so maybe that air pruned them. No matter, the plants were healthy and the root system robust.

I'm sold.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I harvested my first crop from the sips containers and they did really well. I got 15 full quart mason jars off 3 plants (2 in one sip, one in another). Haven't weighed them yet, but the nugs are good and dense so it should do well. Those were the select buds. There was a fair amount of secondary harvest that will will be used for extract.

What impressed me though was that when I pulled up on the stalk that was one plant to sip, all the dirt in the container lifted out. The container is something like 30" long by 19" deep. I expected a root mass in the center, but not all the way out to the edges. There were a LOT of roots.

Interestingly, none of the roots were below the bottom of the soil (into the res). I let the res dry out at times, so maybe that air pruned them. No matter, the plants were healthy and the root system robust.

I'm sold.
I'm thinking the opposite. Unless you aerated your water, the roots wouldn't grow into it. The results still speak for themselves!
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking the opposite. Unless you aedon't use airstonesated your water, the roots wouldn't grow into it. The results still speak for themselves!
I have shown several pictures in this thread of my water roots with cannabis plants and i don't use airstones, so maybe they did air prune?
Edit , with this current tomato plant the res has ran dry several times so i am curious to see if there are roots in the res or not,
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I have shown several pictures in this thread of my water roots with cannabis plants and i don't use airstones, so maybe they did air prune?
Edit , with this current tomato plant the res has ran dry several times so i am curious to see if there are roots in the res or not,
They'll only air prune if it's really dry in the space, as in low RH. A lack of oxygen in the water will effectively keep roots from colonizing.

During a tour of my local university horticulture lab today, I saw rafts of lettuce floating in flood tables. They were aerated.
 

Tim Fox

Well-Known Member
They'll only air prune if it's really dry in the space, as in low RH. A lack of oxygen in the water will effectively keep roots from colonizing.

During a tour of my local university horticulture lab today, I saw rafts of lettuce floating in flood tables. They were aerated.
ill be real courious to see the roots from these plants,, if they exist or not,, the new sip has a pretty big viewing hole ,, and i cant see any down there,, who knows, hahaha,,
i am too lazy to hook an air stone up,, part of me wants too,, as well as an external res,, i just kep talking myself out of it,, even though i have just about everythning needed to do the job
 
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