Jesselikes2grow

Well-Known Member
First off...thank you very much for your in depth reply! I love to hear folks that are into the soil food web and feeding the microbes instead of adhering to the "more money I spend on nutes the better my plants will be" mentality (each to his/ her own of course different strokes and all that)
and it makes total sense and I get the whole soil food web (I have been feeding my microbes and not my plants for about 5 years now ... still not sure what to do with old bottles of nutes but I am sure they are expired garbage by now lol) but I was more wondering about specifically if I need to have different micro heards in the soil vs in the rez. what do you think??? Maybe there is so much variation already in the EM 1 product that the different environments they are being introduced into is promoting different micro organisms to thrive and there fore creating the fungal dominant on top and the bacterial dominant in the rez. Just so you know I have been using SIPs and organics for a while now but have NOT been using the EM 1 or grokashi and that is the part I am looking to upgrade too! thanks again for your and any one elses input!
Use the old nutes to feed your lawn lol or just toss em, if there good donate em to a noob you may lnow
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
Here is 1 of the 2 sip designs I will be adding to this thread. Second sip similar to greens design but using 6" black corrugated drain pipe as the support system. The ones in these pics are a modified design from another grower, @hyroot, he has already proven this system. His threads are on this forum.
Build plan and parts:
Mine is a 12 gallon tote.View attachment 4299291 Top cut out for inner base. Overflow hole, water level site tube in base of tote. 6" corrugated drain sections as the support system for inner base. 6" net pot epoxied to inner base bottom, garden burlap 3 layers thick to keep soil out of res but allow roots through.View attachment 4299292 1" pvc fill tube. 10 gal fabric pot with bottom cut out for 6" net pot. View attachment 4299293 Net pot wick filled with 50/50 coco/aeration mix. Aeration is perlite and pumice mix. Fab pot filled to 2 inches off top with my soil. Last 2 inches covered with pumice mulch to hold moisture and keep fungus gnats away.
Soil mix:
ROLS soil custom mix fairly similar to greens listed on page 1. Some amendments substituted for similar items due to availability and or cost. Approximately 120 gallons total mix made. Roughly 1-1-1 ratio with base/compost/aeration. 55 or so gallons of old soil with root balls from last grow, counting part of this amount as compost and also aeration. 35 to 40 gallons of new peat based mix, and 20 gallons compost EWC mix. Amendments and soil base parts all mixed. 2.5 cubic ft bag perlite added, and 5 gal bucket of pumice for aeration addition. My recipe was adjusted up with more P and down for less K inputs because the recycled soil added in already having sufficient K levels but Low P amounts. Biochar aldo added.
Growing schedule:
Let soil sit in tubs for 2 months. Clones started in solo cups and peat puck. At time of clone cutting 10 gal gets filled with dampened soil and covered with plastic. 1.5 to 2 weeks cuttings in solo cup growing roots, 1.5 to 2 weeks in 1 gallon up potting.View attachment 4299298 3 to 4 weeks after cutting it gets up potted into 10 gal fab pot sip for 2 to 3 more weeks of veg. Total veg time 5 to 7 weeks from clone cutting to flowering room for a perpetual grow. 8 to 12 weeks in flower room, strain dependant as well as personal preference based on trichomes.
Thesis:
The shorter veg time should allow me more med sized plants, I like a variety. Shorter veg won't need the added size of the 18 gal tote for food, smaller design, more room for more plants, again, I like a variety. Lol. Will update when ive got more.
dude you need to come over to the SIP thread! this one is... eh .. and opp is banned also... soooo
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
You are correct in the bacterial dom bottom and the fungal dom top. Best of both worlds doing the heavy lifting for your plants. Best of ph ranges for nutrient uptake. Really going this route the bacteria and fungals will do their thing all by themselves. Em1 etc does its thing due to reasons listed above. Especially due to the anaerobic and overpopulation part. You could introduce more microbes but why? There's a shit ton in there from the em etc. Likely the em would just eat the other additional microbes for food. lol. Green said it ate his adhesive. Lol. Be a waste I'd think, plenty of micro herd already having been cultured in the em and the grokashi. They will balance themselves out between them good keeping away bad, each feeding off the other and living happily, nature doing it's thing, all cohesive.
If you've been running an air stone in the res prior with your sips I would remove it for the em 1 change, not needed. Also do not nutrient the res, can cause issues and is not needed, everything should be in the soil. The air stone will promote aerobic bacteria vs the em 1 anaerobic bacteria. They will compete with each other. That's a diff method using the air stone, use that method with nutes in the res. I could look up the thread where guy did a side by side and no diff except giant roots that shrunk the water res. No bud or plant difference. Em 1 can be replaced with LABS as well, think that was noted earlier in thread. I can find it for you if needed or the res Google. Lol. Hyroot has a good thread about it on here as well. Recipes on first page.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/organic-no-till-probiotic-knf-jadam-vermicomposting-soil-mixes-sips-etc-q-a.951076/
right... I understand all of this man... My question is specifically if I (we) should be looking into using DIFFERENT bacteria between the Rez and the Grokashi (since Grokashi is a brand of bokashi bran which is made using EM 1 and wheat bran and molasses and fermenting).. so with that said ... maybe re look and let me know what you think (-:
 

Jesselikes2grow

Well-Known Member
right... I understand all of this man... My question is specifically if I (we) should be looking into using DIFFERENT bacteria between the Rez and the Grokashi (since Grokashi is a brand of bokashi bran which is made using EM 1 and wheat bran and molasses and fermenting).. so with that said ... maybe re look and let me know what you think (-:
right... I understand all of this man... My question is specifically if I (we) should be looking into using DIFFERENT bacteria between the Rez and the Grokashi (since Grokashi is a brand of bokashi bran which is made using EM 1 and wheat bran and molasses and fermenting).. so with that said ... maybe re look and let me know what you think (-:
I've not done the grokashi before, I've got a few large totes leaf mould mix that's a fungal forest in there. It will be supplying my fungals.
I've asked my biology professor friend of mine a similar question before about the bacteria thing, I'll have another dig into it. You gave me a different thought ill pursue and see what i can come up with. Original question of mine was aerobic vs anaerobic bacteria, what's better, why not both, etc. When I'm not stoned off my butt smoking a bedtime bringer bowl I'll ring him up. Lol
 

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
I've not done the grokashi before, I've got a few large totes leaf mould mix that's a fungal forest in there. It will be supplying my fungals.
I've asked my biology professor friend of mine a similar question before about the bacteria thing, I'll have another dig into it. You gave me a different thought ill pursue and see what i can come up with. Original question of mine was aerobic vs anaerobic bacteria, what's better, why not both, etc. When I'm not stoned off my butt smoking a bedtime bringer bowl I'll ring him up. Lol
yeah yeah all very good questions I have done the air stone thing but did not see much difference running side by side comparisons so I stopped. So I think I will give the anaerobic method a shot. Maybe I will not convert ALL of my SIPs. But the grokashi is going in everything that stuff just seems amazing no matter where I look into it!
 

Jesselikes2grow

Well-Known Member
dude you need to come over to the SIP thread! this one is... eh .. and opp is banned also... soooo
Im on there, i watch and read that thread. A number of people in that thread have provided valuable insight into various growing methods I'm interested In. I was hoping to finish off my stated experiments here as green can't now and seemed a number of people still interested in what was being done. Lol. I didn't want to leave folks hanging lol. Like a book they couldn't finish lmfao.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I'm back for the time being, if anyone had any questions.
I think that you are turning into one of the senior members on here because I don't see any of the "Old Heads" on here anymore. The people that I learned from on here are no longer active because I think that they move on to better things and don't have time for us anymore.
Anyways, I would like to see another journal from you. I was in the mindset that SIP was just a gimmick, so I didn't buy into it. That was until I saw one of your journals, then I ran out and made a full switch to SIP.
I had my first run in some Earthboxes, but I had another spider mite outbreak so I decided to start all over from seed and deep clean my grow room. It's almost 5 weeks since my last harvest and I haven't had any plants during that time. I'm pretty sure that I got them last winter when I was using straw for mulch. I'm thinking that the mites were "winterized" and they woke up in my warm grow room. This is another reason why I was ready to switch to SIPs because using straw sucks! Anyways, my plants were looking great but I cut them at week #7 and I'm impressed with how well they turned out.

I didn't mean to go on a rant. I'm just excited about the Malibu Compost soil test that I had done. I've been trying to make my own compost for the last few years, but I've always been like 15x too high in Phosphorus and way too low in micronutrients. So, I'm going to mix my soil with Malibu and not just use it as a top-dressing this time and I'm willing to bet that I will have less lock-out issues. The fucking mites suck but it made me slow down and focus on a better soil.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
recently I've been leaning towards tm-7 to be my favorite.
If you use a lot of rock dusts, then you might not need the iron in TM-7. What too much iron will do is compete with Manganese and I'm always having a problem with manganese. Anyways, Build-A-Soil worked with Dr. Faust of BioAg(TM-7) to make Big 6. It's basically the same thing just w/o the iron. I seem to get plenty of iron from rock dust and kelp, so this is a big deal for me. I forgot to post my Malibu soil test earlier, this is straight from the bag here. This is before adding any amendment, but I really wanted to know what I was working with before I just started adding stuff blindly. Also keep in mind that you can divide these #'s by 3 because it will be 1/3 of my mix. I'm currently waiting for the soil to age a couple of weeks before I take another test.
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DSC01216.JPG
 

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
If you use a lot of rock dusts, then you might not need the iron in TM-7. What too much iron will do is compete with Manganese and I'm always having a problem with manganese. Anyways, Build-A-Soil worked with Dr. Faust of BioAg(TM-7) to make Big 6. It's basically the same thing just w/o the iron. I seem to get plenty of iron from rock dust and kelp, so this is a big deal for me. I forgot to post my Malibu soil test earlier, this is straight from the bag here. This is before adding any amendment, but I really wanted to know what I was working with before I just started adding stuff blindly. Also keep in mind that you can divide these #'s by 3 because it will be 1/3 of my mix. I'm currently waiting for the soil to age a couple of weeks before I take another test.
View attachment 4397842
View attachment 4397842
That's funny, bc that's exactly what I switched too, lol I discovered the reasoning I was having issue when I first planted the ladies was bc of that exact reason. Since I've switched to using the big 6 and havent had an issue since.

I'll get a new journal going, I've jsut been super busy. And having some issues with lights.
 

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
Still killing it using this same exact method! (maybe a slight change here and there lol) I honestly cant find any bud within miles and miles in every direction, that can even compare to the quality and taste this method is producing, nor can anyone I know for that matter.

Here's some pictures that I've taken over the time since I've been AWOL from this site. I'm still perpetual and harvest every month, which is why I have all my ladies at different stages.20191101_162825.jpg20191028_080058.jpg20191101_214911.jpg20191024_075838.jpg20191028_075846.jpg20191024_075838.jpg20191028_075830.jpg
 

Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
Some beautiful ladies just starting to dry! Must say between this God sent method, and these new lights I couldnt be happy with my grow lately!

I've made some changes on my method lately, if anyone is just getting into this and trying to run this method plz feel free to get with me if you have any questions or are interested in the changes.
20191206_194257.jpg20191206_194142.jpg20191208_191338.jpg20191208_191323.jpg
 

DonPetro

Well-Known Member
Some beautiful ladies just starting to dry! Must say between this God sent method, and these new lights I couldnt be happy with my grow lately!

I've made some changes on my method lately, if anyone is just getting into this and trying to run this method plz feel free to get with me if you have any questions or are interested in the changes.
View attachment 4434866View attachment 4434867View attachment 4434868View attachment 4434869
Hey bud, what lights are those if you don't mind me asking?
 
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