Becca Takes A Big SIP

[BeccaBuds]

I already top-watered half a liter after transplant and filled the res with a gallon of Purpinated water. Today I made a dipstick of a 2 foot length of bamboo by filing shallow v notches every half inch with a V profile needle file. Drop it in the filler pipe, pull out and inspect, just like the oil on your car, lol, wipe it off w/ paper towel. It showed just over 3" but less than 3.5" of water in the res, so it has wicked some up. It looks really healthy except for the funky leaf blades.

 

[Azimuth]

I already top-watered half a liter after transplant and filled the res with a gallon of Purpinated water. Today I made a dipstick of a 2 foot length of bamboo by filing shallow v notches every half inch. Drop it in the filler pipe, pull out and inspect, just like the oil on your car, lol, wipe it off w/ paper towel. It showed just over 3" but less than 3.5" of water in the res, so it has wicked some up. It looks really healthy except for the funky leaf blades.

Ha! I do the same, but with a dowel and measured against a ruler. I track the water level daily and get a sense of how much it's drinking that way rather than a liquid measure.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I tried using a disposable pipette upside down as a float mounted to a thin bamboo stick. It worked but really only tells you if there is water, but not how much, well, not accurately IMHO. The dipstick works great. I added notches at 0.25" intervals and inked the 1" and 1/2" slots. Cheap and effective, lol!

 

[gwhunran]

Looking good. I don't have any experience with this method but have followed others on the site using it and most seem to do well.
I have had a few plants with funny lower leaves when small and all of them turned out normal when grown out. I wonder if it might be some kind of injury(self-inflicted), as seed is sprouting?

 

[BeccaBuds]

I think it had to do with built-up salts in the soil, @gwhunran . When I leached the seedling pot some more brownish fluid came out. After that I tilted the pot at 45 degrees or so to drain off excess water, then I watered to run-off with half strength MaxiGro and tilt-drained it again. So it's seen a few cycles of funky fluctuating soil chemistry and nutrients.
It's still acting odd with 2 funky blades on one 5th node leaf. Same 5th node leaf smaller overall compared to opposite 5th node leaf. It appears one of the 6th node leaves will lag the other also but can't see anything odd otherwise. Pretty sure it will sort itself out.

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I really like the way these SIP planters work. It will make watering these 4-gallon containers so much easier and quicker. For example, this morning the dipstick shows 3-1/4" aqua. Enough to go on vacation, lol!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Res still measures 3.25" on the dipstick. The planter isn't wicking much. Must be the stall @Azimuth mentioned. It's probably reached equilibrium where the weight of the water column equals the capillary force. Once the plant reaches and starts tapping the water column it should start to move. Everyone looks happy and healthy today. The cotyledons on the cannabis are yellowing now and I've removed the nodes 1 & 2 branches and leaves. Going to hold off on topping it for now.

 

[BeccaBuds]

 

[Azimuth]

Res still measures 3.25" on the dipstick. The planter isn't wicking much. Must be the stall @Azimuth mentioned.

Yep, but looks healthy enough.

The leaves have a bit of droop to them showing they are a bit overwatered for their root system, but they'll adjust to it soon enough. But that's why I like to only put a little bit in the reservoir until they start growing strongly.

Wouldn't hurt to tip the bucket and try to empty the res as much as you can, and then only give it more once the rest is gone, and then only the amount it'll drink in a day or two if you're able to check on it every day.

If not, it'll adjust to the new realities, butl just take a bit longer.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I'll have to take the long road home, lol. I filled the res with distilled water because the tap water here is terrible. I'd be pouring $ down the drain. Plant looks ok so I'll leave it be.

 

[Azimuth]

Keep it in your back pocket for next time, but this way works fine too.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Dipstick still reads 3.25" while the plant looks as healthy as can be, despite it's droopy demeanor in the morning and evening, and is very probably female (see first photo). Removed the node 3 branches yesterday but left the leaves.
Surprised it's showing it's gender already, as there's no Ruderalis in this critter's genes, to the best of my knowledge, and it's less than a month old.
I'll be very happy if it isn't male!

 

[BeccaBuds]

The plant looks fine, but at 5:30 this afternoon, the res still measures 3.25, so I decided I'd best follow @Azimuth recommendation and siphoned it down to 0.5 inch or about 16 fl. ounces. My main concern is root rot if the soil is too wet.
I'm going to let the plant acclimatize for a few days then refill the res and reprime the pot.

 

[Azimuth]

Your first way will work too, just takes a bit longer to transition.

And if you're willing to check it every day or two, I wouldn't fill the reservoir but rather just give it what the plant will drink in that period. I always figured why give it more water when it hasn't drained what's already in there? That just gives more time for bad things to happen.

For mine, they don't get to the point where I keep the reservoir full until they're in flower or damn close. I think what happens is with very short dry reservoir periods the roots continue to build whereas if you keep the reservoir full all the time there's no incentive for roots to go searching for what they had just hours before.

But, a full reservoir will also get it done if you're looking for some less fiddly.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I can and am checking it every day, Azimuth. I'm guesstimating on the order of around 100g or less per day water loss from soil surface evaporation and leaf transpiration. Transpiration will just increase as the plant gets bigger of course.

At this stage, with a small plant, my dipstick isn't going to give me enough resolution to determine daily use, so back to the drawing board. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention! See my SIP DIY project journal for the details.

The new dipstick reports 5/8" of water or about 20 fl.oz.

Now I can track it!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Added 120mL and the stick reports 0.75" or 24 fl. oz. With the addition of water, the level should be right at the bottom of the net pot wicking cone. This will also verify my 6 rope wicks, that make up the 3/4" gap to the bottom of the res, are working.
She's growing fast and should start drafting a several oz of water a day.

 

[StoneOtter]

Go Becca!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Looks like she's used a couple ounces of water since yesterday. Stick measures 11/16" or 22 fl. oz. Added 100mL aqua to the fill tube. She is really taking off now and is a month old.

 

[Absorber]

First off, some baby pics. I had originally planted 6 Root Riot Rooting Cubes with Havana Gold tobacco seed on July 2, but lost one and so dropped a small mystery cannabis seed in the cube's hole around July 6 or 7, and it sprouted July 9. It was transplanted to a 1 quart coleslaw container into a mix with very high % of perlite (no coleslaw, lol), so I put it on a regimen of half strength MaxiGro with every watering. I have to say, these rooting cubes are great. No soak, just drop the seed and bag the tray in a gallon plastic bag for a day or two after spritzing with water to wet the seed. Ez-peazy! It's also really easy to feed plants in them using a digital scale with a pipette and liquid nutrient solutions to get a good start.

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The soil for the SIP bucket is FFOF that has some added perlite and has been used for two cycles. Before filling the bucket I leached the soil, let it drain and dry a bit to remove any build-up of salts. See my post on July 28 for the Geoflora soil amendments.
Now that the plant is growing in some and getting past transplant shock, I'm starting to see some explosive growth, so I think the plant has already discovered a "mineral" deposit, lol! One of the fifth node leaves is deformed a bit with two stumpy blades and this plant has been showing some other weird stuff like the "ripples" in the leaves. Something to do with the weird mix it was in. At one point I leached the quart pot it was in and some brown colored water came out. After that I fertilized it with MaxiGro and it was looking normal until this. Probably just transplant shock.

I see a big red spider
Nice plant hopefully you find an appropriate dwelling where you can finish growing this baby .
Good luck and happy growing

 

[Absorber]

Good song

 

[BeccaBuds]

Thanks

Go Becca!

Woo Hoo!

I see a big red spider
Nice plant hopefully you find an appropriate dwelling where you can finish growing this baby .
Good luck and happy growing

I hope I can grow it out, too, Absorber. It's showing another abnormality this morning. There appears to be a branch forming at the junction of one of the cotyledons and the main stem. I've never seen that before. One of the new leaves forming today has odd "ripples" between 2 blades. Oh, and more female preflowers at node 6 so it's pretty certain she's female.