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

[TequilaSIPr]

Absolutely you could. All fermentation creates a strong and lasting (week or three of) co2 output, enough to take many tents into the "Strongly Supportive" zone. Also if you have a c02 tank system, as I do, it makes your tank go a lot further when it only has to top-off another 400ppm to get to 1500ppm, than the 1100ppm required if starting from the natural background rate of 400ppm.

On another tack, mycological culturing can generate significant co2, enough that will at a minimum add 3-400ppm given a decently considered enviro setup. You can make your own Co2 Bags like the ones for sale which do exactly this using a non-fruiting mushroom, but all fungi with strong hyphae are feasible, including many medical and psychedelic varieties.

Check out the new mushroom threads on here for good intro info. Also, these suggested generators do not need to be in the tent or room if that is not suitable, environmentally or practically, because you can pipe it in from the source very easily. Co2 is heavier than air and if you pipe upward from your airlock cork (bung) - using its own compression - then release in the tent (where the airlock should finish the line) the co2 will rain down onto the plants. Stir the air as you would normally and evacuate as infrequently as possible. Also, pick up a c02 meter, at least for your safety but also so you have some ability to judge the effectiveness of various modifications and methodologies you employ. If interested, especially with the more difficult fungal-sourced co2 ideas, I can find some older technical resources I've gleaned from- but do check out the new section. Imagine how cool it would be to superpower your weed using byproducts of your psilocybin grow! Am I right? Sure I am, I've done it, am doing it, and it's damn cool!

There is also a method involving 5-gal buckets, vinegar and baking soda (I think), some airline and a timed air pump. But I can't remember all the details. I learned that one literally 25yrs ago and was primarily an outdoor grower at the time so it has slipped from memory. An internet search should crop up something and If so, please share here.

Thanks Res! That psilocybin idea sounds great! Fermentation too! No tank though i need to get back over the mushroom side of the forum!

 

[NickHardy]

Hey nick that thing looks heavy do you move her around?

Hey! One day old so moved her once from downstairs to up. Medium zone full, res empty. She’s big but lighter than I expected - lots of perlite and coco filler helps. But it was easier with two!

Moving?! Yeah that’s complicated

She’s on a south facing balcony but we’re tropical and close to the equator and not loads of light. But - all the monsoon comes in from the west at this time of year so she’s not on one of those balconies right now. Then those bright lights keeping her in veg now aren’t good for flower! So one option is to move her to the SW-W facing balconybwith less light pollution in order to flip her - that’s about 25m, polished concrete floors so a trolley will do it nicely. Or maybe have a 3 piece (Shed!) roller blind/awning put up on the balcony.

All filed in the “Lets See What Happens” drawer for now!.

 

[Cola Monster]

I'm truly sorry to hear the news about your health problems @ReservoirDog! My thoughts and best wishes go out to both you and your family.

 

[ReservoirDog]

Hey @ReservoirDog , have you gotten all the way through flower using just your amended Supercastings?

Whup, sorry for the delay. The short answer is Yes... with a couple caveats up front. All three were mini-SIP plants, staggered in time and size, in 2-litre, 4-litre and 8-litre SIPs. They produced very well for their size, the stuff was wicked strong, tasted great, but at the time I didn't have the amounts on hand that I figured I'd need, in order to do larger or more plants.

However, later on I did run two of my large outdoor tomato SIPs on purely these castings this season and had the best harvest ever with plants comparable to the MegaCrop fert'd tomato SIPs.

I also have two full size plants vegging in one of my 27-gallon tote-SIPs, currently (see below). I'm flowering them any day now so I'll update via this thread. They have done very well thus far; they are ''rehabbed'' - as seedlings had their main stems broken. They showed a certain amount of chutzpah, thus seducing me into up-potting them into a castings-only SIP system.

Kinda want the small one a little bigger but losing patience. I keep the plastic on there as mulch so microbes are at surface ready for me to top dress more castings. Reservoir has a bubbler and receives only 7pH tap water, chemically dechlorinated. Voila:

The tomato example I think is pertinent to the cannabis question, and I can assure you there was no bottom-end rot, and as I mentioned, the harvest this year was, and still is, epic.

These were 27-gallon to 40-gallon SIPs for the veggies. Mix for SIPs big and small has been 1 part Peat, 1 part Custom-Castings, and 1 part Perlite. My Peat/perlite was a lime and silicone buffered commercial product, to which I added enough perlite to increase ratio to 50/50, before mixing in the castings.

The castings I make are totally customized with no random ingredients provided merely because they are handy, like kitchen compost.

This was approached purely as an experiment, one that I gained a lot of confidence in early on, and thus expanded as far as energy and resources allowed, but it's still an experiment and I prevent myself from feeding them scraps easily at hand that would make my life easier and allow me to expand production further.

That's not to say one could not come by all of these ingredients efficiently, cheaply, and in large volumes, one definitely could, it's merely to say that I haven't done so and so this limits my production of these special castings.

Worms are fed everything from accumulator plants like comfrey, nettles, willow and bamboo, to organic micro-nutrient additions like locally harvested seaweeds, and pest management ingredients like neam cake and crab shells. I do limit myself to whatever I can grow at home or is locally available in such great supply as to be free or close to it. My exception to this rule thus far is fungi and microbes which I buy commercially and then culture in overseeded 10x20 trays, on the roots of wheat, corn and legumes, then add these fresh roots to the worm feed. Everything is mixed together in a blender and fed at apple sauce consistency or sometimes in frozen cubes.

My plans are to trap and isolate local microbes and mycos to replace my commercial ones, but only for the challenge and education.

All three cannabis plants I've brought to flower so far and harvested- that were using the castings as 'sole' fertilizer grew remarkably similar to a synthetic all in one I use, MegaCrop. Surprisingly, leaves did not fade very much, indeed they kinda looked like an organic grow using a 5-5-5 (heavily) all the way through. I make sure a lot of phosphorus solubizing microbes are in the mix and mycorrhizae, as well as some Nitrogen collectors too. By volume it’s about 50 % N, I estimate, from heavy comfrey and nettle use. No obvious deficiencies have arisen as yet.

Now I’m wondering what would happen if you dried the castings, if they would have a significantly longer shelf life and how much of the microbial life could go dormant and then come back with a watering when ready to use. See what happens when I can’t get Geo Flora? I try to invent my own! I’ve got some castings set aside for the drying experiment (just curious), I’ll keep you posted.

Also - the two I have vegging I’ll be sure to document flower on this thread. I know it’ll work, my only fears are whether some reg seeds slipped into my rotation because I just had another plant turn out to be a male when I was working with seeds marked Fem. D’oh!

I know all about cooking supersoils, but you see, this is a rabbit hole, and I’ve fallen and can’t get up! Go Lassie! Go get Timmy!

Green peppers love the castings too:

 

[TequilaSIPr]

I think ive drastically been underwatering my earthbox didnt know it held 3 gallons!

Day 50 from the peep hole!i think the cal mag has been helping or more water or both but growth seems to be picking up and looks greener i want to give her like 10-15 more days till flip

 

[ReservoirDog]

I think ive drastically been underwatering my earthbox didnt know it held 3 gallons!

Day 50 from the peep hole!i think the cal mag has been helping or more water or both but growth seems to be picking up and looks greener i want to give her like 10-15 more days till flip

yeah, you can add water until some dribbles out the overflow hole, that's why it's there. You can't overwater as a result, either, so have at her. Little bit of water-soluble kelp does wonders mixed into the water. Plant looks great though, should flower nicely. Looks like your training really helped. BIG leaves, beautiful shapes!

 

[ReservoirDog]

Just realized that this:

Reservoir has a bubbler and receives only 7pH tap water, chemically dechlorinated.

Is totally not true. I've added both humates and kelp to this SIPs water a few times. Consider, however, that I also put those same ingredients into the worm feed, so it'd be in there regardless.

 

[Azimuth]

The short answer is Yes... with a couple caveats up front. All three were mini-SIP plants, staggered in time and size, in 2-litre, 4-litre and 8-litre SIPs. They produced very well for their size, the stuff was wicked strong, tasted great, but at the time I didn't have the amounts on hand that I figured I'd need, in order to do larger or more plants.

Ok, good. I've been using my castings more frequently this round (2tsp/gal/week) and the plants look great, but they're still in veg so I'm hoping it continues that way through flower.

I have been making my castings with kitchen scraps, some minerals, meals and compost but have kept my Crumbles of comfrey, nettle and flowers separate, instead using them either as a topdress or to make a Jadam extract, but it occurs to me that running them all through the worm bin would make the castings that much better and save a step in the application process since I'm adding the castings weekly anyway.

Plus, the inputs would be transformed into even better additions since they would be covered in a calcium carbonate slime and have added microbes from having gone through a worms gut.

I've only just started adding them to my worm bin so my trial with them is still several months out, but I'm optimistic and excited to give them a try and hearing you have already blazed the trail makes it that much easier to follow.

I make my castings a bit differently from the way you do but still with a watchful eye as to proportions of inputs in an effort to get a consistent output across various batches.

The tomato example I think is pertinent to the cannabis question, and I can assure you there was no bottom-end rot, and as I mentioned, the harvest this year was, and still is, epic.

Calcium carbonate slime FTW!

The castings I make are totally customized with no random ingredients provided merely because they are handy, like kitchen compost.

I like to add the kitchen scraps in mine since they often include fruit parts which bring the P and K to the mix. They're 90% water though so they don't do much for your bulk in the castings.

Worms are fed everything from accumulator plants like comfrey, nettles, willow and bamboo, to organic micro-nutrient additions like locally harvested seaweeds, and pest management ingredients like neam cake and crab shells. I do limit myself to whatever I can grow at home or is locally available in such great supply as to be free or close to it. My exception to this rule thus far is fungi and microbes which I buy commercially and then culture in overseeded 10x20 trays, on the roots of wheat, corn and legumes, then add these fresh roots to the worm feed. Everything is mixed together in a blender and fed at apple sauce consistency or sometimes in frozen cubes.

I like it! More involved than I'm being though, but I am looking forward to your updates on your home grown microbes/fungi.

Mine are driven mostly, like yours, from what I can either grow myself or scavenge locally.

All three cannabis plants I've brought to flower so far and harvested- that were using the castings as 'sole' fertilizer grew remarkably similar to a synthetic all in one I use, MegaCrop. Surprisingly, leaves did not fade very much, indeed they kinda looked like an organic grow using a 5-5-5 (heavily) all the way through. I make sure a lot of phosphorus solubizing microbes are in the mix and mycorrhizae, as well as some Nitrogen collectors too. By volume it’s about 50 % N, I estimate, from heavy comfrey and nettle use. No obvious deficiencies have arisen as yet.

I like the sound of this!

Now I’m wondering what would happen if you dried the castings, if they would have a significantly longer shelf life and how much of the microbial life could go dormant and then come back with a watering when ready to use. See what happens when I can’t get Geo Flora? I try to invent my own! I’ve got some castings set aside for the drying experiment (just curious), I’ll keep you posted.

This one I can answer. Spoiler alert: they work great dried out. For a while I was getting bugs (mites and thrips) about two weeks after I uppotted which I attributed to my castings since I add them as part of my soil mix, so I thought I'd dry them out and see if that helped.

I simply misted them well when I topped dressed them and the Microbial life seemed to kick back into gear. I also added some dried out castings to many houseplants that have been sitting in the same pots for years and were looking very tired. Two weeks after applying the first round of castings the plants have all perked up, greened up, and are growing aggressively again. And to think I was actually contemplating that I'd have to repot them!?!!

I know all about cooking supersoils, but you see, this is a rabbit hole, and I’ve fallen and can’t get up! Go Lassie! Go get Timmy!

But that's quite a bit of the fun of it, no?

 

[ReservoirDog]

Updated/glamour shot of the Supercastings plants w/cucumbers behind and new recruits top-right.

This tent’s (5x5) footprint constitutes more than 1/3 of my livingroom where it stands (would have taken half of my entire flat in Amsterdam circa 2011-12, including the bathroom). Far from feeling cramped by it I enjoy the sights and smells, and consider such a scenario the true definition of luxury…(those two do look healthy, don’t they?)

 

[Azimuth]

Updated/glamour shot of the Supercastings plants w/cucumbers behind and new recruits top-right.

And how do you use the castings, simply mix them into your mix or do you topdress, and if so, how often?

(those two do look healthy, don’t they?)

They do indeed! Mine look similar, good color, good growth etc. That's what I'm hoping to carry on through flower. Interestingly, as good as they look, I'm only getting a Brix reading of about 5. Based on how good they look I was expecting much higher.

 

[MedicalMe]

Sooo . . . I'm new to this forum and SIPS, by which I am intrigued. Sounds like a great way to avoid the fast growth/slow growth conundrum created by wet/dry cycles of standard fertilizing/watering. However (just lazy I guess and like everyone I'm busy-busy-busy), I don't want to wade through the many posts to get an answer to this question: how do I handle fertilizing?

 

[NickHardy]

Hi there!

A question with a thousand answers!

At the most basic - you can pour synthetic nutes in or just water and use a soil to provide your nutes.

Or a combination of the two

Its very very flexible.

 

[RedskinnedRhino]

Sooo . . . I'm new to this forum and SIPS, by which I am intrigued. Sounds like a great way to avoid the fast growth/slow growth conundrum created by wet/dry cycles of standard fertilizing/watering. However (just lazy I guess and like everyone I'm busy-busy-busy), I don't want to wade through the many posts to get an answer to this question: how do I handle fertilizing?

Pour em in the reservoir, it'll suck up nutrients like a fat kid suckin up a McDonald's milkshake.

 

[Azimuth]

Pour em in the reservoir, it'll suck up nutrients like a fat kid suckin up a McDonald's milkshake.

That's certainly true for synthetics but organic growers have had success topdressing and then lightly watering from above to settle them in and then going back to pourin' water into the reservoir.

, I don't want to wade through the many posts to get an answer to this question: how do I handle fertilizing?

What nutes are you using?

 

[MedicalMe]

What nutes are you using?

I've been growing autos in HP mix; nutes MC (3/4 strength) and transitioning to FF Bloom when appropriate - pH'd well water to 6.5 with white distilled vinegar.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I've been growing autos in HP mix; nutes MC (3/4 strength) and transitioning to FF Bloom when appropriate - pH'd well water to 6.5 with white distilled vinegar.

Hi @MedicalMe. Why use white vinegar? Most pH down formulas contain phosphoric acid plants can use. Vinegar is up to 4% acetic acid which is good for developing film but bad for plants.

 

[MedicalMe]

Why use white vinegar?

Cheap.

 

[smokesbetter]

Here is my sip auto doesido some where around 2 mouths' old ?? just going into flower >

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• smokesbetter
• Sep 17, 2023

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• smokesbetter
• Sep 17, 2023

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• smokesbetter
• Sep 17, 2023

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• smokesbetter
• Sep 17, 2023

 

[RedskinnedRhino]

Two Cherry Cola Autos in a 27gal SIP, 3x3 grow area.
I trim em daily, but when I return, it's a bush again. Bush just gotta be a bush, even when you want it to be a tree.

 

[ReservoirDog]

I'm truly sorry to hear the news about your health problems @ReservoirDog! My thoughts and best wishes go out to both you and your family.

Thanks mate. Everyone in my offline life always comments on my stoicism and courage with this and other stuff (I've some chronic migraines, bad ones, long ones, and something else) and if its ok with people here, I wouldn't mind being able to just be scared shitless here now and then. I should go look for any relevant, related forums here on 420mag. Maybe there's some sufferers chatting somewhere.