Spring Sippin' With MEVOOP, Bubba Kush & Amnesia Lemon

[AspenCultivator]

Hey everyone! We're now two days away from up-pot into their final 5 gallon SIP containers. Tomorrow the containers will be filled with 40% perlite and 60% FF Happy Frog (fresh, not recycled) and the res filled with 1/3 or maybe even 1/4 water where it'll sit and soak for 24 hours. Come Sunday I want to see the res almost empty with all the water soaked up into the soil media.

As for today they all got fed week 1 again from the bottom like normal. Everything looks to be on track!

MEVOOP Day 17

• AspenCultivator
• May 19, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 17

• AspenCultivator
• May 19, 2023

Amnesia Lemon Day 17

• AspenCultivator
• May 19, 2023

The Gang Day 17

• AspenCultivator
• May 19, 2023

I'm loving the vigor coming from the Bubba Kush. I haven't seen a seedling pray like that, even with all the vegetables I've germed over my time. I really hope that's a sign of good things to come!

Awesome start to what’s definitely going to be a great journal! Not a SIP guy myself, only because I haven’t tried it yet lol, but it’s certainly getting more and more intriguing! Everything looks awesome!
Currently growing an Amnesia Lemon myself in DWC. She’s about 6 weeks from harvest, looks awesome, and my better half says it smells crazy strong and potent. Good luck. I’ll be around peeking in

Ps: Here’s what you have to look forward too.

Hey Charlie welcome in! That looks awesome, I can't wait to see what this strain can do.

 

[AspenCultivator]

Hi everybody! I didn't have time to make an update over the weekend, but 2 days ago they were all up-potted into their final 5 gallon SIP containers. I'll admit I need to find another way to transplant them, because all 3 of them had issues with the rootball falling apart and more-or-less just being a huge pain to try and 'gently' move them into the new buckets.

Anyway, I am using the same mix ratio I used with the blueberries: 40% perlite with 60% Fox Farms Happy Frog. I know HF already has perlite in it, and I don't take that into account when measuring out the soil mix. So I use one gallon of perlite, and 4 gallons (by volume) of FFHF and just mixed together and fill the bucket. This gives me a nice and airy substrate that I've found wicks up just fine. Even if there's "added perlite already in the Happy Frog". It's to be noted in these SIP containers, the media between the reservoir and the wall gets compacted quite a lot. I put all my weight behind pushing the media down so it's level with the top of the res, but not on top of it. Once the space between the wall and the res is full and compacted I just dump the remainder in up to the top of the bucket. No pressing down or anything like that. Works really good.

Day 21

• AspenCultivator
• May 23, 2023

MEVOOP Day 21

• AspenCultivator
• May 23, 2023

Amnesia Lemon Day 21

• AspenCultivator
• May 23, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 21

• AspenCultivator
• May 23, 2023

All 3 are looking the exact same, which is nice to see. I don't see any deficiencies and I don't appear to have any stalling from the aggressive transplant. As far as I can tell in the past 2 days that is. So, all is well! Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Azimuth]

Anyway, I am using the same mix ratio I used with the blueberries: 40% perlite with 60% Fox Farms Happy Frog.

. I know HF already has perlite in it, and I don't take that into account when measuring out the soil mix. So I use one gallon of perlite, and 4 gallons (by volume) of FFHF and just mixed together and fill the bucket.

So, you're assuming FFHF is 20% perlite already? Because 1G perlite + 4G FFHF = 5G so the perlite weighting assuming none in the FFHF is 1/5 or 20% (not 40%).

I put all my weight behind pushing the media down so it's level with the top of the res, but not on top of it.

Too much packing down is not great. I like to firm it so there's no air pockets, and more than I ever do the rest of the mix, but I don't go crazy. Buuuut, if it's workin' fer ya, why not?

 

[AspenCultivator]

So, you're assuming FFHF is 20% perlite already? Because 1G perlite + 4G FFHF = 5G so the perlite weighting assuming none in the FFHF is 1/5 or 20% (not 40%).


Too much packing down is not great. I like to firm it so there's no air pockets, and more than I ever do the rest of the mix, but I don't go crazy. Buuuut, if it's workin' fer ya, why not?

Great catch Azi, thank you! I used the same bucket I used for the blueberries and forgot I was using the 2 gallon measurement whoops....

The correct mix was 6 gallons FFHF and 4 gallons perlite for two 5 gal sip buckets (with about 2 gal left over because of the res volume. Then mixed 3 gallons FFHF and 2 gallons perlite.

I even waited a few days to make the post because of how hectic things have been and still managed to report the wrong numbers! Dang it!

Thank you again Azi for bringing attention to that!

As for the packing, I didn't know that. I did indeed pack it down for the blueberries, and had some explosive root growth in that zone. Now I won't go so far as saying 'you can't pack it down anymore' because I'm sure I could get more weight behind the packing. But great point and I've got a note for next time, thanks!

 

[InTheShed]

Congrats on the upcans! If you left them another week would the rootball have been easier to move?

Anyway, I am using the same mix ratio I used with the blueberries: 40% perlite with 60% Fox Farms Happy Frog. I know HF already has perlite in it, and I don't take that into account when measuring out the soil mix. So I use one gallon of perlite, and 4 gallons (by volume) of FFHF and just mixed together and fill the bucket. This gives me a nice and airy substrate that I've found wicks up just fine.

Good info,

 

[AspenCultivator]

Congrats on the upcans! If you left them another week would the rootball have been easier to move?

Thanks Shed! It's always good to make it to the next step. I've spent some time mulling this question in my head and came to the conclusion I don't want the rootball to be bigger because the longer they spend in their solo-sips the longer they might experience a greater "sip stall". The whole point of the solo-sip is to get those roots chasing the moisture gradient and not spending time getting bigger where they already are. This is totally anecdotal evidence so I have nothing to back that up, of course! With the reservoir level still being an issue for me this go-round (I'll go over this below) I'm thinking it might be better to start off in the 5 gallon sips and water from the top. More on this later though.

---------------------

Hi everyone! Work and life found their ways into my growing updates, but I finally have some good time to sit down and put some brain energy into some words. The really, really cool thing about these SIP containers vs. hydro or even just soil is you can really pack the water in there and just let them be for a while. I find this a blessing and a curse, as I definitely needed the small break from really paying attention to the plants this week. However, they're still so small they can't drink what's in the buckets in any good amount of time to establish a proper feed, water, feed cycle.

This was a problem with the blueberries and I found I needed to lower the amount of water I was giving, and spent a considerable amount of time siphoning as much water from their res' as I could. Attempting to avoid that issue this time, I have watered much, much less into the res. No water from the top. Even with this careful planning, they are not drinking as much as they need to be to get on the feeding schedule I want them on. Because of this, two of them are starting to show signs of hunger.

Amnesia Lemon Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

MEVOOP Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

The amnesia lemon and the mevoop are getting lighter in the middle which is the exact same thing the blueberries did. The water levels are lower than they were, but are still too high to continue adding water into the reservoirs. So this is a perfect example of when, and why, I would feed from the top. They're currently on day 31, and not counting 1 week for 'seedling phase' that'd put them at starting week 4 on the fox farms nutrient schedule. Want to know the last feed they got? 8 days ago, week 2. This means they're currently 2 weeks behind schedule because of this watering situation. Now yes, I know to feed the plant based on the plant, not the schedule. This is just an example of identifying yellowing in the plants and having a plan of attack to fix it.

It's to be noted in the pics above, 2 days ago I took both node 1 and 2 from all 3 plants to begin their quadlining journey. That means today was topping day.

Amnesia Lemon Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

MEVOOP Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Everything looks really good all things considered. The bubba kush is in an entirely separate class from the other two, as is probably obvious by her size.

I don't believe I'm going to need to siphon anything out, yet, but if they don't drink what's in their reservoirs in the next few days I will probably have to do that again. Lastly, I mentioned above that I'd be feeding from the top so they can get the nutrients they're looking for. I'm only going to be providing enough liquid to saturate as much of the media at the top as I can without adding liquid to the reservoir. This involves a small application of feed around the base of the plants and waiting around 5 mins before adding more. Once I can hear the feed moving through the media and dripping into the res that's when I know they're done.

And that brings us current! Nothing too exciting to track over the last week, but we're heading in the right direction and already learning things for the next time. Thanks for stopping by!

 

[GratefulBud]

Thanks Shed! It's always good to make it to the next step. I've spent some time mulling this question in my head and came to the conclusion I don't want the rootball to be bigger because the longer they spend in their solo-sips the longer they might experience a greater "sip stall". The whole point of the solo-sip is to get those roots chasing the moisture gradient and not spending time getting bigger where they already are. This is totally anecdotal evidence so I have nothing to back that up, of course! With the reservoir level still being an issue for me this go-round (I'll go over this below) I'm thinking it might be better to start off in the 5 gallon sips and water from the top. More on this later though.

---------------------

Hi everyone! Work and life found their ways into my growing updates, but I finally have some good time to sit down and put some brain energy into some words. The really, really cool thing about these SIP containers vs. hydro or even just soil is you can really pack the water in there and just let them be for a while. I find this a blessing and a curse, as I definitely needed the small break from really paying attention to the plants this week. However, they're still so small they can't drink what's in the buckets in any good amount of time to establish a proper feed, water, feed cycle.

This was a problem with the blueberries and I found I needed to lower the amount of water I was giving, and spent a considerable amount of time siphoning as much water from their res' as I could. Attempting to avoid that issue this time, I have watered much, much less into the res. No water from the top. Even with this careful planning, they are not drinking as much as they need to be to get on the feeding schedule I want them on. Because of this, two of them are starting to show signs of hunger.

Amnesia Lemon Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

MEVOOP Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 31

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

The amnesia lemon and the mevoop are getting lighter in the middle which is the exact same thing the blueberries did. The water levels are lower than they were, but are still too high to continue adding water into the reservoirs. So this is a perfect example of when, and why, I would feed from the top. They're currently on day 31, and not counting 1 week for 'seedling phase' that'd put them at starting week 4 on the fox farms nutrient schedule. Want to know the last feed they got? 8 days ago, week 2. This means they're currently 2 weeks behind schedule because of this watering situation. Now yes, I know to feed the plant based on the plant, not the schedule. This is just an example of identifying yellowing in the plants and having a plan of attack to fix it.

It's to be noted in the pics above, 2 days ago I took both node 1 and 2 from all 3 plants to begin their quadlining journey. That means today was topping day.

Amnesia Lemon Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

MEVOOP Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 31 Topped

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 2, 2023

Everything looks really good all things considered. The bubba kush is in an entirely separate class from the other two, as is probably obvious by her size.

I don't believe I'm going to need to siphon anything out, yet, but if they don't drink what's in their reservoirs in the next few days I will probably have to do that again. Lastly, I mentioned above that I'd be feeding from the top so they can get the nutrients they're looking for. I'm only going to be providing enough liquid to saturate as much of the media at the top as I can without adding liquid to the reservoir. This involves a small application of feed around the base of the plants and waiting around 5 mins before adding more. Once I can hear the feed moving through the media and dripping into the res that's when I know they're done.

And that brings us current! Nothing too exciting to track over the last week, but we're heading in the right direction and already learning things for the next time. Thanks for stopping by!

Hi Aspen!

I'm curious - did you drench your soil when you up-potted?
I'm doing a similar SIP and I soaked then packed the bottom third of the soil to help wicking. The middle third
I soaked and lightly packed. I added grow dots timed release fertilizer mostly to the middle. The top third I thoroughly soaked but hardly packed - but it was still very wet. I soaked some more until it overflowed.

They have been in the SIP buckets 5 days now and look really good so far (knock wood). I just checked and there is still water in the bottom so I'll not add any water until very little is left in the res - but not totally dry.

 

[StoneOtter]

Looking nice AC!

 

[AspenCultivator]

Hi Aspen!

I'm curious - did you drench your soil when you up-potted?
I'm doing a similar SIP and I soaked then packed the bottom third of the soil to help wicking. The middle third
I soaked and lightly packed. I added grow dots timed release fertilizer mostly to the middle. The top third I thoroughly soaked but hardly packed - but it was still very wet. I soaked some more until it overflowed.

They have been in the SIP buckets 5 days now and look really good so far (knock wood). I just checked and there is still water in the bottom so I'll not add any water until very little is left in the res - but not totally dry.

Hi Grateful! No, I didn't drench the soil during up-pot. I firmed/packed the bottom between the res and the bucket wall, then just filled as normal up to the top. Then I gave them 1/2 gallon through the feed tube and waited 24 hours. This gives the media time to soak up all the water. After that I tend to wait until the res is completely dry. I don't bother too much about checking it every day either. Every other day or so I'll check and if they are empty I'll water. It worked really well doing it that way once the blueberries (my previous grow) had an established cycle.

Looking nice AC!

Thanks Stone!

 

[InTheShed]

Looking nice Aspen, and I appreciate the answer on the upcan. Just did the same myself this weekend going from top-watered plastic pot to a 5gal SIP (at Azi's suggestion) for the same reason: get it through that transition sooner.

And if I were using FF nutes I'd feed every time. Otherwise it's like you're diluting them by 50%. I never paid any attention to the nute-frequency recommendation on their soil feed chart when I used them for top watering...I'd just feed with every water.

 

[ViparSpectra]

They are getting on better footing, a promising start!

 

[AspenCultivator]

Hi everyone! Pretty large update incoming, and I'm happy to say I believe my updates should be more frequent moving forward. We have a lot more action now that they've gotten over any transplant shock (and boy, *shudders*, it shocked me doing it) but they've also, FINALLY, drained their reservoirs.

This is further confirmation to me that something has to be changed for the next cycle to clean up the transplant phase and become more efficient. I mentioned in my last post they were lightening in the middle/top in color which made me think underfed. The last grow looked exactly the same, so why be different? The difference here is I noticed a dark wax forming on the leaves of the Amnesia Lemon. The Bubba Kush is ballooning in size and hasn't gotten lighter in color so she didn't need fed. The MEVOOP was in between. I decided to just wait...give it a few days, then a few more, and monitor the res levels.

Over the last week they've steadily grown and drank from the res, and they did not receive a feed from the top. I still provided too much water to the SIP system before transplant. No matter, as we're now draining the res properly and seemingly on our way.

Amnesia Lemon Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

MEVOOP Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

It's difficult to tell in the above pics, but the Amnesia Lemon has dark, waxy leaves which indicate over-watering to me. Because the new growth wasn't incredibly light in color I waited to top water, just in case it was an over-watering problem. I believe waiting paid off, as top feeding would have exacerbated the problem.

They're bushy as can be and, unfortunately, I was a bit late in dealing with them. All 3 should have had the below procedure done to them probably 3-4 days ago. Because of this, when bending down the Amnesia Lemon's top two growth tips, one of them split almost half-way through the stem. Dammit!

This has happened to me before, but on a much bigger stem and everything was fine. I propped up the stem so the two parts are 'connected', or 'sealed' if you will, and hopefully she'll be able to repair herself. I'm expecting stunted growth now from that tip, but it's my fault, and she's a photo, so even if it dies I'll still have other tops to train with. Lesson learned, to be sure.

I also want to give credit to @Carcass and his carhooks. Trying to tie tiny growth tips to the side of the buckets is a nightmare, which is why I took so long in training the 4 mains down. I came across mention of these wonderful devices and decided to give them a try this time. Definitely a marked improvement over my previous training method, so thank you Carcass for sharing this tip!

Amnesia Lemon Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

Take a note in the image above how the top-most, right-side growth tip is being propped up as opposed to being held down. Opps. Let's see how she heals. I can't (and probably shouldn't) try to tape anything to it as is customary with these types of splits, so hopefully the prop gets her healed up.

MEVOOP Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

Bubba Kush Day 39

• AspenCultivator
• Jun 10, 2023

Finally, they were all fed week 3, 1/3rd of a gallon in each res. If you've made it this far...would you have given them week 3? Or, since they're on day 39 (with 1 week in seedling) would you have gone with week 4? They were last fed May 25th week 2. I didn't provide any more water or feed since then. Based on their sizes I went with week 3 as I fear jumping to week 4 could over feed them? I'm not sure.

Looking nice Aspen, and I appreciate the answer on the upcan. Just did the same myself this weekend going from top-watered plastic pot to a 5gal SIP (at Azi's suggestion) for the same reason: get it through that transition sooner.

And if I were using FF nutes I'd feed every time. Otherwise it's like you're diluting them by 50%. I never paid any attention to the nute-frequency recommendation on their soil feed chart when I used them for top watering...I'd just feed with every water.

Thanks Shed! Your comment about FF is very interesting to me. I was worrying if the roots are sitting in nutes 24/7 I'd run into a toxicity or lock out at some point. I actually did experience a lockout on the previous cycle because I wasn't flushing when the FF schedule said I should. I had to flush mid-flower (by moving the buckets into the tub and running 10 gallons through the top, while waiting for the water to drain from the overflow hole...it took 5 hours I think?) so I'm a bit weary on having them sit in synthetic nutes.

I posed that exact issue in the SIP thread and found the general consensus at the time was to feed synthetic nutes from the top, only enough to have it barely drain into the res (if at all). Then only water from the bottom. If they could take more nutes by me feeding every time (even directly to the res) I'd definitely do it.

They are getting on better footing, a promising start!

Thanks for coming in Vipar! I absolutely love the KS2500, and am currently saving for the KS5000 for a planned expansion. Can't wait!

 

[InTheShed]

Plants look good and support from the bottom on that break is as good as tape I figure! Excellent use of a CarHook™.

Thanks Shed! Your comment about FF is very interesting to me. I was worrying if the roots are sitting in nutes 24/7 I'd run into a toxicity or lock out at some point. I actually did experience a lockout on the previous cycle because I wasn't flushing when the FF schedule said I should. I had to flush mid-flower (by moving the buckets into the tub and running 10 gallons through the top, while waiting for the water to drain from the overflow hole...it took 5 hours I think?) so I'm a bit weary on having them sit in synthetic nutes.

Yeah I can see how flushing a SIP would be a pain the butt!

I posed that exact issue in the SIP thread and found the general consensus at the time was to feed synthetic nutes from the top, only enough to have it barely drain into the res (if at all). Then only water from the bottom. If they could take more nutes by me feeding every time (even directly to the res) I'd definitely do it.

I'm surprised that was what you found there. I don't recall that at all, and I know that farside bottom feeds only with synthetic nutes and his SIPs are going gangbusters! That's how I'm running mine after seeing his success.

 

[AspenCultivator]

Plants look good and support from the bottom on that break is as good as tape I figure! Excellent use of a CarHook™.

Yeah I can see how flushing a SIP would be a pain the butt!

I'm surprised that was what you found there. I don't recall that at all, and I know that farside bottom feeds only with synthetic nutes and his SIPs are going gangbusters! That's how I'm running mine after seeing his success.

I didn't remember that correctly. I asked in the SIP club thread and you actually linked me to FarSide's journal where I talked to him about it a bit there. I'm thinking of my own journal, this post here. Thanks for keeping me honest!

The pics are hard to tell, but those fans I took were pretty dark in color which made me think they didn't need any more nutes at all. Especially with being glossy, or waxy, I didn't want to push them. But maybe I should and see what happens?

 

[Carcass]

That's a sweet looking crop you've got going!

I also want to give credit to @Carcass and his carhooks.

Thanks so much for the mention, AC! I needed 4 skewers a few years ago, but I had to buy a pack of 100..
I hate to waste stuff, so I figured I should find something to do with all those skewers..

and hopefully she'll be able to repair herself.

Once you get the branch back where it belongs, you can put some Elmers glue over the break to seal the air out.
tbh, I don't know if it helps anything or not, but that's what I do...
Fortunately, I don't break as many off as I used to...

 

[InTheShed]

I figured I should find something to do with all those skewers

It's that old saying: "Excess is the mother of invention"!

 

[Danishoes21]

Training looks great. Kudos

 

[Azimuth]

I had to flush mid-flower (by moving the buckets into the tub and running 10 gallons through the top, while waiting for the water to drain from the overflow hole...it took 5 hours I think?) so I'm a bit weary on having them sit in synthetic nutes.

That's where the "bucket in a bucket" SIP design would shine.

I posed that exact issue in the SIP thread and found the general consensus at the time was to feed synthetic nutes from the top, only enough to have it barely drain into the res (if at all). Then only water from the bottom.

It was organics that were suggested to be fed from the top. Bottled nutes go right down the fill tube.

Once you get the branch back where it belongs, you can put some Elmers glue over the break to seal the air out.

I use a glop of aloe to seal the cut. The gel seals the air out and It has some other good properties as well.

 

[AspenCultivator]

That's a sweet looking crop you've got going!

Thanks Carcass! Nice tip about the elmer's glue, I have some of that laying around somewhere.

Training looks great. Kudos

Thanks Dani!

That's where the "bucket in a bucket" SIP design would shine.

Yeah we discussed that at the end of my Blueberries/AP journal, I just didn't wait to start this one before jumping over to the 2 bucket design. The mid-flower flush was the only thing needed to get the grow to the finish line, and I can do that again this time as I've increased the size of the overflow hole.

It was organics that were suggested to be fed from the top. Bottled nutes go right down the fill tube.

I need to go back in there and do some reading then it seems. Thank you for the correction!

I use a glop of aloe to seal the cut. The gel seals the air out and It has some other good properties as well.

I never thought about aloe, that's a neat application of it. That gives me an excuse to finally pick up another plant and give it a shot again...I killed one a few years ago and never replaced it

 

[Azimuth]

I never thought about aloe, that's a neat application of it. That gives me an excuse to finally pick up another plant and give it a shot again...I killed one a few years ago and never replaced it

As fate would have it, aloe grows  great in a SIP. So head on over to Page Two of the SIP thread and build yourself one of the smaller pot designs to house your new aloe plant. You can usually get them pretty cheap at any of the big box stores.

I have mine in a 1L SIP next to another aloe in a 1L non-SIP. Guess which one is doing better?