Testing 1-2-3-4, Testing

[CBDMed]

I did 1 in a Fabric Pot & 1 in a Bucket with SoHum Super Soil in the bottom 3rd of them as I was instructed by someone.

Ahh, ok!

Those 2 plants became a nightmare even feeding Re-Charge at 5 gr. per gal. every feeding. They were the reason the comparisons failed pretty much. Had to go back to using nutes to save them. Later found out it should have been 2/3rds of Super Soil or even all Super Soil. Expensive lesson at $52 a bag of soil.... lol.

Ahhh!!
Ok, I don't mind loading all supersoil.
I make it. It takes time. It makes me think seriously about buying a small cement mixer...
If it is all Supersoil except maybe for a small pocket's worth of regular soil to get started with, I think I will get the cement mixer, hahaha!

But the plants in FFOF with Mega Crop did much better.

Oh!! Better than Supersoil?? Wow!!
This is a concern to me, as I have only found one quality source for potting soil here in Colombia. (There might be another, but I don't know it.)

On 1 plant I used Nutrient Equivalent Calculations using Nitrogen, Cal-Mag, Silica & Mega Crop. The other just Mega Crop. Surprisingly the just Mega Crop did the best. That's also what was used on the big SIP girl. I've had to go up to 6.5 grams per gal. with her as she kept yellowing. I'm also adding Cal-Mag now as LED's in Flower seem to make it necessary.

So the poor little green giantess is crying for nutrition? That makes me sad!! I hope you can get her properly fed!!
So leave room for about a Solo-cup's worth of regular soil, and then supersoil with all the rest??

And what about the toxicity? Where did the concerns of toxicity come from?
And if I am missing something, please feel free to point it out to me again, because I am newish to growing, and brand new to SIPs. Thanks!

And if this is your SIP in the center of the room, and the rest are normal soil grows, I am definitely interested in this!!

 

[Buds Buddy]

Ahh, ok!

Ahhh!!
Ok, I don't mind loading all supersoil.
I make it. It takes time. It makes me think seriously about buying a small cement mixer...
If it is all Supersoil except maybe for a small pocket's worth of regular soil to get started with, I think I will get the cement mixer, hahaha!

Oh!! Better than Supersoil?? Wow!!
This is a concern to me, as I have only found one quality source for potting soil here in Colombia. (There might be another, but I don't know it.)

So the poor little green giantess is crying for nutrition? That makes me sad!! I hope you can get her properly fed!!
So leave room for about a Solo-cup's worth of regular soil, and then supersoil with all the rest??

And what about the toxicity? Where did the concerns of toxicity come from?
And if I am missing something, please feel free to point it out to me again, because I am newish to growing, and brand new to SIPs. Thanks!

And if this is your SIP in the center of the room, and the rest are normal soil grows, I am definitely interested in this!!

Yes, that's the SIP in the center compared to Fabric Pots. Huge difference.
If you are going to use these buckets I would suggest Solo Cup to 1 gal. & then 1 gal. into the buckets. I did 2 gal. pots & they were hard to get in the buckets. From now on I'm using 1 gal.
The concern of Toxicity is because I'm using synthetic nutes & not Super Soil. I plan to stay with FFOF soil & Mega Crop. I'll use Silica, Nitrogen & Cal-Mag in Veg. Then Silica, Cal-Mag during the 3 week stretch, After that just Cal-Mag & Mega Crop. Sometimes during the last 2-3 weeks I add a bloom booster if I'm seeing yellowing on the upper leaves.
I'm not really into the Super Soil too much. I would like to learn how to reamend my FFOF though. I'll have to look up a How to do it on the net. I have about 30 gal. of FFOF in my compost bin I need to do.
I can't really say that FFOF & MC is better than Super Soil because I used the Super Soil incorrectly. I still have enough S.S. left to do one plant in a bucket so I'll probably do that next grow in one of the buckets to see how it goes. I'm just using FFOF in the Solo Cup & 1 gal. Pot though. Then S.S. & Re-Charge after that in the Bucket.

 

[Azimuth]

So far I'm sold on these buckets. The thing I'm questioning is.... If you get a Toxicity how do you flush it out ? I see no way to do it.

Only difference from a normal pot is you'd have to pour the water through more slowly because of the small size of the overflow hole. If this becomes something you do each grow you could always make that hole larger.

Some of the commercial systems, like Octopot, recommend never watering through the top but if you are using a supersoil of some sort you'll want to keep the upper soil moist enough to keep working so you'll be watering through the top at least some of the time anyway. So, for a flush, you'd just use at least 3x the pot size of clean water all in one go.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Only difference from a normal pot is you'd have to pour the water through more slowly because of the small size of the overflow hole. If this becomes something you do each grow you could always make that hole larger.

Some of the commercial systems, like Octopot, recommend never watering through the top but if you are using a supersoil of some sort you'll want to keep the upper soil moist enough to keep working so you'll be watering through the top at least some of the time anyway. So, for a flush, you'd just use at least 3x the pot size of clean water all in one go.

Yeah, I didn't put the overflow hole in my buckets. Just going by the float stick.

 

[Buds Buddy]

So this is the SIP Bucket that was the SoHum Soil that I used incorrectly. She's still giving me some problems with yellowing. But she's close to finishing so not going to worry too much about it. She's been through a lot so I'm still impressed she's done this well.

 

[Buds Buddy]

And here is the Big Girl. Her hairs are getting curly & turning red. Not too much longer & I'll have to start checking the Trichs. I think the 2 SIP plants & one of my others will all finish within days of each other. All 3 look about the same.

I did get my 4th Mars Hydro TSL2000. Going to put it up for my next grow. 1200 watts in a 4x8 should really rock it.
I'll probably put the portable AC back in the tent next grow to use during flower. They seem to veg bigger & better with higher temps (low to mid 80's). But this strain purples up in flower in colder temps. I like 75F for flower until the last couple of weeks. Then down to 68F to get the most color out of it & increase terpenes & trichomes.
Never the less, I've harvested 5 of this strain in the past few weeks & they are all very good.

 

[Azimuth]

Yeah, I didn't put the overflow hole in my buckets. Just going by the float stick.

Ahhh, that makes sense. The float stick is a good idea, but adding a hole as well would probably make it that much more useful.

 

[Northward]

And here is the Big Girl. Her hairs are getting curly & turning red. Not too much longer & I'll have to start checking the Trichs. I think the 2 SIP plants & one of my others will all finish within days of each other. All 3 look about the same.

I did get my 4th Mars Hydro TSL2000. Going to put it up for my next grow. 1200 watts in a 4x8 should really rock it.
I'll probably put the portable AC back in the tent next grow to use during flower. They seem to veg bigger & better with higher temps (low to mid 80's). But this strain purples up in flower in colder temps. I like 75F for flower until the last couple of weeks. Then down to 68F to get the most color out of it & increase terpenes & trichomes.
Never the less, I've harvested 5 of this strain in the past few weeks & they are all very good.

Nice work Buds!

 

[InTheShed]

That Big Girl is really a beauty..well done Buds! And not too shabby on the Sohum harvest.

Surprisingly the just Mega Crop did the best. That's also what was used on the big SIP girl. I've had to go up to 6.5 grams per gal. with her as she kept yellowing. I'm also adding Cal-Mag now as LED's in Flower seem to make it necessary.

It's hard to stay ahead of the yellowing in flower with MC because of the nitrogen to potassium ratio. If you want to simplify things you can add magnesium nitrate to the MC. That will boost the N as well as correcting the Ca/Mg ratio in MC, which is a little weak on the mag side.

That way you won't have to get to 6.5 and won't be boosting the calcium that you probably don't need, even under the LEDs.

I think 5.5g MC and 1g magnesium nitrate/gallon would be a good balance. I just recommended that mix to GrandDaddyBlack for the problems he's seeing in his later flower.

 

[Buds Buddy]

That Big Girl is really a beauty..well done Buds! And not too shabby on the Sohum harvest.

It's hard to stay ahead of the yellowing in flower with MC because of the nitrogen to potassium ratio. If you want to simplify things you can add magnesium nitrate to the MC. That will boost the N as well as correcting the Ca/Mg ratio in MC, which is a little weak on the mag side.

That way you won't have to get to 6.5 and won't be boosting the calcium that you probably don't need, even under the LEDs.

I think 5.5g MC and 1g magnesium nitrate/gallon would be a good balance. I just recommended that mix to GrandDaddyBlack for the problems he's seeing in his later flower.

Would Epsom Salt work ? I have a bag of it here somewhere.... lol.

 

[InTheShed]

Would Epsom Salt work ? I have a bag of it here somewhere.... lol.

There's no nitrogen in epsom salt, which is magnesium sulfate. It will boost your Mg and sulfur levels but won't help any yellowing of the lowers that you're trying to deal with.

 

[Bill284]

Hey all, I got some new pics to post. Working on resizing them at the moment so that will be later today. But I forgot to post the Harvest from the Ex - SoHum Plant. Just a little over 4.5 oz. from her. Haven't tried this one yet but it's pretty dense & sticky. See you guys later with more of an update.

First pic looks like a frying pan full of bud.
I was going to say your really cooking now.
Looks good Amigo, congrats.




Stay safe
Bill284

 

[StoneOtter]

Looking fab Buds!

 

[bluter]

decent man. good job @Buds Buddy.

is that sips bucket a pre bought ? you can diy them with 2 stacked five gallon buckets, one inside the other. simply drill a hole in the outer one at the top of the res. the inner gets a wicking basket with holes drill through the bottom and around the sides to access the bottom res. a cloth barrier is usually used on the bottom.

it's essentially a huge hempy system. i built a similar set up for my mom's outdoor hydro garden.

So far I'm sold on these buckets. The thing I'm questioning is.... If you get a Toxicity how do you flush it out ? I see no way to do it.

you do an h202 flush the same as in a regular hempy. it helps if you can crash the res, but if you can't it won't matter.

block up the drain hole, or otherwise stopper the res.
do a flood with water/h202.
let sit - anywhere from 20 min to an hour or so. don't have a nap and forget though ...
let drain.
feed either immediately after or within 24 - 48 hours. in that media longer may be better.

 

[Buds Buddy]

decent man. good job @Buds Buddy.

is that sips bucket a pre bought ? you can diy them with 2 stacked five gallon buckets, one inside the other. simply drill a hole in the outer one at the top of the res. the inner gets a wicking basket with holes drill through the bottom and around the sides to access the bottom res. a cloth barrier is usually used on the bottom.

it's essentially a huge hempy system. i built a similar set up for my mom's outdoor hydro garden.





you do an h202 flush the same as in a regular hempy. it helps if you can crash the res, but if you can't it won't matter.

block up the drain hole, or otherwise stopper the res.
do a flood with water/h202.
let sit - anywhere from 20 min to an hour or so. don't have a nap and forget though ...
let drain.
feed either immediately after or within 24 - 48 hours. in that media longer may be better.

I've done that with cloth pots, but to kill gnat larvae. Didn't know it would clear up a Toxicity though.

 

[Azimuth]

I've done that with cloth pots, but to kill gnat larvae. Didn't

The flush helps get all nutes out of the soil mix, both good and bad/excess.

But like you said, with no drainage hole you can't really do it properly. I suppose you could saturate the entire root ball to overflow, dump it out and do it again a few times, but that will just convince you to add a drainage hole for the next round, even if you still use the floats.

 

[ReservoirDog]

If there's a reason not to drill the drain hole, Buds, I'd really like to hear about it, otherwise, from my admittedly short grow experience (besides current indoor just a single outdoor tomato season), I can't think of why. Perhaps your precision level gauge gives you the confidence to maintain the air gap, and your apparent extraordinary cleanliness cannot abide the thought of some water escaping the system onto the floor. No shame in perfectionism, that's for sure. I think some photo awards are in order here, in fact.

If it's because you'd like to maintain adjustability, that is the capability to temp. remove the air gap for pest control or something, there are ways of accomplishing this and still having a drain hole. I favour a proper spout with 3/4' id PVC guarded by a tight nylon window screen to keep perlite et al from plugging. No thru-hulls needed just a 5' square piece of pool liner (black rubber 2-3ml thick), some good silicon goop, duct tape (duh) and excellent surface preparation. Not that I'd say no to proper thru-hulls, I just like to use up what I have on hand and have made dozens of the things successfully this way now over the years in many applications and I'm pinching every penny to get clear of my mortgage. Every little bit helps.

In the case of an over-fertilization or toxicity, I think you'd be pretty much done for in your current config. I'm also of the impression that the drain's airflow is of great benefit, note, however, that it is also a pest vector - but again, this can be mitigated. A simple siphon is useful for emergency draining, the type they sell at the wine store is very useful, very inexpensive, and serves well in taking reservoir samples. I use a battery-operated jerry can pump from amazon (or the siphon if my batteries are flat).

We ought to confirm this with Shed but I believe that what's important as the final measurement, PPM and pH-wise, is the grow matrix (soil), not the reservoir fertigation. My MC 2-part res is running at 560ppm, 7.1pH, but my peat mix slurries at 6.2 pH and 660ppm. The slurry I believe is primary. My peat mix has some mild org ferts, dolomite, and was buffered with some blue clay to increase cation exchange capacity. I'm still fine-tuning but see no major reasons why I won't succeed beyond the usual pitfalls.

There is certainly no arguing with your results, once again, well done. And a great thread. Thanks for making the effort. Best regards to you and yours.

***Actually, I just finished building a couple of new SIPs, I'll post pics in a new comment here, since I'm not current with a personal journal.****

 

[ReservoirDog]

These hold 17-18 gallons soil and 6 full gallons water/fertigation. Pieces are 27 gal , 17 gal tuff totes, 4’ perforated drainpipe, 3/4 id’ pvc, and fill pipe pvc size of your choice. Hydrophilic fabric to cover bottom under soil should be synthetic. Do not layer perlite with soil types unless your mix type is really, really too wet. My 6040 mix soil/aeration gives 1 cm dry on top and increasing moisture downward. Most of the perf pipe sections are support for the inner totes floor since it is weakened by drilling. Two pieces are the “wicking feet” and extend up through drilled holes. Pack them tightly so they can’t lose contact via sagging. $30 Amazon hole saw set more than sufficient. Mulch with burlap, live plants or, because I have endless supply and they offer silica, dry bamboo leaves.

 

[Azimuth]

We ought to confirm this with Shed but I believe that what's important as the final measurement, PPM and pH-wise, is the grow matrix (soil), not the reservoir fertigation.

I suppose that would depend on whether you are fertigating through the soil or directly into the reservoir. Which is probably to say starting levels of what you're adding rather than what's leftover after the soil filters part of it out.

 

[Azimuth]

Nice. Looks like you're connecting them together?