Trying to get hydro/coco results in a SIP

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AnimalHouse

AnimalHouse

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That's awesome, yea at the moment testing a couple of tomato plants out doors in sip buckets.

A good option to go hydro and use coco would be the Hempy.
Hempy is just a common 5 gallon bucket with a hole drilled 2 inches up from the bottom. You want the hole about the same diameter as a nickel or quarter.
For the coco the good choice is the chunky or chips. Not the fine coir bricks because that will just wash out thru the hole.
When I did this I used the Lucas Formula for nutes and the later got a free sample of H&G Cocos which really performed well in the coco hempy. I've also seen it done well using Veg+Bloom and other similar all in one nute lines.

And that's real simple to use like SIP. Just water thru the top until it comes out the hole. After a day or two when the plant sucks most of the water in the bottom add more just like a SIP.

I don't see many doing Hempy anymore but around 10 years ago lots of growers were doing it so if you do a deep dig on forum diaries that go back that far you'll see lots of grows having success with it
 
ReservoirDog

ReservoirDog

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If someone wants to do slow-release nutes I recommend Real Growers Grow Dots. They leave Osmacote in the dust. They are designed for Canna and come from the company with the excellent microbe product Recharge (get some). They recently also launched a SIP system that is excellent.

Of course, SIP works very well if doing coco/peat/perlite as you can fertigate with a reservoir. Organic fert can also be used, like the all-in-one organic tomato food pellets, and lastly probiotic/LOS/TLO works very well in SIP however you need to make sure you are using largest possible container/volume of your supersoil. SIPs are excellent at keeping your microbes happy, I see them as the ultimate grow tek.

I have grown in all of these in SIP types, probably finished 100 indiv. containers by now however some have been veggies outdoors - where I always triple the output from raised beds, minimum. No joke these SIPs mate.
 
Timbo0716

Timbo0716

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If someone wants to do slow-release nutes I recommend Real Growers Grow Dots. They leave Osmacote in the dust. They are designed for Canna and come from the company with the excellent microbe product Recharge (get some). They recently also launched a SIP system that is excellent.

Of course, SIP works very well if doing coco/peat/perlite as you can fertigate with a reservoir. Organic fert can also be used, like the all-in-one organic tomato food pellets, and lastly probiotic/LOS/TLO works very well in SIP however you need to make sure you are using largest possible container/volume of your supersoil. SIPs are excellent at keeping your microbes happy, I see them as the ultimate grow tek.

I have grown in all of these in SIP types, probably finished 100 indiv. containers by now however some have been veggies outdoors - where I always triple the output from raised beds, minimum. No joke these SIPs mate.
Sound great @ReservoirDog , I will give the Dots a try.
 
ReservoirDog

ReservoirDog

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Sound great @ReservoirDog , I will give the Dots a try.
Transplanting a seedling into SIP, or transplanting anything into SIP from NON-SIP setup will, 95% of the time, experience a two-week growth stall-out that can sometimes freak people out the first time. The work-around I use is a mini-SIP seedling/clone system so they are acclimatized to the constant moisture gradient, high oxygenation. This is very effective if you choose to keep using SIP I would be happy to discuss and illustrate. Others simply plant in full SIP.

The air gap below is the key and SIPs grow massive biomass as result of not wasting their energy constantly adapting to the deluge and dry-out that the traditional container growing system puts them through. Slow motion footage of SIP Cannabis show a plant constantly growing at a steady rate... and the same footage of trad container grows always shows a growth burst for 1-2 days after watering, then nothing for days and days until the next watering.

Be careful when you start getting ideas of putting air injection via pumps into reservoirs, pH can be issue - depending your h2o source of course - but in addition, unless you place on a timer and run only 30 sec. bursts every 10 minutes, you will start growing massive DWT-style roots in your reservoir as I have done with many an experiment. Now I have to care for the rez as though its a DWT, which wasn't the plan. When on burst pumps make can make a great addition. However, leave on 100% and you get more roots than you might have bargained for.... as I have on a current plant, only because I forgot to set the pump! Doh! I have a large rez (9+gal) under a 7 gallon nursery pot in this case so there is lots of room - but now I'm scared they will dry-out if I let level drop as air gap can expand to 10 inches as level drops. Root mass doesn't explode like this when in identical conditions with pumps only on short burst timers (they can help prevent any sediment that comes through from becoming anaerobic, but not necc for careful gardeners).

Typically I run 2x 10gal soft pots inside 27gal tote SIPs that have only 5-6 gal. rez between the two plants. Or outdoors I do without the soft pots and fill the tote. False floors are created either with a second tote (find a brand that has 27 gal and 17 gal in same footprint, then stack) or by cutting the lid down and propping up with vertically placed PVC pipe or something strong that takes least amount of space so rez is decent size.

Drilling out as many holes as you can in the floor is very beneficial, and you must line with a synthetic fabric, as cotton t-shirt or the like will not even last 2 months, guaranteed. Also, aerate that soil. Sorry if you hate perlite but love SIPs because there's nothing like it, although I constantly try to find a replacement, SIPs and perlite are like peanut butter and jelly, once they find each other they seem as though made for each other. It sucks to lose a beautiful 13-week flowering Sativa to root rot suddenly in week 11, but is exactly what will happen if not enough aeration. It's a "f^$&-around and find-out" scenario and painful in the extreme. With 30%, by volume, perlite, it's guaranteed you'll have no problems.

I recommend to make plastic covers as mulch, especially if topdressing, especially outdoors (to keep heavy rain from leaching bio-material into the reservoir which may putrify), and especially if doing TLO/LOS to maximize soil-use. It just work's the best, and is very simple. If doing soilless indoors you can go without and have a completely dry top 2 centimetres so as to manage fungus gnats if that's an issue.

Fertigating with GH Maxi, GH Flora 3pt. or GH Lucas works well, also I use MegaCrop 2 part as fertigation in soilless SIPs (I don't like the synthetic chelates so much and MC uses Amino chelates), and I mix to 75% of maximum recommended strength, max. Grow Dots from Real Growers are the go-to time-release ferts, use as instructed, and their microbe package is excellent, though I also recommend NPK's microbes also as they split into grow and flower, giving you something like 5 phosphate solubilizing species in the Flower package, and 4-5 endo-mycorrhizal species in the Grow package accompanied by, I believe, Trichoderma and other common beneficial bacteria. Both really work well and give you awesome control when growing God-style, or any style.

If going fertigated soilless, do make sure you are using well-buffered peat, store-bought SS#4, ProMix, or buffered coco. This passive method can hit you with a toxicity or even develop actual salt lines if you allow multiple dry backs early-on or over feed (so don't, until the end, then you may drought to your heart's content to make stronger weed, just realize it takes an extra week, compared to traditional container growing, just to dry out the SIP.)

These are most of the SIP questions I'm usually asked on the other forums, neighbours, etc. I hope its ok I dumped them all upon you!

Best regards.

Slava Ukraini!
 
Timbo0716

Timbo0716

538
143
Transplanting a seedling into SIP, or transplanting anything into SIP from NON-SIP setup will, 95% of the time, experience a two-week growth stall-out that can sometimes freak people out the first time. The work-around I use is a mini-SIP seedling/clone system so they are acclimatized to the constant moisture gradient, high oxygenation. This is very effective if you choose to keep using SIP I would be happy to discuss and illustrate. Others simply plant in full SIP.

The air gap below is the key and SIPs grow massive biomass as result of not wasting their energy constantly adapting to the deluge and dry-out that the traditional container growing system puts them through. Slow motion footage of SIP Cannabis show a plant constantly growing at a steady rate... and the same footage of trad container grows always shows a growth burst for 1-2 days after watering, then nothing for days and days until the next watering.

Be careful when you start getting ideas of putting air injection via pumps into reservoirs, pH can be issue - depending your h2o source of course - but in addition, unless you place on a timer and run only 30 sec. bursts every 10 minutes, you will start growing massive DWT-style roots in your reservoir as I have done with many an experiment. Now I have to care for the rez as though its a DWT, which wasn't the plan. When on burst pumps make can make a great addition. However, leave on 100% and you get more roots than you might have bargained for.... as I have on a current plant, only because I forgot to set the pump! Doh! I have a large rez (9+gal) under a 7 gallon nursery pot in this case so there is lots of room - but now I'm scared they will dry-out if I let level drop as air gap can expand to 10 inches as level drops. Root mass doesn't explode like this when in identical conditions with pumps only on short burst timers (they can help prevent any sediment that comes through from becoming anaerobic, but not necc for careful gardeners).

Typically I run 2x 10gal soft pots inside 27gal tote SIPs that have only 5-6 gal. rez between the two plants. Or outdoors I do without the soft pots and fill the tote. False floors are created either with a second tote (find a brand that has 27 gal and 17 gal in same footprint, then stack) or by cutting the lid down and propping up with vertically placed PVC pipe or something strong that takes least amount of space so rez is decent size.

Drilling out as many holes as you can in the floor is very beneficial, and you must line with a synthetic fabric, as cotton t-shirt or the like will not even last 2 months, guaranteed. Also, aerate that soil. Sorry if you hate perlite but love SIPs because there's nothing like it, although I constantly try to find a replacement, SIPs and perlite are like peanut butter and jelly, once they find each other they seem as though made for each other. It sucks to lose a beautiful 13-week flowering Sativa to root rot suddenly in week 11, but is exactly what will happen if not enough aeration. It's a "f^$&-around and find-out" scenario and painful in the extreme. With 30%, by volume, perlite, it's guaranteed you'll have no problems.

I recommend to make plastic covers as mulch, especially if topdressing, especially outdoors (to keep heavy rain from leaching bio-material into the reservoir which may putrify), and especially if doing TLO/LOS to maximize soil-use. It just work's the best, and is very simple. If doing soilless indoors you can go without and have a completely dry top 2 centimetres so as to manage fungus gnats if that's an issue.

Fertigating with GH Maxi, GH Flora 3pt. or GH Lucas works well, also I use MegaCrop 2 part as fertigation in soilless SIPs (I don't like the synthetic chelates so much and MC uses Amino chelates), and I mix to 75% of maximum recommended strength, max. Grow Dots from Real Growers are the go-to time-release ferts, use as instructed, and their microbe package is excellent, though I also recommend NPK's microbes also as they split into grow and flower, giving you something like 5 phosphate solubilizing species in the Flower package, and 4-5 endo-mycorrhizal species in the Grow package accompanied by, I believe, Trichoderma and other common beneficial bacteria. Both really work well and give you awesome control when growing God-style, or any style.

If going fertigated soilless, do make sure you are using well-buffered peat, store-bought SS#4, ProMix, or buffered coco. This passive method can hit you with a toxicity or even develop actual salt lines if you allow multiple dry backs early-on or over feed (so don't, until the end, then you may drought to your heart's content to make stronger weed, just realize it takes an extra week, compared to traditional container growing, just to dry out the SIP.)

These are most of the SIP questions I'm usually asked on the other forums, neighbours, etc. I hope its ok I dumped them all upon you!

Best regards.

Slava Ukraini!
Dump as much in this thread as you wish. The information is going to be shared and should assist others that want to give it a try also.
 
Ashleigh79

Ashleigh79

1
3
Hi,

I've included some pics. I'm running three Barney's Farm LSD in SIP buckets. The medium is a 1:1 coco perlite blend. I water on the top of the buckets once or twice per week just to keep all of the medium moist. I noticed that about a week before flipping to flower that they really started to take off, with exception to the one on the far left which I gave a couple weeks more veg time before moving her to flower after topping her once more. The other two I topped only once. I had been running these even as seedlings in mini-hempies made from solo cups in the same 1:1 coco perlite blend.

This being my first coco grow, I cannot say enough how incredibly rapid the growth has been. I had been warned that, "you're going to be tempted to grow a tree and put it into flower." Growing in amended soil with nutrient supplementation never gave me as rapid growth as I'm seeing now. I included another pic that is time stamped from 04/02/23 to show you how quickly they grow. With the warning, I am glad I didn't wait any longer to flip them to flower because the stretch was pretty dramatic, the stunted one is starting to really take off now too.

I watch for experts to answer here, so I don't know if it's appropriate to share a link, but the growbucket™️ insert is designed so that you don't have to have a second bucket. In veg, I was filling these once a week and now that they're in flower, they're needing to be refilled at least twice per week.

As far as the nutes I'm using, it's just Jacks 3-2-1, pH'd to 5.4. I poured out some of the nute water, daily after starting so low and noticed that it came up to 5.5 rather quickly and stayed below 6.0 while in veg. Since they've been in flower, I don't even check the res pH since they're drinking/eating so quickly.

I can't think of anything else to say, so let me know if I can answer questions about my simple grow.

BTW - The short autoflowers in front are Atlas Grease Gun freebies from Multiverse Beans.
 
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PK1

PK1

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Hi,

I've included some pics. I'm running three Barney's Farm LSD in SIP buckets. The medium is a 1:1 coco perlite blend. I water on the top of the buckets once or twice per week just to keep all of the medium moist. I noticed that about a week before flipping to flower that they really started to take off, with exception to the one on the far left which I gave a couple weeks more veg time before moving her to flower after topping her once more. The other two I topped only once. I had been running these even as seedlings in mini-hempies made from solo cups in the same 1:1 coco perlite blend.

This being my first coco grow, I cannot say enough how incredibly rapid the growth has been. I had been warned that, "you're going to be tempted to grow a tree and put it into flower." Growing in amended soil with nutrient supplementation never gave me as rapid growth as I'm seeing now. I included another pic that is time stamped from 04/02/23 to show you how quickly they grow. With the warning, I am glad I didn't wait any longer to flip them to flower because the stretch was pretty dramatic, the stunted one is starting to really take off now too.

I watch for experts to answer here, so I don't know if it's appropriate to share a link, but the growbucket™️ insert is designed so that you don't have to have a second bucket. In veg, I was filling these once a week and now that they're in flower, they're needing to be refilled at least twice per week.

As far as the nutes I'm using, it's just Jacks 3-2-1, pH'd to 5.4. I poured out some of the nute water, daily after starting so low and noticed that it came up to 5.5 rather quickly and stayed below 6.0 while in veg. Since they've been in flower, I don't even check the res pH since they're drinking/eating so quickly.

I can't think of anything else to say, so let me know if I can answer questions about my simple grow.

BTW - The short autoflowers in front are Atlas Grease Gun freebies from Multiverse Beans.
Welcome to the THC @Ashleigh79
it would be best to start your own journal by creating a new thread in grow Diaries. You may copy the content here and past it in your own journal so that members can follow along and help you.
Go through this post and copy the questions from it and answer them in your own journal. I'll look out for it and try to help you with your grow.

 
PK1

PK1

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forgot to mention the link. copy these questions and answer it to your best knowledge
 
Tejashidrow

Tejashidrow

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A good option to go hydro and use coco would be the Hempy.
Hempy is just a common 5 gallon bucket with a hole drilled 2 inches up from the bottom. You want the hole about the same diameter as a nickel or quarter.
For the coco the good choice is the chunky or chips. Not the fine coir bricks because that will just wash out thru the hole.
When I did this I used the Lucas Formula for nutes and the later got a free sample of H&G Cocos which really performed well in the coco hempy. I've also seen it done well using Veg+Bloom and other similar all in one nute lines.

And that's real simple to use like SIP. Just water thru the top until it comes out the hole. After a day or two when the plant sucks most of the water in the bottom add more just like a SIP.

I don't see many doing Hempy anymore but around 10 years ago lots of growers were doing it so if you do a deep dig on forum diaries that go back that far you'll see lots of grows having success with it
I grew hempy for years.
1/4 inch hole. Covered hole with window screen.
Used miracle grow peralite as the medium.
Filled Rezi every 3 days.
Some of the best grows I’ve ever done
 
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