You Gotta SIP, Not Slurp

thailer · Feb 9, 2021

eyesdownchronic said:
Wondering what you guys think about using a standard mulch vs. living mulch. not sure which one i want to implement. leaning towards the living mulch but I' not sure...

TIA

i prefer using a dead mulch like straw myself but i have used living mulch in the system and it works better than when i had them in pots. the cover crop roots compete with the pot plant for water and it seems like i was watering more so all the plants were happy and also i was running out of fertilizer or it wasn't enough room to accomadate all the plants but plants seemed to yellow out more quickly than i wanted. i get straw from the livestock store that sells the fines that fall off the bales in garbage bags as bedding for bunnies. its like $3 a hefty sack.

flylowgethigh · Feb 15, 2021

I found another site that has a thread about putting fabric or hard pots on a wick of perlite. I suppose that is a SWICK. Yes, the roots will go through fabric into the perlite. A deeper wick will let the roots go further before they hit water, if you keep the water line well below the base of the pot. My system has a fabric bag sitting on a shallow wick (1 1/2"), then a layer of fabric, then the grate whose job is to spread the water over the bottom of the tote. The waterfall control box keeps the water level within a 1/8", which I have set at the top of the grate. It returns overflow back to the reservoir. The water is kept at the waterline as long as the supply pump is running, which is on a timer. The amount of water in the control box is pretty small, so dry-down can happen quicker. I may also use that water for a fogger, controlled by an ink bird, for humidity addition.

All good, except for the roots going out of the bag, and if they penetrate the layer of fabric below the perlite, they are into the water in the grate.

I need to re-think this. Here is the site. I am only a few pages in, and already see pitfalls... Maybe a tote in a tote, with the water in a shielded tube covered in wick, with pass-thru on the bottom of the upper tote (just like the SIPs here). That would increase the thickness of the wick, and maybe stop the roots from getting into water.

https://www.420magazine.com/communi...systems-letting-the-plant-water-itself.244149

eyesdownchronic · Feb 15, 2021

flylowgethigh said:
I found another site that has a thread about putting fabric or hard pots on a wick of perlite. I suppose that is a SWICK. Yes, the roots will go through fabric into the perlite. A deeper wick will let the roots go further before they hit water, if you keep the water line well below the base of the pot. My system has a fabric bag sitting on a shallow wick (1 1/2"), then a layer of fabric, then the grate whose job is to spread the water over the bottom of the tote. The waterfall control box keeps the water level within a 1/8", which I have set at the top of the grate. It returns overflow back to the reservoir. The water is kept at the waterline as long as the supply pump is running, which is on a timer. The amount of water in the control box is pretty small, so dry-down can happen quicker. I may also use that water for a fogger, controlled by an ink bird, for humidity addition.

All good, except for the roots going out of the bag, and if they penetrate the layer of fabric below the perlite, they are into the water in the grate.

View Image

I need to re-think this. Here is the site. I am only a few pages in, and already see pitfalls... Maybe a tote in a tote, with the water in a shielded tube covered in wick, with pass-thru on the bottom of the upper tote (just like the SIPs here). That would increase the thickness of the wick, and maybe stop the roots from getting into water.

https://www.420magazine.com/communi...systems-letting-the-plant-water-itself.244149

I still have trouble visualizing what you got going...

thailer · Feb 15, 2021

you should make my SIP design. it works and no pumps or timers to malfunction.

eyesdownchronic · Feb 15, 2021

welp, just set up my sips and plants are in their new home. Somewhat anxious as ive never used a sip before. but here we go! hoping for the best.

moses wellfleet · Feb 15, 2021

You gotta SIP not slurp, neither should you burp...

All these variations on the theme are complicating life.

eyesdownchronic · Feb 15, 2021

Do you guys reccomenend hand watering from the top for the first like week or so to let the roots build in , or start by filling the res?

moses wellfleet · Feb 15, 2021

Dont water through the top at all, assuming your soil is moist to begin with. I only water from the top once to settle the soil, you want the roots to gravitate towards the rez. Watering from the top only confuses the issue. At least that is my experience.

flylowgethigh · Feb 15, 2021

eyesdownchronic said:
I still have trouble visualizing what you got going...

My 7 gallon totes are too small. They would be OK if they were 15" square so the bag would fit right, but I kinda have to cram a round bag into the rectangular tote. I'm going to the big box store and finding bigger totes that I can still make 2 x 2 individual scrogs with.

I like my waterfall control box design. I am thinking about how to also make it humidify. Bigger totes will crowd out the space for that in a tent. The pumps are no problem.

eyesdownchronic · Feb 15, 2021

moses wellfleet said:
Dont water through the top at all, assuming your soil is moist to begin with. I only water from the top once to settle the soil, you want the roots to gravitate towards the rez. Watering from the top only confuses the issue. At least that is my experience.

Sounds good. I watered in to settle soil last night but wasnt sure how to proceed. Thank you.

Gonna buy a couple funnels to make pouring into my res easier. Get that "luxury" addition hahah

thailer · Feb 16, 2021

if i literally just transplanted a plant into the sip, then i may add some water when i am finished to settle soil around the rootball snugly but its not needed if soil is moist already. once the soil is moist, the wick below it is moist and there's water in the reservoir, the wick will work to water the new plant. it won't work if the root ball of the transplant is dried out or if the soil isn't moist. everything has to be moist for the wicking action to work.

it will not do a good job of making dry soil wet again.

thailer · Feb 16, 2021

eyesdownchronic said:
Sounds good. I watered in to settle soil last night but wasnt sure how to proceed. Thank you.

Gonna buy a couple funnels to make pouring into my res easier. Get that "luxury" addition hahah

i don't know if this is worth mentioning but the bigger the hole on your funnel, the less time it takes to fill up the SIP.
:dance:

moses wellfleet · Feb 16, 2021

thailer said:
i don't know if this is worth mentioning but the bigger the hole on your funnel, the less time it takes to fill up the SIP.

Go ghetto and cut the bases off some soda bottles as long as the neck is long and narrow enough to fit in your pipe :dancer:

flylowgethigh · Feb 16, 2021

With a pipe-fed sip, do you just fill the pipe until the water level is where you want it?

thailer · Feb 16, 2021

flylowgethigh said:
With a pipe-fed sip, do you just fill the pipe until the water level is where you want it?

you want the water level an inch or two below the soil when it is full. you can use a bulkhead to attach DTW pipe or i just balance a milk jug on the bulk head to catch run off. then the water level is the same every time and if outdoors or heavy handed with the watering, you don't oversaturate the media.

eyesdownchronic · Feb 16, 2021

moses wellfleet said:
Go ghetto and cut the bases off some soda bottles as long as the neck is long and narrow enough to fit in your pipe

oh yeah, thats true luxury :good:

Bmac1 · Feb 20, 2021

Here is yesterday which was 2 days after a good plucking and cleaning out everything below the screen.

Then I did another serious plucking and some tucking yesterday.

Here they are this morning. Just can't be held back, lol. Today is day 1 of flower. These are 4 wedding cake.

flylowgethigh · Feb 20, 2021

As Cletus McFarland would say... Hell ya Brother! I would sure like my flower tent to look like that someday.

I am giving up on trying to do anything with those 7 gallon totes. I will give them to a buddy with a 2x4 tent. I have 32 gallon trash cans and will do the 4" pipe in a loop, then cover in perlite. Cut the can down to a good height for a bag, and make a 2x2 scrog frame for each tub. If the water line is at the top of the 4" pipe, and there is 2" of perlite over the pipe, is that about right?

Edit: Mr. Thailer has given that the thumbs up. He also set off my light on why the drain pipe. Just to take up space. My water connection will be those 90* bulkhead fillings like shown below, directly in the side of the tub. Good use for rosin screen bags, to filter the perlite.

So, with those numbers, the bottom of the bag sitting on the perlite is about 8" above the floor, waterline 6" above the floor. A 6" waterline works great with my control box.

This new plan will allow 10 gallon bags to easily fit. 16" diameter contact with the perlite. That is as heavy a bag as I want to move. Around 18" soil height above the ground, 8-10" thick.

This time of year I need added humidity. I have a humidifier on order, and this is where the SIP water control tek can come in handy. I use only water for the plants (house is filtered), so I can have my automated water system keep the humidifier tank topped off with a SIP tek waterline control. If the stars align, maybe use the same water as the control box, and return overflow back to it by gravity. Humidity control is key to me being able to get away for a while, and this is how the tank can get refilled. Control box in the tent in the middle, humidifier outside the tent near the air inlet. Bulkhead fittings, 1/2" hose, valves, disconnects, just like SIP tubs.

MICrazy · Feb 27, 2021

The latest DGC episode has the BuildaSoil guys on it and they have some tips regarding SIPs. In retrospect I think I filled the tanks a little to early when I used just the soil as my wick. I'm re-engineering on the flip to use a perlite base now, which should mitigate some of the issues.

https://www.dudegrows.com/dgs-quality-soil-bas/

flylowgethigh · Feb 28, 2021

I suggest wearing a real mask when working with dry perlite. I just washed the stuff that is going into my sip tubs today. I dump it in a big bucket, wet, scoop off the big stuff floating on top until mostly smalls left, and dump that wet nasty water somewhere. Repeat, until you like your perlite. I wish I had done it with the stuff in my soil.

You Gotta SIP, Not Slurp

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