Hey all, New-ish grower here looking to switch to organics and (possibly) SIP buckets. Went from a coupe rounds of hydro to current and last grows which were MSM soil mix but I am dissatisfied and am starting with the basic organics recipe in the stickies up top. I am switching to 2 LED Lumagrow 325's in my new room (new house!) and had a couple questions. In the course of perusing this forum a few posts (eddro's sip intro and SIP 101) have gotten me interested in the bottom feed idea. I have been reading them for hours, my eyes are bugging out, and I am hoping someone can throw me some sage knowledge. A) Anyone have some first hand experience in general with SIP's? Seems like a phenomenal idea and I like the rez as I have some pain and don't like watering . Any problems associated with this style, dif bucket sizes preferred, etc. B) Has anyone else ran a full setup like skywalkerss rDWC style SIP bucket system here: http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1107016-sips-101-a.html? I really like the design, the buds are gorgeous... But I am having a hard time finding much info on the SIPS themselves. Any construction improvements or new ideas would be great. Any and all experience with sips (or even a pointer to where I can read more for myself) would be much appreciated. I apologize if this information is somewhere obvious. Peace love and herb
I'm currently running bucket SIP's along side Smart Pot SIP's. I like the bucket style, but IMO the Smart Pot setup us superior. Talk about low maintenance with explosive growth! Check it out. You won't regret it. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-...annbs-self-wicking-smartpot-ghetto-setup.html
I never get tired of sharing this pic. Sips are great for amateur, advanced, or even expert level gardeners. It's got my stamp of approval. (If that matters at all)
Thanks for the responses guys. I was eyeballing newbawannab's setup as well. Was planning on running 1 gal then 2 gal smart pots on a perlite bed through veg. then swapping to the five gal buckets for flower. Seandog those are goddamn beautiful. My compliments to you. Looks like I will be SIPing soon
Im on my SIP, noobwannabe style. I have no complaints except for the time wasted with bottles of water over the past year. Thumbs up to noobwannabe's perlite sip though
This should keep ya reading for a while. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1154867-sip-fundamentals.html
Exactly what I was looking for. Not sure if it is covered there but are you still able to use ACT with SIP? I assume you would still top water if it is possible Thanks for the replies all!
I use an act only when I mix soil. Once the wick is established you'll want just add water to the res. That being said, I use a neem meal tea once a month on my no-till pots. I mix up 5 gallons and every one gets a little. No saturation. I battle white flies and the systemic aspects of neem meal in my soil is gone after 5 months. Lol. The pots are also #15 smart pots. When combining organic soil with these SIPs the key is to build a quality soil and water only. Teas are tools and should be respected. When I came here from a hydro mind set, my first reaction was to mix a soil then add teas for nutes. Wrong. If you start dumping teas all willy nilly, you will fuck up your grow. There are plenty of souls around here that can testify to that fact. You really don't want anything other than water and silica in your res. Foliar spray applications of teas also work well. My only bitch with the SIPs is the growth rate is ridicules
Okay that is all great info thank you. I have had a grow killing confrontation with teas already too (ex hydro) so your point is well received. I am really excited to get this new house and start expirimenting for myself!