Is there a way to test to see if I “ruined” the soil? I want to reuse the $$$ soil, but not sure if I can. The soil doesn’t smell bad, but the water res in the City Pickers SIPs smelt like a sewer. My grow was going great until the last 2 weeks when it just stalled.
833-420-2420
Sounds like the water went anaerobic.
See if you can slide a little bubbler stone done the water pipe and aerate the water.
The soil is probably OK.
I pulled the soil and dumped the water. I’ve had th soil sitting in raised “airing” out of thats even such a thing. I was gonna throw some cookies get crops on it to see if everything is normal. Sounds ok?
I throw a bag of lab in when I make soil. It doesn’t keep this from happening if the soil sits too long but if you catch it quick enough, the lab will normally have the no vacancy sign up for anaerobic nasties. Bokashi starter one bag (1 kg so 2.2046 lbs) per batch is a great addition to any soil.
Bag of lab? What is that?
He means Lactobacillus (soil probiotic) , if you youtube chris trump he has a video on making your own.
Labs would outcompete the anaerobes and clean your soil up.
Awesome info thanx
This is how I grow the majority of my plants. I have a few tips that can help with this I think. I haven’t had any issues with what your are saying and I think the main reason is how I water with SIPs (I even use the same planters you do).
I don’t water every plant, every day. I just take a flashlight with me and point it down the water feed tube. If I see ANY water at the bottom, I DO NOT water. If I see dry bottom (or really close to that) I go ahead and add around a gallon and a half of water. This helps to make sure that all the water is getting drawn up into the medium (soil) and you don’t have water sitting in the rez for long periods getting “stale”.
I am a big fan of microbes doing my work for me also, so my other tip is along those lines. Recently, I have also added Hydroguard from botanicare. All it is, is a bacillus microbe that basically breaks down any organics and just helps keep those roots happy!
One last tip that has worked for me. Water and now, 2ml/gallon of hydroguard, is all that I add to the feed tube. If you want to add anything else (which I recommend at least some Recharge and maybe Mammoth P), just hand water directly in the soil like you would water a normal pot. This way gravity helps to pull everything down over the root mass instead of things having to travel from the bottom up. I usually do a top water like this once a week with either Recharge + mammoth P or a home brewed compost tea.
As far as reusing soil, I do, but not 100%. I find that the SIPs can hold around 1.5 cu. ft. of soil. So what I do is, after harvest, the used soil gets dumped in big containers with lids until I get a few containers full any left over used soil goes in my compost pile outside, that gets used in the spring to top dress my flower beds, or vegetable garden. When it comes time to start a new round of cannabis, I will use a brand new 1 cu. ft. bag of a good organic soil (I use Detroit Nutrient company’s “Great lakes water only soil”), and then I fill the other 0.5 cu. ft. with old soil from my containers that I have saved from previous harvests.
I hope that helps! #Growerslove
Thanks Spartan! I was filling them up every day which I now realize is probably what caused my problem. I’ve got some Gro-Kashi and Mammoth-P that I going to use for the next go around as using a compost tea bubbler. I just added water the last go around. I’ve also got some of KIS Organics Nutrient Pack to “recharge” the old soil. Will let you know how it goes…Thanks again!
I’ve had tomato plants in sip’s for months in the hot sun with the res always full. In fact this is the point with the rain gutter grow system. The difference is probably the makeup of the soil. If it is too dense then it will draw up too much water and rot the roots and that rot will spread to the water. This rarely gets mentioned when discussing cannabis and sip. This is probably what happened to you. Look at the Raybo 321 mix. Tomato growers have been using these successfully for quite some time. There is plenty to learn from them.
Also, Spartan is right, especially with a dense soil, you want to watch your water. However, this requires a better understanding of your soil and an ability to read the plant to understand how the water is interacting with the soil and, in turn, how growth is affected. When using sip’s my main goal is to set and forget. So if I can get the soil right by adding aerating, then I don’t have to worry about monitoring the res. I just amend my soil with something to lighten it and add biolive. It’s water only from them on for me. The biolive has the nutrients and microbes. However, adding more microbe diversity wouldn’t hurt. I just tend to keep it as simple as possible. .
Doc….I’m using KIS Organics Biochar soil if that helps in the analysis….Seems to drain really well.
How deep is the container you’re growing in? Bottom watering can get tricky with too shallow a bed/container with water able to wick up to the top too fast keeping the soil too wet. I like a fairly deep container when bottom feeding so the top few inches of soil never gets saturated.
I don’t think its more than 3″ deep…Specs show it holds 2 gallons and its about 24″x20″
Not sure about that soil, but if it has 33% aeration then it’s good. Your answer to Jmystro, is that the height of the res or the height of the section that holds the soil?
That’s the height of the water res…The soil part is probably 15-18″ high…From memory, I think it held about 10 gallons of soil.
Spartan’s advice is definitely the best course to take until you figure out what caused the rot. Did you feed organics through the res or top feed? Check out the episodes with Jeremy on The Potcast. I believe he mentions using the sip’s. There seems to be a significant advantage to keeping organic soil at constant and optimal moisture level. It seems like your goal is organic. So it would be worth it to figure out why yours did what it did. Also, the episodes with the Blumat people on the KISS Organics podcast are really full of a lot of good info on maintaining the right moisture levels.
Doc, The KIS soil is “water only” so that’s all I added via the top feed tube. I filled it up everyday so I’m thinking there wasn’t enough oxygen, but I’m running a raised bed with Blumats along with the SIPs for a run I just started….I’m gonna run with what Spartan said and see how it goes.