Grow Mediums Advice for new Earthbox/SIP (sub-irrigated planter) indoor grower?

[WildBill]

TxRebel/Mark
Yeah.........EBs are not for extended no-till.

Post up that huge root mass you had!

I'm gonna use EM1 to eat up my next bunch of root mass. Bust it up, throw it in a tote, amend and activate EM1 and let it cook!

 

[WildBill]

Oh also just FYI my soil I got locally last time when I checked was 5.9 out the bag! Using a full cu ft bag to fill up the big earthbox on 1/29 I added just 1.5tbsp of powdered dolomite and this was what it was up to in that time frame off just that lil bit......
View attachment 1290594
That hourglass means it’s still reading and hasn’t stabilized yet! It actually got up to 6.22! I think here next topdressing when I have covers off and add compost I’ll prob add 2tbsp since I’ll have flipped em by then! That way can get up to 6.7-7.0 range for flower since low 6’s seems good for veg since micronutrients are more available but in flower thinking the higher 6’s to 7 should be best cuz P/K more available! That’s my theory and 1st attempt tweaking ph during grow! Also worms help buffer the ph to neutral so less dolomite would be needed! That ph meter was $125 and is damn sure handy dandy! Especially if u wanna run no till style and just amend soil and replant!

I'm just gonna have to break down and get one!

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

This is how they always come out! And 1 of the masses in the pics was a plant that got calcium def so bad that I couldn’t save her so was chopped on day 50 and still a solid ass of roots! U can see the ones that grew thru the inside screen deck and totally incased it in roots! Also is usually like a 1”+ thick layer of worm castings in bottom of reservoir but these are from EBjr obv!

 

[Fire Nation]

This is technically my third grow, first legit indoor and I now know a little bit more about SIPs after an attempt to use them.

I don't think you want the soil to be very moist in the first few weeks, if at all. I made the mistake of having too saturated of soil which ended up causing damping off in some fairly mature seedlings. It was a combo of using the reservoir too soon, the cover keeping moisture in, and some elevated humidity spikes.

This was in the earthbox jrs, I'm also using gro buckets (5 gallon bucket) but I think those faired better just because they're probably twice as tall as an earthbox so the soil wasn't nearly as saturated, and they didn't have the shower cap to keep moisture in. If I hadn't let them dry out a few days I probably would have lost them too, but both seem to be doing great now.

I'm going to be pretty cautious with watering them and won't use the reservoir for at least the first week if not longer.

I removed the top soil layer and discarded it, then dumped both earthboxes and mixed with some super dry soil to dry it out.

Filled both earthboxes and then two 3 gallon fabric pots.

Back in tent, with 2 more than I had before. Yikes, full tent.

Hey man just a quick question for ya. How much soil do those Earth Box Jr. Hold?

 

[sidfinch]

Hey man just a quick question for ya. How much soil do those Earth Box Jr. Hold?

I believe it's 1 cubic foot or apprx 7ish gallons.

https://earthbox.com/media/wysiwyg/PDFs/JR_EBX_Instructions.pdf