Mephisto Genetics Simoigets SIP grow ..all time favorites of the mephisto variety

[gringuito98]

Welcome aboard! I too am still learning and working to improve my SIP skills.

My previous grows I always kept the res topped up and never really top watered

I will let the res dram down this time just to provide more oxygen to the base of the soil.

This is in order to reduce any anaerobic or acidic conditions that might be caused or exasperated by having the res always full

I hope that not using the mulch cover will also have the same effect

Interesting thread! I am absolutely in love with my Earthbox and very happy with my grows, so I will share my experience so far:

Earthboxes work best if they are used as described on their homepage. Use peat based soil, fill it 1-2 inches above the rim, cover it with plastic ... that’s the best way to keep this system running, because level of moisture is perfect from top to bottom, microbes can do their work and break down the food. The „wild root grow“ is exactly what you want to archive. Roots are getting enough oxygen, believe me.
Main problem: we growers! Try to keep it simple and you will have great results and less issues. I‘ve observed a lot of Earthbox grows and in 9 out of 10 cases, the results aren‘t as good as they could be. The 2 reasons are:
1. Wrong setting (uncovered, wrong cover, dry res., ...)
2. Overdoing it (mostly in terms of a too frequent feeding)

Keep it a simple as possible ... maybe it‘s boring but the plants will thank you. My plants get a dry grow amendment which I work into the soil a couple of days before seeds are planted and I water it in with some goodies (ben. bacteria, fluvic and humic acid, mycorrhiza). Every other week I top water a bit more than a 1/4 gal (same goodies). At day 35 (+/-) a dry bloom amendment will be carefully worked into to top layer and watered in very slowly, this time using 1/2 up to 3/4gal water containing the same goodies as described above. I use peat based soil and I mix RO with tap water, ec=0,3. Never experienced any cal-mag def or other issues. A bit of silica may be a good idea if growing organically, but that‘s all what is needed.

By the way ... some people recommend to keep res halfway full ..... the water level doesn‘t have any consequence to the medium‘s level of moisture at all, that‘s physics. It isn’t necessary to keep it full all the time but don‘t let it get/remain empty.

Cheers and happy growing!

 

[Humanrob]

Interesting thread! I am absolutely in love with my Earthbox and very happy with my grows, so I will share my experience so far:

Earthboxes work best if they are used as described on their homepage. Use peat based soil, fill it 1-2 inches above the rim, cover it with plastic ... that’s the best way to keep this system running, because level of moisture is perfect from top to bottom, microbes can do their work and break down the food. The „wild root grow“ is exactly what you want to archive. Roots are getting enough oxygen, believe me.
Main problem: we growers! Try to keep it simple and you will have great results and less issues. I‘ve observed a lot of Earthbox grows and in 9 out of 10 cases, the results aren‘t as good as they could be. The 2 reasons are:
1. Wrong setting (uncovered, wrong cover, dry res., ...)
2. Overdoing it (mostly in terms of a too frequent feeding)

Keep it a simple as possible ... maybe it‘s boring but the plants will thank you. My plants get a dry grow amendment which I work into the soil a couple of days before seeds are planted and I water it in with some goodies (ben. bacteria, fluvic and humic acid, mycorrhiza). Every other week I top water a bit more than a 1/4 gal (same goodies). At day 35 (+/-) a dry bloom amendment will be carefully worked into to top layer and watered in very slowly, this time using 1/2 up to 3/4gal water containing the same goodies as described above. I use peat based soil and I mix RO with tap water, ec=0,3. Never experienced any cal-mag def or other issues. A bit of silica may be a good idea if growing organically, but that‘s all what is needed.

Cheers and happy growing!

Are you putting a "trough" down the middle and filling it with dry time release nutes? It sounds as though you are avoiding that and lightly augmenting the soil in general? Just wanted to be clear, whether your reference to following the manufacturers methodology extended to that, or was more focused around the moisture management aspects.

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

Def don’t need to do a trough! Don’t even need enough nutes added to need a trough as long as u use good soil! ALSO DO NOT NEED TO ADD LIME AS DIRECTIONS STATE CUZ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR VEGGIES NOT CANNA SO U RISK DOING THIS.......

Freaking 1st time I added lime and caused many an issue! Shot ph up to 7.26 once it finally started kicking in and locked everything out! Think it just mainly sat in top layer of soil til they got hungry in flower and I topwatered in some food! That then pulled that lime down thru box and shot ph up from 6.67 and in only a 2 week span!
This comes in handy tho!

 

[gringuito98]

https://shop.greenhousefeeding.com/

These are the only feeds I use (bio grow, bio bloom, enhancer).

Bio grow: after each grow I remove the top layer (3-4in of the soil), then I add the amendment evenly and cover it with fresh soil.
Bio bloom is slightly worked in ... so there‘s no additional stuff which would augment the soil.

 

[Humanrob]

Def don’t need to do a trough! Don’t even need enough nutes added to need a trough as long as u use good soil! ALSO DO NOT NEED TO ADD LIME AS DIRECTIONS STATE CUZ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR VEGGIES NOT CANNA SO U RISK DOING THIS.......

Freaking 1st time I added lime and caused many an issue! Shot ph up to 7.26 once it finally started kicking in and locked everything out! Think it just mainly sat in top layer of soil til they got hungry in flower and I topwatered in some food! That then pulled that lime down thru box and shot ph up from 6.67 and in only a 2 week span!
This comes in handy tho!

Thanks for that info. Still on the steep part of the learning curve in my transition from photos to autos. I'll definitely look into a ph soil meter.

 

[gringuito98]

Def don’t need to do a trough! Don’t even need enough nutes added to need a trough as long as u use good soil! ALSO DO NOT NEED TO ADD LIME AS DIRECTIONS STATE CUZ THOSE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR VEGGIES NOT CANNA SO U RISK DOING THIS.......
View attachment 1306347
Freaking 1st time I added lime and caused many an issue! Shot ph up to 7.26 once it finally started kicking in and locked everything out! Think it just mainly sat in top layer of soil til they got hungry in flower and I topwatered in some food! That then pulled that lime down thru box and shot ph up from 6.67 and in only a 2 week span!
This comes in handy tho!
View attachment 1306352

yeah .. that‘s exactly what I‘m talking about. If you‘re using good peat based soil, a good feeding (not the veggie schedule of their homepage, obviously) and good water (ec=0,3!!) you won‘t need lime or other supplements at all! Look at the the SIP grows in my signature, sometimes pics say more than words.

 

[gringuito98]

Thanks for that info. Still on the steep part of the learning curve in my transition from photos to autos. I'll definitely look into a ph soil meter.

Soil‘s ph will only be an issue if you over feed them and/or if you use the same soil for a long time. Right now I‘m running the 3rd pair of ladies in my box without any issue.

 

[Fermented_Fruitz]

I’ve been using earthbox so long I have a custom coupon code for them! That’s all I’ve used for a hot minute! And I never once added lime in the past but had Mg / Ca deficiency on couple last round and this soil came out the bag at 5.9 so I added the bit of lime just in hopes of getting ph where it needed to be in mid 6’s! Shoulda just let the microbes do their thing cuz def didn’t need it! Also figured out that using RO was what was leaving em wanting CaMg (more Mg than anything) but def didn’t need lime! Current ones on day 28 here

Rather than topdressing dry stuff I made some fpj from dandelions that I’ve given em couple doses of and made water soluble calcium from eggshells that they’ve had 1 dose of! Got more brown rice vinegar coming to make liquid calphos and/or liquid calmag that I can use to hit em with a foliar! Makes it a lot easier cuz don’t gotta wait on it to break down into soil and become available! Pretty much experimental run here cuz I had been using homegrown bokashi and topdressing it but got to where if they got hungry at all it would go downhill before had time to topdress something and it to get where plants could uptake it!

 

[WildBill]

My next EB grow will be outside, showercap in place, no added dolomite, BAS 3.0 media, Malibu or BAS compost, my EWC and worms, BAS top dress amendment pack, bokashi, Got a sample of Microbial mass, and activated EM1. The run will pretty close Jeremy of BAS current series they are doing in a 10x10 on YT and IG. I'd rather do it with what I have cooking, but it's not gonna be enough to do the test runs I've obligated myself to do AND this. It's simple and so far Jeremy's girls are looking great.
I plan to do two with the same strain and use Boost in one and Microbial Mass in the other. I will let the rez dry.......NOT dry OUT...if you guys get my drift. Media in the wicking spots won't dry out between a couple checks a day. I’ll surround each EB with bales of hay to help keep media temps down.
I want that crazy root top root structure up top feeding on my top dressings. EM1 will go in the rez probably every 4th filling. Any microbe supplement, Boost and Microbial Mass, will be stepped back to a quart of mix from half gal to make sure it doesn't overflow into the rez.
Sounds like a lot of stuff, but it's really gonna be simple once set up.
If the Haze test doesn't come thru, I think I'll drop two AVT beans. If anything, I should learn quite a bit.

Along for your run! Hopefully with the guys in the thread so far, we both could learn quite a bit...............at least a lot of good input.

 

[gringuito98]

I’ve been using earthbox so long I have a custom coupon code for them! That’s all I’ve used for a hot minute! And I never once added lime in the past but had Mg / Ca deficiency on couple last round and this soil came out the bag at 5.9 so I added the bit of lime just in hopes of getting ph where it needed to be in mid 6’s! Shoulda just let the microbes do their thing cuz def didn’t need it! Also figured out that using RO was what was leaving em wanting CaMg (more Mg than anything) but def didn’t need lime! Current ones on day 28 here
View attachment 1306373
Rather than topdressing dry stuff I made some fpj from dandelions that I’ve given em couple doses of and made water soluble calcium from eggshells that they’ve had 1 dose of! Got more brown rice vinegar coming to make liquid calphos and/or liquid calmag that I can use to hit em with a foliar! Makes it a lot easier cuz don’t gotta wait on it to break down into soil and become available! Pretty much experimental run here cuz I had been using homegrown bokashi and topdressing it but got to where if they got hungry at all it would go downhill before had time to topdress something and it to get where plants could uptake it!

These are beautiful girls, bro! Hope you don’t mind, but maybe a tad too much N? Please don‘t get me wrong when I recommended not to change the system ... I was talking about the system not about feeding. The feeding they recommend would kill your plants, also their technique wouldn‘t be appropriate.
At the end, most of the stuff we use to post in here is based more on personal experiences than science or are just personal opinions. Some people know what they are talking about, others probably just pretend to know. ..and I guess I‘m right between
I deeply admire growers like you ..all the homemade stuff, worms, and so on. It‘s a lot of work and a real challenge to figure out how everything has to be done. But, and that‘s just my personal opinion, there is a real threat to not overdoing it and a good indicator is soil‘s ph .... a ph out of range often is a result of over feeding or an unbalanced one.