Grow Mediums Grassroots Fabric Bed SIP

[RC Cola]

I’ve bought a grassroots 3x6 bed. I bought it before I realized I wanted to do a SIP. I was wondering if I bought a flood try, filled it with perlite, and put the bed on top would that work? I’m either going to do that or build a SIP raised bed like AlboPepper on YouTube.

Since I already have the grassroots bed I’d like to use it, but if I can’t make a SIP with it I’ll go the wooden bed route.

Edit: I did some more research and found where buildasoil did a 4x4 on a flood tray.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@RC Cola Welcome to AFN Do you have any experience growing cannabis? IMHO You should start with a simple TLS in a 5 gallon pot until you know how to grow a plant to harvest.

 

[RC Cola]

@RC Cola Welcome to AFN Do you have any experience growing cannabis? IMHO You should start with a simple TLS in a 5 gallon pot until you know how to grow a plant to harvest.

I’ve been growing for about 7 years. Thanks for the welcome! Glad to be here.

 

[Olderfart]

Are you going to use organics or salt nutes? I would not recommend salt nutes. If you run into problems, they may prove impossible to fix quickly enough with a sip that size. If you are going organic and already have your soil mix preparation dialed, a sip that size may work well. My first grow was in a diy aldopepper design sip. It grew huge plants, but got mold late in flower, and grew clouds of fungus gnats. The mold was not the sip’s fault, but the gnats were. IMO, the aldopepper design resrvoir is too deep and kept the soil a bit too wet. It would have worked better with flooding controlled by an autovalve, or by operating the food sequence with more of a drying out period. If you do a sip that size with autovalves, you may need more than one to feed a garden that big.

Good luck with it.

 

[RC Cola]

Are you going to use organics or salt nutes? I would not recommend salt nutes. If you run into problems, they may prove impossible to fix quickly enough with a sip that size. If you are going organic and already have your soil mix preparation dialed, a sip that size may work well. My first grow was in a diy aldopepper design sip. It grew huge plants, but got mold late in flower, and grew clouds of fungus gnats. The mold was not the sip’s fault, but the gnats were. IMO, the aldopepper design resrvoir is too deep and kept the soil a bit too wet. It would have worked better with flooding controlled by an autovalve, or by operating the food sequence with more of a drying out period. If you do a sip that size with autovalves, you may need more than one to feed a garden that big.

Good luck with it.

Thanks for the advice! That’s good to know about the issues with the aldopepper design. You saved me a lot of money. Lumber is pretty expensive now.

I’m running living soil. I was doing liquid nutrients before that, but I’m not going back. I’ve been doing living soil with a 2x4 for about a year now and it’s going really well. I just wanted to scale up and try out SIP. From the research I’ve done it seems to have a lot of benefits.

So just to make sure I understand, you think the flood tray idea will work?

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks for the advice! That’s good to know about the issues with the aldopepper design. You saved me a lot of money. Lumber is pretty expensive now.

I’m running living soil. I was doing liquid nutrients before that, but I’m not going back. I’ve been doing living soil with a 2x4 for about a year now and it’s going really well. I just wanted to scale up and try out SIP. From the research I’ve done it seems to have a lot of benefits.

So just to make sure I understand, you think the flood tray idea will work?

With good living soil, I think it will work like a hot damn if you do it with autovalves and a flood tray. You will need to ensure water distribution beneath the bottom of your sip. Just taping some cheap plastic tubing with holes drilled through it in a pattern on your flood tray before placing your fabric "pot" will do nicely. As I mentioned, you might want to use a couple valves to make sure that the maximum flow rate will keep up with the water needs of the large sip when plants get big. There is no important down side to using two valves, the flood sequence will be more or less identical, but the available flow rate will be times two. Depending on the depth of your sip, you might want to add a layer of sand on top to deal with the bloody gnats. If the top or your soil stays moist, they will come... the little bastards.

Please do a journal, and tag me. I am really interested in how this works for you. I tried something similar in a recent grow, but got defeated by fungus gnats and went to SS#4 to get things sorted. Your sort of setup is still in the cards for me at some point.

Good luck with it. It sounds to me like it could work really well.

 

[Olderfart]

Oh, and one other thing. You might think about putting root separators in the sip to cut down on root fights between plants. There was a fellow on here not long ago who got an outrageous crop from a large fabric pot with four plants in a single pot, and he just put cardboard separators in there that were pretty much gone by the end of the grow. As I recall, he got something on the order of a pound of bud from a 2x2, but don't quote me.

 

[RC Cola]

With good living soil, I think it will work like a hot damn if you do it with autovalves and a flood tray. You will need to ensure water distribution beneath the bottom of your sip. Just taping some cheap plastic tubing with holes drilled through it in a pattern on your flood tray before placing your fabric "pot" will do nicely. As I mentioned, you might want to use a couple valves to make sure that the maximum flow rate will keep up with the water needs of the large sip when plants get big. There is no important down side to using two valves, the flood sequence will be more or less identical, but the available flow rate will be times two. Depending on the depth of your sip, you might want to add a layer of sand on top to deal with the bloody gnats. If the top or your soil stays moist, they will come... the little bastards.

Please do a journal, and tag me. I am really interested in how this works for you. I tried something similar in a recent grow, but got defeated by fungus gnats and went to SS#4 to get things sorted. Your sort of setup is still in the cards for me at some point.

Good luck with it. It sounds to me like it could work really well.

Oh, and one other thing. You might think about putting root separators in the sip to cut down on root fights between plants. There was a fellow on here not long ago who got an outrageous crop from a large fabric pot with four plants in a single pot, and he just put cardboard separators in there that were pretty much gone by the end of the grow. As I recall, he got something on the order of a pound of bud from a 2x2, but don't quote me.

Man that is a lot from a 2x2. I’ve never pulled that much, but I also never do much of any training except for one top or if they are reaching toward the lights. I just had to bend my Hindu Kush over. She’s a big one and getting nice and stinky. I can’t wait for harvest.

I talked to grassroots and they told me their beds don’t really wick that well. They said a lot of other people have tried and failed with beds my size. He suggested aquaponics but I don’t have the height for that. I’m thinking I might just keep hand watering for now and upgrade to blumats later on.

I do want to try SIPs though so I might run some pots later on along side the bed. I’ve just spent too much money already and don’t want to spend more to experiment and then fail I can always try later and will use all your advice. Thanks again!

I am definitely going to experiment with the cardboard though. I have plenty of that LOL.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@RC Cola Have you looked at the Earthbox system. It is along the same lines as what you are considering?

 

[RC Cola]

@RC Cola Have you looked at the Earthbox system. It is along the same lines as what you are considering?

I have and somehow forgot about. I’m going to keep the bed but could try it instead of the pots and perlite method. Thanks for the suggestion!