Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Vegepod SIP planter?


Recommended Posts

A couple grows ago, I did an indoor tent grow with fabric pots and organic soil. Great quality bud, but not a great yield.  I think that was entirely my fault: soil too wet, then too dry, humidity & temp issues, and pots were too small for no-till.  That's learning for you!

 

I've got environmental control sorted now and want to try organic soil again.  I was going to use 20gal (75L) fabric pots + Blumat irrigation with no-till amendment kits from Organic Gardening Solutions.  BUT, I just found these AUS-made Vegepod sub-irrigation planters.  I don't need the covering or misting components inside a tent, so will just skip them.  But a 100*100*26cm SIP planter sounds about perfect for a 120*120*180cm tent.  The SIP has the same soil volume as three 20gal (76) fabric pots, so I'm thinking 3-4 plants.  

 

Has anyone used these?  Or have an opinion on the suitability for our favorite crop?  Let's ignore price for now...

 

 

Vegepod: https://vegepod.com.au/collections/raised-garden-beds/products/raised-garden-bed-medium

 

post-64181-0-16673700-1614835153_thumb.jpg

 

Youtube video of the system: 

 

 

 

post-64181-0-75930700-1614834991_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’d say your first bet is better buddy I use the 15-gall fabric pots and my own soil using some amendments from OGS and I reckon it’s easier having a few pots as opposed to a single bed. Easier to take out for spraying etc and just manoeuvre in general.

 

Re. Blumats they are great for ease of operation but when you water you are displacing air pockets in the soil and creating new spaces for roots so you want a deeper water than the slow trickle that blumats provide in order to have a better Rhizosphere and microbe population.

 

Pleased to have another Organics homie on the forums excited to see how you grow.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Bayside, good thoughts. The reason I'm interested in Blumats and this Vegepod is the automatic watering of both. It's not a too lazy to hand water issue, I vape and stare at the garden daily! Good quiet time to decompress. But during non-COVID times I'm frequently away for work or fun. Each grow cycle I'm usually gone for a half dozen weekends and the occasional 1-2wk work trip. Not ideal, but the reality of my life! The simplicity of the Vegepod SIP wins points there.

 

I hear you on the moving pots around, very good point. I have a bad back and old joints, hence the medical grow. On the counter point, everything that I've read on no-till suggests that big soil containers make for a better rhizosphere. Leading me to believe that one 225L pot with 3x plants is somewhat better than 3x individual pots of 75L.

 

How does this organic audience feel about sub-irrigation planters?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Veritas,

 

Glad to have some more context on your situation, you bring up some very valid points. I have definitely heard a lot of good things about wicking beds through BuildaSoil, and you are also very correct about the larger sized containers leading to a more comprehensive soil food web.

 

If legality were not an issue I would very much like to just plant directly

Into the ground. For your situation the automated systems sound ideal. I know that Breaking Berk, a well known Aussie cultivator on Insta, used the blumats successfully for a while for the same purpose and was able to leave his grow for extended periods so considering all that you appear to be on the money with your considered set up mate! If you were to go for the blumats over the sub-irrigated planter you could get a grow bed, big ol version of the fabric smart pots that’s square and fits perfectly in a tent.

 

CSI Humboldt uses them a lot for testing out strains. I personally know little about wicking beds aside from there use for veggies which is essentially same thing but have never used for cannabis.

 

Lemme know what you find if you dive down that rabbit hole as it peaks my curiosity for sure.

 

Cheers

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I listen to a couple podcasts on growing cannabis.  And by lucky coincidence The Dude Grows Show had the fellas from Build A Soil on the episode I listened to last night.  If you don't know Build A Soil, they are a well respected company in the US that makes organic soil and no-till kits.  The BAS guy spent a few minutes raving about how well Earth Boxes work with their soils.  Turns out Earth Boxes are SIP planters of a slightly simpler design than the Vegepod.  I reckon if BAS recommends SIP planters for their soils, it's worth a try for me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah buddy that’s the one earth boxes - I’d heard Jeremy talk of wicking beds in the past, just didn’t remember brand name. I think a fella on here @itchybromusic has used them in the past if I am not mistaken.

 

A lot of the organic gardening solutions stuff is moulded on BuildaSoil’s recipes he got from Coot and amendment stock list is similar too so they’re a good bet for ya.

 

Good luck [emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yep i have a few earthboxes , easy as organics has one of my earthboxes he used last year , you can ask how he went with the one he had if ya like , not sure if he's growing anything in that one this year 

 

at one point earthbox was being imported into Oz but no longer , well last time i looked they weren't , might have changed now 

 

this is an Australian version called a green smart pot https://www.greensmartpots.com.au/ , like the earthbox they come with a plastic cover aka a shower cap 

this in important to use because it helps make water usage more efficient , as water evaporates it gets trapped on the underside of the shower cap & rains back down into the soil 

which keeps the soil quite moist , in fact it's so moist you could not hand water the top of a normal pot & keep the soil that moist without killing the plant from over watering 

the other reason to use the shower cap is to stop rain top watering the soil / plant & killing it , because the soil is so moist any top watering causes major over watering probs 

 

this is how i started to use sip's 

https://youtu.be/UbwN1MN2sjs

https://youtu.be/xpopShfmyrY

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using the community in any way you agree to our Terms of Use and We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.