As I come to the end of my first grow I am reflecting on what went well and what didnt… I have realized I struggled a lot with watering and nutrients. not because it was difficult per say but just tedious. What I am wondering is what systems are out there to see if perhaps there is something more well suited to me or others reading here. I dont believe in a “best” system just different ones and am curious what yall are doing.
in my first grow I did
5 gallon fabric bags
fox farm soil
GH Flora Trio
Below is all subjective to me as a noob
main upsides
low cost
it was what the you how to grow weed site had instructions for
idk thats all I can think of
Downsides
differing amounts of each nutrient used means bottles get emptied at different times but atleast on amazon its cheapest to buy all 3 nutrients at the same time
annoying to ph
complex for a beginner
must manually water every day no room for weekend trips
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What are you open to changing? Is anything on the table? I personally run jacks 321 and autopots with rain science plastic mesh bags as the fabric bags hold a lot of moisture in your grow rooms with the autopots. I like jacks 321 for the simplicity of it and best bang for your buck compared to everything I’ve tried which is (house and garden, fox farm trio, and canna coco a & b). I use canna coco coir dehydrated bricks as my medium but this is the pricey part I don’t re use any of my coco for future grows it just goes to the garden or back yard to fill holes. Coco from my perspective isn’t very reusable unless your willing to sift thru all the dirt and take out all the old roots. I really like coco and autopots because once your autopots are on (ideally after the flip to flower or right before) then flowering is a piece of cake just keep your reservoir ph dialed in. If you wanted the cheapest form it’s probably organic in soil but I haven’t strayed from coco ever. I know @JustANobody was using drip irrigation for a bit not sure if he still is. @leetdood and @HappyTrees23s really like their soil grows and are pretty knowledgeable maybe anyone i tagged can throw in some info to help you
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Have you checked out autopots and a one or two part nutrient?
Autopots are self maintaining with respectable results.
There’s other similar systems but for £25 ready to go they’re worth checking out.
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Anything is on the table as a newb I am looking to find out what is out there and read and see if something might suit me better.
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I use drip for organic soil but not for coco.
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I’ll tell you now if your strapped for time stay away from DWC and coco coir because they are rather demanding wanting watered up to 2x a day or constantly checking ph
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I have been interested in autopots but didnt want to commit to an auto watering system until I had decided what I was doing for my next grow as they are not all compatible with every system
What do you mean by this? I know they have different sizes and setups for different things but for the most part the geo pot setups (multiple not just 1 size fits all) will fit anything from a 1 to 13 gallon
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well from what ive heard things like dry amendments need to be watered in from the top which wouldnt work with a bottom wicking system but my research so far is light. very much a dont know what I dont know situation
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What was complex about mixing them for you? Measuring everything out? Would you prefer a 2 part system. Like A and B type deals?
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measuring/understanding what all each of the nutrients are for. Obviously these are things I can learn but I am not really trying to min max this setup so if there is an easier system that gets me 90% of the way there that would probably be better for me. just felt like I was spending 30-40 minutes every day mixing and phing water.
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Ahh I see what your getting at. Yeah I just use water soluble nutrients (jacks 321).
I still do this about every day but then again at any point and time I usually have 31 gallons made up between 4 tents and 3 different batches of water. What nutrients were you using before?
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GH trio and cal mag and yea I only have the 1 tent lol what I ended up doing was just collecting a bunch of gallon bottles from friends and I make it 10 gallons at a time. tho that also ended up being an issue later cause I got a different ph solution after my GH stuff ran out and over time something would fall out of solution so id have to remix it recheck ph and adjust again
edit: gonna add to main post but also on the prepared ahead my current system requires me to always water every day and I dont have plant sitters anymore that I trust (my good one moved away and the last person I tried flooded the tent after forgetting to water for 2 days bleh)
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I did a quick reddit search a few people say gh trio works best with autoptos but here is what autopots directly says
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Have you thought about just investing in a reservoir or 5 gal buckets? They make 13 gal buckets but they aren’t cheap. Autopots has reservoirs with the setup you can choose I think 11 gal hard plastic, 13 gal made of like a pool vinyl, or the 25 gal flexitank that’s the best one they make but only come in 25 gal or bigger. I’ve got my jacks 321 down to a science I can do my veg and flower mixes in a 13 gal and 2.5 ml ph down to bring it to a 5.8-6.0 ph
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yea I had seriously considered 5 gallon buckets as I thought that would be easier for sure.
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It would help keep you from ph’ing multiple 1 gallons at least
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Few bucks for 5 gallon buckets at just about any local hardware store or a Walmart
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I had honestly considered getting one of the gatorade coolers with a spout little more but ease of use
I don’t know what sort of time you have in your day to day life, but I tend to steer new growers away from automated growing setups. It’s not that they don’t work great, and they are definitely convenient when dialed in and working properly, they definitely are. I don’t recommend them for noobs because I think that spending time with your plants daily, watching how they react to inputs, learning to determine their needs by what they show you, learning proper watering habits, these are all critical components to becoming the best grower you can be. A lot of experience and accumulation of knowledge gets lost with set it and forget it type systems. I guess it really comes down to what you want to get out of it, but i firmly believe if you want to become a truly competent, knowledgeable grower then a more hands on method is preferable for the first several grows you undertake. It’s not as easy or convenient, but getting really good at something rarely is. Just my 2 cents.
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