Ifish I definitely got to try this
Hell you know it takes me a bit to try something new
it took me 3 years before I bought the Octopots
But I will give it a go next grow ! Definitely maybe 
ok I’ll think about it lol 
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Haha I’m doin the chicken dance lol
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Bottom watering is great
Fresh feed perfect ph and ppm straight to the root tips ( more control )
Rather than feed picking up stuff from top of pot from previous feeds as it travels down pot to root tips and changing / off setting ph and ppm etc ( less control )
Plus nice gradient of fluid up to air in pot also , just never top water mid grow when doing so , as it will push the tide line back down changing things ( lose control )
With flood and drain the draining pulls in a lot of extra air in too
I love to visualise : )
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That’s a greatly appreciated post @ifish. I was not aware of the points you made… I’ll be rethinking how I’m hand watering the moms and spare autopot containers with fresh clones intended for the next run.
I’m about to go recharge 4 containers, drop in 4 clones.
Pics later…
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Pick my brain anytime : )
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Without a doubt, good luck getting rid of me.
Just want to finish your journal and reread Escobar before asking anything I’m having trouble with.
Thanks dude…
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Such a gorgeous expression!
I can’t wait till you get to indulge on her.
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Another point I forgot to mension
Top watering saturates all of pot and compacts medium , think about how much extra unnessary fluid you have to put in pot so it reaches the bottom where root tips are , this over abundance and weight creates positive pressure in pot , and therefor internally in plant creating the waterlogged overwatered look showing on plant as excess fluid builds up in leafs as stomata unable to release the volume ( internal damage and reduced uptake etc )
Bottom watering creates a more neutral negative presure as pot only absorbs what it needs , non saturation and crumbley non compacted medium
Same with seeds , glass of water positive presure , risk waterloging for them
Better to skuff and lay them on top of wet towel in sealed container and let them absorb up from towel what they need
Especially seeds that old or little life
More control , less agrresive
Better to always understand things than just reading non informative fact and just replicating eg “bottom watering is great , plants love it “
: )
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^^^ another much appreciated post, thank you!
I’m about to pull the growpito from tote after recharging overnight. Get the 4 clones potted up for next round.
Pics later…
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Is this new or used mapito
What’s your whole process ? To prepare mapito for next grow , from harvesting previous grow , or from fresh bag , to planting in them
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I’ll type that up later bro… gonna be a longer post.
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Ok, Growpito advised me to charge new material 24hr at 5.2ph and 300ppm. I had issues feeding at 5.8. I then found out just how much ph swing I was experiencing… from tap water and megacrop. Now I fill tote and it takes 3 to 4 days for the mix to stabilize while continually adjusting.
Second round I simply flushed the containers after removing stalk, and brought the ppm up to 4-450ppm. Better.
The current round in 3x3, pictured above is again new medium, I bought 4 extra autopot containers thinking I could get the roots to bottom so I could turn the valve on reservoir sooner, quicker turnaround. You can see the issues I’m having again with new medium.
The containers I just filled were dried out. So I treated as new and soaked in tote at 5.6. I just filled and put clones in.
In fairness, I fucked up in the 3x3 when I installed the new light. I thought I had dimmer on, and adjusted to 50%. Turns out the dimmer was off and the default setting of 100% may have been too much. Could be part of the issue this time around.
So… charge new or used at 5.6 and 4-450ppm now. Not squeeze it so much that I need to top water often. Light squeeze while filling container and let it drip into bucket. Then insert clone/seed. Lightly moisten from top till I think roots have hit bottom. (Pretty much when plant is as wide as container)
Res fills were 5.8 always, now following your 5.6 in veg till 5.8 flower.
I also think I’m underfeeding sometimes. Probably while young. I’m going to be bumping up closer to megacrop feeding schedule. I top out at 1.3ec typically.
Did I answer your questions, did I make sense? Lol… this old guy’s memory is not what it used to be.
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Yesterday afternoon I started those containers pictured by pouring 2 gallon through it set at 5.6 and 400ppm. It was coming out mid to high 6ish. That’s when I figured the growpito was too dry to do it in that manner.
So I soaked it in tote. Figured that would be ok.
Yes you answered and I understand
: )
So rockwool in layman’s terms is Molton rock spun like candy floss and they dust it with lime so it stays fluffy and does not stick togeather again and stays in strands till it cools
The lime is why ph raises
When you add acidic water the lime breaks down / releases and that raises ph as a result
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I allow it to stabilize ph in the tote, while a pump runs continuing to mix. When stable I transfer to reservoirs.
And inside reservoirs I have a smaller pump to keep it mixing.
I get a bit of brown sludge from the megacrop and believe it was the cause of a flood. The sludge clogged hole at the float silicone plug.
Pumps hopefully dissolve megacrop better and I won’t have any more flooding. If it continues, which it hasn’t yet ill look at a nute change. Probably liquid…
All my rincing is run too waste
Veg is 5.6
On new mapito I soak over nite at 5.4 ph to saturate the rockwool so no dry spots
Then I rinse new mapito at 5.4 ph running to waste once or twice
Till waste water is closer to 5.4-5.6
Now I know if my ph falls below 5.6 , say 5.5 or 5.4 during grow the rockwool will not release extra lime on top of the usual amount
As it was soaked and rinsed / set to 5.4 kind off as my safety net
Then I rinse again at 5.6 400ppm till what I put in is close to what comin out
I then lightly re fluf mapito with fingers ( delecletly ) put in room to get up to grow room temp
And next day I plant in them and pour feed over root area
All feedings after that is from bottom , so roots search down to get it
With preused mapito I just rinse to waste 5.6 400ppm till what goes in is close to what comes out ( so easier than new mapito )
Water in my country is flat rate per household no matter how much we use and I also use the cheepest food I can as long as it’s the right ratio for the stage I’m at
It seams a lot of work but that’s it for whole grow , hard work done
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I run the hose to my garage, no water inside. Come winter I’ll be carrying again… unless I buy a soft expanding hose that I can hook up as needed and store in warmer area.
I am going to look at running a water line to garage next summer however.
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I use a 80L plastic bin and a watering can to rinse , I need to upgrade to 21 century lol , and I use salts
The octopot people can advise what to buy in your country salt version , I’m eu
They use same thinking for feeding as we do : )
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I use cannazym at start and end of grow to help reduce dead root build up in crate from previous grows ( I’m lazy ) I just rinse mapito in crate as is after pullin main stalk and root ball 5.6 400ppm plant in and go again
With new mapito the first grow is fussy so I rinse extra well
After that grow mapito stable for sure for next run from all the flooding and draining etc of the previous grow , still need to flush out the tide line tho and ph and ppm crate
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