oh! sorry, my bad, I thought that was a picture of an autopot
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Just realized. This picture shows a plant that was grown in a container thatās not even the same square shape as an autopot. Weird.?!?!?!
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Sweet i found this thread, i have a 4 pot 6.9 liter in a 4x4 and im trying the new 9 pot 6.9 tray system under a 880 watt. Ive been experimenting with 365 bio coco mixes with good luck. My first run with the tray system i only did water in the res and ran a 2 month veg and just finishing flower. Ill write up more in a little while about my whole process, but the only admendments is Gaia green top dress through out the grow and thats not much either.
Autopots can be round tooā¦
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I just remembered i had some money in my amazon account so i bought a 4pk of the ac infinity self watering bases. I want to see how they compare to autopots. Defiantly not as automated, but my biggest gripe about the autopots is how stretchy and flimsy my branches are. My plants are hardly able to hold the weight of the buds.
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I can wholeheartedly vouch for the infinity self wicking pots. This is my third round with them and i love em. Holds about a gallon of water so, if Iām ever wanting to water in some nutes or top dress Iāll hand water but for the most part i just water the basins.
Dont mind the bottom right Deathstar i had her too close to the light but brought her down but still i think access to water at all times really boosts the growth.
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I would venture a guess that it has more to do with your lighting and nutrient regimen. Do I get floppy plants? Yeah from known floppy strains like Trainwreck and Headband.
Do you use silica in your grows?
Do you grow a healthy base plant before turning to flower?
What nutes do you use and do you keep the EC high?
I wish I were close to you and Iād come help you diagnose what could possibly be going on. Iāve grown every way possible and switched to AutoPots in maybe 2018/18 due to the complete ease of the grow.
Now Iām not saying the AC bases arenāt going to be the answer to all your issues, but itās basically the same thing except youāre not using a reservoir to hold water reserves, youāll be using a water jug instead.
I think having grown in RDWC for several years gave me a bit of enlightenment as to the root system of the plant. Those roots need an air gap of sorts between the medium and the water level in order to breathe. Thatās why the manufacturer recommended Hydroton on the bottom. It gives just enough room for the roots to get some breathing room. My pebbles are usually solid roots when I clean out the system.
Youāre basically growing in a hydro setup and need to grow with hydro rules in order for it to be successful. In RDWC you have an air gap between the water level and the plant base for air. In ebb and flow, you get the dry out for air. In AutoPots, itās the base of the pot.
Hydro likes high EC and lots of light, itās fast. FK ups come fast tooā¦
Iām just trying to help you with some info gleaned over the years because I know this system to be very hard to beat for home growing. Enjoy the journey, thatās part of it all.
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Iāve never had these issues previously. I belive its from the root zone being too saturated. Ive grown in coco, in fabric pots, with drip system and literally had thick, white roots busting outta all sides of the pots. Monstrous buds with thick, hardy branches. Im not giving up on the autopots, just need to work something. I made my next mix even more aerated than the last. Might try some hydroton ontop of the airbase.
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If your root zone is too saturated, thatās where the hydroton comes in. The roots grow to the water, the hydroton level in the bucket needs to an inch or more above the fill level of the aqua valve. They get super hungry in this t
ype of medium too and you need to find that balance, I run my EC in flower from 1.6 to 2.3 depending on what Iām growing and where in the cycle.
It sounds to me, from what Iām reading, that youāre used to growing in soil/coco and top watering. This is basically a full hydro setup without all the hassle of full hydro.
Are you using premixed coco or block? I use the bagged, any version, and add about 2 cups perlite per bucket.
Youāll know when youāre dialled in because the feeder leaves will get huge. I donāt ever remove mine until the plant sucks them dry.
I hope you get it worked out because they are slick and youāll love them. Hopefully lol.
A glimpse at what my mix looks like:
I let these get too big before turning on the res but you get the idea.
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Another issue i believe im having is because im growing in the tiny (2gal) pots, its making my media even more saturated than if i was growing in the 4 gallon. There is less of a buffer zone for the soil to dry out. Ill get er figured out one way or the other. I run my ec extremely high. 2.5 and higher.
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I have 5gallon fabric pots
450l Res
9 plants in a 2mx2m
Donāt use the root stopping Mattās in the bottom
Donāt bother butting balls at the bottom of pots
I use 60/40 Coco clay ball mix
Mills Coco base and add RAW additives like amino acids,kelp,humic acid, b vitamins, mono potassium phosphate
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Love auto pots combined with a big res. Iāve it set up in the room where I can close the door for 3-4 weeks and not worry
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Here are the mini autopots I ended up making. I customized the pot size to this 5 inch diameter fabric pot that I can keep tall or cut down to half size like the mini mothers in the pic. I connect the pot round part to the valve box with a little tunnel so can swap in bigger diameter pots when printing. I also made little round base raiser things that fit into the fabric pots. autopots for ants!
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Now that is badass!!! Do you use this build to flower plants, or to just maintain your mothers?
This next round im running in straight perlite. Plants seem to be loving it so far. Not seeing any of the drooping or other issues i have in the past few runs.
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I was a bit lazy in getting them sorted out and printing right so I currently just use them in this tent and for the small tent I put males in. Iāve been using the tray2grow in my 2x4s but they are keeping the humidity a bit high so Iāll probably switch over to these later in flower periods
The Autopots Iāve seen for sale here come with a 50/50 perlite/vermiculite mix. This makes sense to me as bottom watered perlite will wick all the way to the top of the pot, whereas bottom watered coco will not. The smart valves donāt actually work how I thought they would until I saw one. I thought they would be like a ballcock and keep the water level constant but they donāt. They allow water in and cut off at a certain depth. And then the magic part is that the plants drink and the medium wicks the water until itās all gone and then it doesnāt instantly refill, it waits until the rubber seal is broken on the base which requires it to be dry, at that point it will refill. This is why it makes a lot more sense to run fast wicking mediums like perlite.
Ive played around with growing in straight perlite in the past, but never had anything automated. It hardly holds onto any type of moisture so hand watering was a pain in the ass. The plants seem to be loving it so far. They are all starting to blow up.
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Figured id hop on the bandwagon and put a cam in my tent lol. Things were off to a rough start, but i got a feeling itāll look alot different in here within the next couple of weeks.
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Hi, I made so many mistakes with my first grow with AutoPots. I was leaving the plants alone in early veg for 10 days, and had to turn the water-only rez on too soon. It might have been OK, but the soil I was using (BIO365 BioFlower for veg and top-dressing with Gaia Green Power Bloom) retained too much water and the plants were over-watered.
These are some of the items with which I replaced the fragile AP parts:
I bought my AutoPot system earlier this year and broke a tee and a valve. I found these, which are brass, you may be able to find stainless steel. These have worked very well, especially the valves
Amazon.com: MAACFLOW MAACFLOW Brass 1/4" Hose ID Barb Barbed Fitting Splicer Repair (Barb OD 0.29") (Pack of 2) : Industrial & Scientific (MAACFLOW Brass 1/4" Hose ID Barb Barbed Fitting Splicer Repair (Barb OD 0.29") (Pack of 2))
Amazon.com: Kenhihi 2 Pcs 1/4 "(6mm) brass hose barb joint 4-way cross barb splicing repair union, with 8 oil water air hose clamps, (ļ¼type 6mm) : Industrial & Scientific (2 Pcs 1/4 "(6mm) brass hose barb joint 4-way cross barb splicing repair union)
Amazon.com: Da by 2 pcs 1/4"(6mm) Brass Tee Barb Fittings for 1/4" ID Hose,6 pcs Stainless Steel Pipe Clamps,3 Way Union Intersection for Water/Fuel/Air(T) : Industrial & Scientific (Da by 2 pcs 1/4"(6mm) Brass Tee Barb Fittings for 1/4" ID Hose)
Amazon.com : Oregon 07-403 Inline Fuel Shut Off 1/4" Ball Valve , Gray : Lawn Mower Fuel Lines : Patio, Lawn & Garden (Oregon 07-403 Inline Fuel Shut Off 1/4" Ball Valve , Gray)
Also, to regulate the airflow to the AirDomes, I used this manifold with ball valves, which allows me to stop any bubbling in the trays: 4 Valve Air Manifold, 1/4" Inlet - AquaCave.com | AquaCave
The plants mostly recovered, but for the next grow, I will put a lot more perlite in the grow medium. I travel for days at a time, so pure coco wonāt work, requires too much attention, I think.
I am working on a remote-controlled solenoid valve system for the AP rez. I suspect that with the the soil medium above, I think opening the valve to water the plants will be done 15 minutes at a time.
From Bio365: Coconut Coir, Sphagnum Peat Moss, Fertilizer (see DERIVED FROM below), Perlite, Softwood Biochar, and Gypsum.
0.74 ā 1.10 ā 0.50
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