Autopot vs. Drip irrigation in coco

[MATTYMATT726]

So this is day 20 from breaking soil. She germed in less than 1 day via warm water glass. Took 1 day to break soil. I turned on the autovalve and filled the rez with 5 gallons of cold water with 1 ml cal mag, 6 ml GH micro and 9 ml GH bloom per gallon for lucas formula ratio. She currently has 5th node growing in and so after 6 she will be topped to above the 3rd. 2 42 watt cool white cfls still for her veg. After i top her and she grows 3 nodes on each side i will pluck 2nd nodes out leaving 1 and 3 for a total of 8 via Grow weed easys version of mainlining. After she has this i will add a 3rd 42 cfl untill flowering. I also have a White Widow auto freebie that is 5 days behind, so nowhere as big as her yet. She is Hso 707 Headband freebie before using my real seeds. Ill post pics when initial 5 gal is down to 1 and refill to see how she does in the auto pot.

 

[rollyouron]

So this is day 20 from breaking soil. She germed in less than 1 day via warm water glass. Took 1 day to break soil. I turned on the autovalve and filled the rez with 5 gallons of cold water with 1 ml cal mag, 6 ml GH micro and 9 ml GH bloom per gallon for lucas formula ratio. She currently has 5th node growing in and so after 6 she will be topped to above the 3rd. 2 42 watt cool white cfls still for her veg. After i top her and she grows 3 nodes on each side i will pluck 2nd nodes out leaving 1 and 3 for a total of 8 via Grow weed easys version of mainlining. After she has this i will add a 3rd 42 cfl untill flowering. I also have a White Widow auto freebie that is 5 days behind, so nowhere as big as her yet. She is Hso 707 Headband freebie before using my real seeds. Ill post pics when initial 5 gal is down to 1 and refill to see how she does in the auto pot.

So how did this turn out?

 

[oill]

So, can anyone compare yield with 2x15L autopot vs. 2x15L with drip irrigation?
One is bottom fed, other is top fed.

With autopot you hand water until roots reach bottom of the pot (around 20 days) and then turn on automation fed. Plants take what they want from the bottom, you only take care of reservoir charge.
With drip irrigation you must set up (couple of times during grow) amount and time of driping, which can be tricky (wet-dry cycle).

Autopots feed from the bottom and you get salt build up doing that. I found I have to put them in the bath and flush them a lot. Top feed rtw is way better as it washes the excess salts away. So I would defo go for dtw

 

[Porky101]

I invested in a 100 autopot system. 1/5 of my plants died due to root rot, overwatering. Autopots are a waste of money unless you want to kill your plants. Use anything else. STAY AWAY FROM AUTOPOTS.

 

[KonopCh]

I invested in a 100 autopot system. 1/5 of my plants died due to root rot, overwatering. Autopots are a waste of money unless you want to kill your plants. Use anything else. STAY AWAY FROM AUTOPOTS.

Funny.

 

[oill]

I invested in a 100 autopot system. 1/5 of my plants died due to root rot, overwatering. Autopots are a waste of money unless you want to kill your plants. Use anything else. STAY AWAY FROM AUTOPOTS.

You need to add loads of hydroton at the bottom for them to work. But agree they aren't great

 

[Porky101]

I have a 50 pot autopot system 20L.

You should have asked me if you wanted it, I would have given them to you.

 

[gr865]

I have never run Auto pots, I run Smart Pots, coco, and drip. This is a post from earlier this week.

OK, change in irrigation system. Day 25 of veg. Increased the rez from a two rez system open flow, with a capacity of 15 to 20 gallons to a single 35 gallon rez, running around 25 gallons in the tank.
Went with a 12V, 1 gallon per minute, @ 80 psi, 120V to 12V reducer and a 30 psi pressure reducer.

A bit cleaner setup, no more drip ring, using adjustable stream heads.

This manifold is from my original setup from years ago when I was growing in my DIY cabinet, I kept it and glad I did.

Got roots? Just love my Smart Pots, Canna Coco and Great White!

Did a test run, this new system seems to wet the medium more even than past methods.
The plants are, as stated previously, very Indica dominate. One is 21 inches, two more of the 5 are just under that and the last two are around 16 inches. As fast as they took off after germination I expect them to be growing more.
If you have grown Big Buddha Cheese what are your experiences?

I really like this new setup, it's been a few days and on a every 12 hrs run to around 30% runoff. Will be setting it up this next week on the timer and plan on running three runs a day. Adjust as needed.

GR

 

[southernguy99]

Hey GR are those the Rain Bird Drip Irrigation emitters or another brand ?
Also what size is your main line? it looks like your running 4 emitters, from seeing how yours works , do you think 20 of them would run off a 3/4 or 1 inch main line.

 

[gr865]

Yes Rain Bird, 3/8" main, running 5 emitters.
Not sure on 20 of them with 3/4" or 1" mains, first time I have run these.

 

[southernguy99]

Thanks GR, How are you liking them ? are they giving good coverage and saturation. I'm going to setup about 20 of them to play around with in coco and see how they work

 

[gr865]

I have a 12V pump on my system, 1 gal/min, 80 psi. I would look for a pump that would do3 to 5 gal/min, I do not think you could do it with this pump.
Now, I say that and when I was setting these up I opened them up and at 30 psi I was hitting tent walls with the spray.
I would be interested in what you do, so let me know.

GR

 

[pinner420]

I invested in a 100 autopot system. 1/5 of my plants died due to root rot, overwatering. Autopots are a waste of money unless you want to kill your plants. Use anything else. STAY AWAY FROM AUTOPOTS.

Send them to me....

 

[Porky101]

Send them to me....

Sorry but Im using them as plant stands.

 

[umop apisdn]

donate them to a dog rescue. that would make a fancy automated 50-dog water bowl system.

 

[Bigfries]

I haven’t flowered side by side, but autopots blew away drip setup in veg. Like double the growth. I’m in the process of flowering a single plant filling a4x4 in a 3.9g module. I’ll be switching out my entire flower room when funds allow

 

[TintEastwood]

Considering auto and octo pots to play with. Doing a bunch of reading during corona crunch. Lol

Bottom feed - Soil/perlite seems to do better than coco/perlite. Ie, less troubles and better results. (Just from my readings....zero hands on experience.)

Octopot Hybrid Grow Systems

Octopot is your modern meets low-tech solution to growing any kind of plants. Yes, especially that kind.

www.octopot.com

 

[Bigfries]

Considering auto and octo pots to play with. Doing a bunch of reading during corona crunch. Lol

Bottom feed - Soil/perlite seems to do better than coco/perlite. Ie, less troubles and better results. (Just from my readings....zero hands on experience.)

Octopot Hybrid Grow Systems

Octopot is your modern meets low-tech solution to growing any kind of plants. Yes, especially that kind.

www.octopot.com

this is about 50/50 coco perlite, single pot unit. Grown with tap water and megacrop. Never even checked the PH of the feed. So don’t discard the idea of coco. My cousin has grown in soil in autopots with great success As well, so as long as it’s fairly airy, you can’t really go wrong in autopots.

 

[oill]

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this is about 50/50 coco perlite, single pot unit. Grown with tap water and megacrop. Never even checked the PH of the feed. So don’t discard the idea of coco. My cousin has grown in soil in autopots with great success As well, so as long as it’s fairly airy, you can’t really go wrong in autopots.

Autopots suck because the salts just build up. Very important to flush with them

 

[Bigfries]

Autopots suck because the salts just build up. Very important to flush with them

We will just have to agree to disagree on that. Adjust your ppms accordingly so you don’t need to flush.