4x4 SOG with double Autopot / Autotray 8

aceofbase

aceofbase

Well-Known Member
What's going on everyone. So the times come where I'm building my lower maintenance dream setup. Saying goodbye to the old tent today and everything new should be at the door today in big brown boxes. So Ill be using a vivosun 60x48x80 double chambered tent (same one i've been using but mines been 48x36x72). Powering flower chamber I will be using (3) mars hydro sp150 lights and (1) spider farmer 2000. That should give me 605 real world led watts so right around 38 watts p/sqft. Ideally I would like to have (2) autotray 8 systems so I can do a 16 plant sog.

On the right side of the tent there are (2) vertically stacked 12x48x40 chambers. I'll be raising height of 1st chamber to 50"height and will use that to veg and play with autoflowers when I feel like it. the second top section 12x48x30 will be used with very low wattage leds so I can preserve a few mothers and house them there in small 6" pots. the bigger chamber on veg side will have (1) sp150 light and (2) older blurple 50w lights. The small section for mothers will have some cheapy 35w leds just to keep em alive, will probably need 3 of them.

I have a couple questions as I've never played with Coco or hydro really, just been growing soil for 15 years.

(1) with the autotray 8 can I connect both of them to a single reservoir or will I need to purchase a separate one for each?
(2) I'm venting right now with a 6" fan, since I'll have 3 chambers will I need to plumb air movement areas or increase with an additional inline fan?
(3) finally I'm changing up fert as this is a borderline hydroponic grow, I'm looking at purchasing Advanced Nutrients perfect sensi (bloom and grow) part A+B. anything else I'll need other than some calmag?
(4) also autopot growers, am I better off using the 8 site tray for a sog or getting the 3.9 gallon autopot setup? it just seems a total waste to me to do a sog with 4 gallon pots, 2.2 is more than enough i figure.

Please feel free to make any suggestions! already dropped 2k into this so whats another grand right? I might need to make room to sleep in tent if wife kicks me out ;)
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
You can use a single res. I found a waste basket at Lowes the same shape as the ap res but wider and taller. Holds 22 gallons. It would feed 8 5 gallon auto pots for a week on average. A single 12 gallon res might feed 8 2.2 gallon pots for a week

aceofbase said:
What's going on everyone. So the times come where I'm building my lower maintenance dream setup. Saying goodbye to the old tent today and everything new should be at the door today in big brown boxes. So Ill be using a vivosun 60x48x80 double chambered tent (same one i've been using but mines been 48x36x72). Powering flower chamber I will be using (3) mars hydro sp150 lights and (1) spider farmer 2000. That should give me 605 real world led watts so right around 38 watts p/sqft. Ideally I would like to have (2) autotray 8 systems so I can do a 16 plant sog.

On the right side of the tent there are (2) vertically stacked 12x48x40 chambers. I'll be raising height of 1st chamber to 50"height and will use that to veg and play with autoflowers when I feel like it. the second top section 12x48x30 will be used with very low wattage leds so I can preserve a few mothers and house them there in small 6" pots. the bigger chamber on veg side will have (1) sp150 light and (2) older blurple 50w lights. The small section for mothers will have some cheapy 35w leds just to keep em alive, will probably need 3 of them.

I have a couple questions as I've never played with Coco or hydro really, just been growing soil for 15 years.

(1) with the autotray 8 can I connect both of them to a single reservoir or will I need to purchase a separate one for each?
(2) I'm venting right now with a 6" fan, since I'll have 3 chambers will I need to plumb air movement areas or increase with an additional inline fan?
(3) finally I'm changing up fert as this is a borderline hydroponic grow, I'm looking at purchasing Advanced Nutrients perfect sensi (bloom and grow) part A+B. anything else I'll need other than some calmag?
(4) also autopot growers, am I better off using the 8 site tray for a sog or getting the 3.9 gallon autopot setup? it just seems a total waste to me to do a sog with 4 gallon pots, 2.2 is more than enough i figure.

Please feel free to make any suggestions! already dropped 2k into this so whats another grand right? I might need to make room to sleep in tent if wife kicks me out ;)
Click to expand...
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Also, I'd use the 2.2 gallon pots, your not going to do SOG with the larger pots......... you'll need a machete to get into your tent lol! Also consider using a tray in the tent instead of the bases. I have a 47"x47" tray in my 4x4 tent. Just put a valve or 2 in the tray and as many pots as you wish. works like a charm! 4x4 trays are pricey and hard to find, but even a 40"x40" would work or two, 22"x47". Ebay is a good source for trays.

I've done 16, two gallon pots ( conventional pots ) in my tray as a SOG and pulled almost 2 pounds without even trying!
 
F

fishlipzzz

New Member
pop22 said:
Also, I'd use the 2.2 gallon pots, your not going to do SOG with the larger pots......... you'll need a machete to get into your tent lol! Also consider using a tray in the tent instead of the bases. I have a 47"x47" tray in my 4x4 tent. Just put a valve or 2 in the tray and as many pots as you wish. works like a charm! 4x4 trays are pricey and hard to find, but even a 40"x40" would work or two, 22"x47". Ebay is a good source for trays.

I've done 16, two gallon pots ( conventional pots ) in my tray as a SOG and pulled almost 2 pounds without even trying!
Click to expand...

Hey pop22 how do you secure the valves in trays? And have you any links to tray types ive been looking but can't find them...

I've been thinking about this for my 4x4 flower tent, i currently use 2 of the dual pot, tray systems to give a 4 plant scrog. But its really finniky to scrog them properly due to the fact that the pots are so close together...

Thanks for any advice
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Large trays are very hard to get in the USA currently. I've had one on order since March..... delivery date is maybe June 22..... Garland has no distributor in the U.S. so all are shipped from the UK.

Auto pots makes a cover for the valves that helps hold it in place, although I see no need for them, the vlaves don'r float and the release of water is slow and gentle. I've got my 30 gallon pot set up and a plant started to go into it. I'll let you know how it works out when I turn on the res.

Trays
https://www.ebay.com/itm/114079262741?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&var=414353602591&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649




fishlipzzz said:
Hey pop22 how do you secure the valves in trays? And have you any links to tray types ive been looking but can't find them...

I've been thinking about this for my 4x4 flower tent, i currently use 2 of the dual pot, tray systems to give a 4 plant scrog. But its really finniky to scrog them properly due to the fact that the pots are so close together...

Thanks for any advice
Click to expand...
 
M

MuchoCoco

Member
pop22 said:
Also consider using a tray in the tent instead of the bases. I have a 47"x47" tray in my 4x4 tent. Just put a valve or 2 in the tray and as many pots as you wish. works like a charm!
Click to expand...
This seems like a brilliant idea. I already have a 47x47 tray and autopots are easy to get where I live. If this works out it would save me SO MUCH TIME instead of handwatering. My only concern is have the entire tray being filled with standing water constantly. Have you had any issues with slime buildup or fungus gnats or anything like that?
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
I actually learned this from a friend in Amsterdam. He grew monsters indoors! I'm talking nine foot Amnesia plants! He flooded his trays with enough solution that it took maybe 2 days for the plants to use up till the tray was dry, then gave them a day more and then flooded the tray again. I give mine enough to last 24 hours then wait 1-2 days before flooding again. it works well, we've never had an issue doing this. I even do this now in my 2x2 tent!

MuchoCoco said:
This seems like a brilliant idea. I already have a 47x47 tray and autopots are easy to get where I live. If this works out it would save me SO MUCH TIME instead of handwatering. My only concern is have the entire tray being filled with standing water constantly. Have you had any issues with slime buildup or fungus gnats or anything like that?
Click to expand...
 
G

groworm

Active Member
Check out the auto5 Autopot is basically selling the same thing, the garland 4x4 tray, plus an autovalve, reservoir, and sock (https://www.autopot-usa.com/all-products/plant-skirts/aquavalve-pot-sock-kit-pot-sock-metal-plate/). The latter gives the valve a flat surface and supposedly prevents root intrusion. Only difference is it comes with a cover with cutouts for the pots, but all that does is keep you from dropping soil/amendments/leaves in the drink (it's not sturdy enough to lean on).
 
M

MuchoCoco

Member
pop22 said:
I give mine enough to last 24 hours then wait 1-2 days before flooding again. it works well, we've never had an issue doing this. I even do this now in my 2x2 tent!
Click to expand...
Does this also work with well with coco? I’ve heard you are supposed to feed coco everyday so I was hand watering to runoff everyday. My new work schedule makes it so I can only hand water once or twice a week during mon-thurs and everyday on the weekend now. I think it is going to hurt my yields on this run. If I could flood it every 2-3 days that would make my life 1000x times easier.
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
Coco works fine in this system. I'd recommend checking the pots during the dry cycle to determine how long the dry cycle should be. I'd say probably24 - 36 hours. My friend in Amsterdam used large mesh pots, so fabric pots could work well also. I've run a 70/30 mix of soil/coco and was very pleased with the results. I even did an experiment. I ran 4 of my pots for over 2 years without changing the soil. I simply cut out the stump and planted in the hole. The soil was fed Megacrop @525 ppm every watering. I've run both photos and autos this way.
 
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