Autopot issues, problems, solutions, and fixes

It's fair to say the there's 0 dry back or any resemblance of drying back with autopots.
At the point of refill the pots are soaked thoroughly.

I had that exact thing typed out and decided not to post it. I'm about 50% sure it might not even make a difference getting rid of the "dry back" part of the operation. Just take off the top float. I always examine the roots after everything's over and I have terrible luck with getting roots to go to the bottom. Below is a picture (upside down). It shows an insert I printed to wick the water into the substrate. You can see how the roots never went down for some reason.
I've got a couple now with airstones in the bottom, so we'll see if that helped. I love autopots but I have NOT found the secret to those KILLER root shots you see sometimes.
IMG_20230929_101908478.jpg
 
I had that exact thing typed out and decided not to post it. I'm about 50% sure it might not even make a difference getting rid of the "dry back" part of the operation. Just take off the top float. I always examine the roots after everything's over and I have terrible luck with getting roots to go to the bottom. Below is a picture (upside down). It shows an insert I printed to wick the water into the substrate. You can see how the roots never went down for some reason.
I've got a couple now with airstones in the bottom, so we'll see if that helped. I love autopots but I have NOT found the secret to those KILLER root shots you see sometimes.
View attachment 5450665
I'm finding this same problem, I've tried different variations of coco/perlite but it doesn't make much difference, I'm going to hand feed for a bit this time and see how that does?

How did those airstones work out for you?
 
I'm finding this same problem, I've tried different variations of coco/perlite but it doesn't make much difference, I'm going to hand feed for a bit this time and see how that does?

How did those airstones work out for you?
Pretty good actually. You can see the middle didn't get a whole lotta roots.
airstone 2.jpgairstone 1.jpg
 
Pretty good actually. You can see the middle didn't get a whole lotta roots.
View attachment 5458436View attachment 5458435
Aye that's quite a difference bro, nice one!!

Years back I used 100% perlite I can remember the perlite being bound up at the bottom with the roots, the roots would grow out of the bottom into a tray the pots sat in with 1 valve

I've already too much to do with each cycle I can't introduce airstones on top of that so I'm going to try hand feeding for a bit this time?
 
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