Ethos Citradelic Sunset in AutoPots

I don't see tons of folks growing with AutoPots. It's the only way I grow so I wanted to document and share my experience. You're welcome to comment, ask questions, and offer advice - what's the point otherwise? I've only been growing for 8 months and I had no prior gardening experience. I like to treat my grows like lab experiments and I keep lots of notes.

For my setup I use an AC Infinity 4x4 tent with AC Infinity fans and controller. I use an InkBird humidity controller and I have a humidifier and dehumidifier in the tent. Between the InkBird and the AC Infinity controller I'm able to keep the humidity and temp closely in the desired range. My grow room stays 72 degrees and temps in the tent range from 72-80 and humidity stays at 60 RH.

I check and adjust the PH in the AutoPot reservoir twice a day - morning and evening. I adjust it to 5.5 Ph using drops of GH Ph Down. It typically drifts up .2-.5 a day, never down. I use BlueLab stuff and calibrate frequently.

I'm using a Grower's Choice ROI-E680s for this grow. For veg, I'm running it at 50% intensity, so 340 watts. I have the light about 32" from the surface of the coco.

I use GH nutes, nothing fancy: FloraMicro, FloraGro, FloraBloom, Calimagic, Liquid Koolbloom, Floralicious Plus. I follow the weekly medium feed guide to the letter with one exception: I add 5ml/gal of calimagic for the entire duration of the grow except for week 1 and week 8. I mix up 4 gallons of nutes in 2 gallons of water, then add additional RO water until I get to the TDS I'm aiming for. For this grow I'm planning on using a TDS right in the middle of the given range.

I germinated 4 seeds in RO water and hydrogen peroxide. I then planted the seeds in rapid rooters, then when roots were visible leaving the rooter, I transplanted to solo cups with coco & perlite 50/50. I had a good launch of all 4 seeds. I start feeding seedling/week 1 TDS 250 as soon as I transplant to solo cups. I don't PH test until I turn on the AutoPots - I just mix up the nutes, keep the mix in a bucket, and water/feed the seedlings in solo cups every day.

Once roots were visible and well developed, I transplanted to 5 gallon colo/perlite 50/50 fabric grow bags. These aren't the AutoPot brand. Instead, these are "non-floppy" grow bags from Amazon. They don't fit as well as the official AutoPot bags, but they seem to work great. The most annoying part of the setup is getting the copper root-stopping pot socks on. It's a real pain - the next grow I use bags on I'm going to buy some of the ones that have a drawstring. That looks like a better design.

On this grow it only took 2 weeks from seed to seedlings transplanted in 5 gallon pots with the AutoPots turned on. The advice I've read that one must wait weeks and weeks to turn on AutoPots doesn't seem to be true in my case.

I'm using AutoPot round air bases in the bottom of each pot, but no domes or air being pumped in.

I buy coco cheaply in big bricks from Amazon. I wash and filter it to remove coco dust, then I buffer with calmag for several days. I mix the processed coco 50/50 with perlite for the grow medium.

The plants look a little yellow - I just started feed week 3 and I'm hoping they green up over the next week or two.

I'll top around node 5 or 6. I grow using a trellis net and I'll keep the plants in veg until they fill out the net, then I'll flip to flower.

Thanks for tuning in!

Six days later and the plants are growing happily without any signs of stress or distress. I'm happy with the growth so far. I'll top in the next day or two, then set up the trellis net.

I'm feeding GH medium feed week 3 at TDS 800, PH 5.5. Next week I'll switch to week 4 TDS 950 and I'm planning on staying there until the plants fill out the trellis net and it's time to flower.

One of the things I really like about this way of growing is how water efficient it is. I buy my RO water in refillable jugs and lug it home. My tap water is unusable due to how hard it is. At this stage of growth I'm putting about 5 gallons a week in the reservoir. In flower I'll need to add 5 gallons every 3 days or so.

Another week, more growth with no problems I can notice. These plants have been topped at node 5 or 6 or so and are now growing into the trellis net. I'm feeding GH medium feed week 4 TDS 950, pH 5.5 as always.

Note the white spots - I see these every grow. I'm assuming it's white mold and it appears to be harmless. It lives on the surface of the pots where it's always wet, along with green algae. I've never noticed the algae with black bags. I took some photos with a microscope.

These should fill out the net over the next week or two, then it's on to flower!

I clicked the watch button to follow along. Your plants look good. I've used the fabric pots for outdoor pepper grows before and they get the green algae growth but I've never noticed the white growth before.
I usually grow hydro drain to waste but I have been thinking of using blumats or autopots for a couple plants. I already have the blumat parts so I might give that a go. I've been looking at the AutoPots online and they are quite expensive at around $150 for a 2 pot system.
I'll follow along on this grow and who knows, maybe I'll give autopots a go in the future.

The veg phase passed without incident. The plants are now in day 2 of flower - I flipped the timer to 12/12 just a couple of days ago.

I ran into magnesium deficiencies with another grow. I've introduced 1/4 tsp/gal Epsom salt and otherwise have stayed with the GH feed week 4 medium feed schedule with the only other exception of always using 5ml Calimagic/gal. TDS is always around 900. Humidity is still at 60% and lights are still at 50%. I'll ramp the lights up to 100% and the humidity down to 50% over the next two weeks.

The plants look good and have remained short and stocky, filling out the trellis net well. Some of them look a bit yellow but I'm planning on taking no action - I'm just letting things ride. In a few weeks I'll defoliate under the net.

One thing of note: I'm using fabric bags I bought on Amazon and the original pot sock. Roots are escaping into the valve mechanism - this is bad because if the valve is kept open due to roots it could case the reservoir to empty, flooding the tent in the process. I pulled the roots away easily and will have to check this weekly for the duration of this grow. As a plus I was able to examine the roots and they look good and healthy.

I haven't had this root problem before - they're punching right through the copper, root-stopping pot sock. I think it's because I had to generously stretch the pot sock to get it on for this grow. I probably stretched it out too much and the roots can get through now. Putting on these pot socks is easily my least favorite part of growing with AutoPots. They've redesigned these pot socks to work like a draw string. The new design is much better and I'm currently using them in another grow (Blueberry Cupcake). I'm going to switch over to the new design for all grows going forward.

Below I've included a photo of the Northern Lights grow I'm in the second month of. No root problems there.

Lastly, I hoped I would be able to use normal(ish) 5 gallon fabric pots with the AutoPot XL system. I've decided it's really better to stick with the AutoPot brand fabric pots. I'm not thrilled about this because they're expensive and I normally treat fabric pots as disposable items. I may try to use plastic pots my next grow just to change things up.

RottyRzr said:

I clicked the watch button to follow along. Your plants look good. I've used the fabric pots for outdoor pepper grows before and they get the green algae growth but I've never noticed the white growth before.
I usually grow hydro drain to waste but I have been thinking of using blumats or autopots for a couple plants. I already have the blumat parts so I might give that a go. I've been looking at the AutoPots online and they are quite expensive at around $150 for a 2 pot system.
I'll follow along on this grow and who knows, maybe I'll give autopots a go in the future.

Click to expand...

Nice! Obviously I'm a fan of AutoPots. If I were going to upgrade my setup it would be to a drain to waste system. I understand in terms of control and yield drain to waste is superior at the cost of additional complexity, power, and water requirements. AutoPots are an interesting compromise - great results with relatively little overhead. I wanted to scrog and not have to manually water and they check the box for that.

The cost is initially high. If I had it to do over again I don't know if I would buy the XL with fabric pots or the regular AutoPot system with plastic pots. I live in the desert and just installed ventilation fans to dump humid air outside. Humidity in my grow room is 65%+ constantly and I think the 12 fabric AutoPots I have going are the cause. Next grow, I may purchase 3 gallon buckets in a 5 gallon form factor, drill holes in the bottom, and try that out. AutoPot makes plastic pots that fit the XL system, but they're massive at 6.6 gallons.