Auto pot system cons and pros?

[Kdot57]

So I’m currently getting all my set up for a new tent now I wanna use a auto pot system in both tents to make watering easier for as I get busy between work, school, and life so I thought maybe a auto watering system would work wonders for my schedule. Now with this in mind I’m looking for feedback all negative and positive. Also would I handle ph the same as hydro and checking it everyday? Would I just leave it go? As I’m gonna be running an organic feed and not a liquid feed. Would organic or synthetic nutrients be more beneficial? Here’s the system I plan on purchasing would be two of them 1 for my veg tent and 1 for my bloom tent. Thanks in advanced and sorry in advance for many questions as this will be my first run around with a system like this.

Tent specs before asked
- Veg
2x4 (some off brand tent)
Controlled by controller 67 aci
Aci S24 light 200 W
4 inch intake
4 inch exhaust ( out of lung room )
-Flower
2x4 (gorilla grow)
Controlled by pro69 aci
Aci T24 260 W
6 inch intake
4 inch exhaust (out of lung room)

 

[elusiveshame]

Looks like a somewhat pricey setup.

Once you start adding tubes and other things, you start adding points of failure and things that’ll need to be cleaned regularly from buildups.

Aside from those 2 things, I don’t think there’s too much negative over the positives.

 

[Kdot57]

Looks like a somewhat pricey setup.

Once you start adding tubes and other things, you start adding points of failure and things that’ll need to be cleaned regularly from buildups.

Aside from those 2 things, I don’t think there’s too much negative over the positives.

Now when you say pricey what do you mean? I found it for only 150$. But I mean failure point I understand but build up I’m not so worried about as of right now as I’m fully organic no synthetic nutrients are ever used on my grows. I want to stay organic in my opinion as I like to grow multiple strains at a time and don’t wanna have to try and find a balance or have to switch to one strain only. But clean up wouldn’t be a problem as all my tents are throughly cleaned after each run and so it my equipment as my “lung room” is my personal room.

 

[Cirroji]

Now when you say pricey what do you mean? I found it for only 150$. But I mean failure point I understand but build up I’m not so worried about as of right now as I’m fully organic no synthetic nutrients are ever used on my grows. I want to stay organic in my opinion as I like to grow multiple strains at a time and don’t wanna have to try and find a balance or have to switch to one strain only. But clean up wouldn’t be a problem as all my tents are throughly cleaned after each run and so it my equipment as my “lung room” is my personal room.

organic material + water + tubing/walls/pumps = eventual buildup

 

[PipeCarver]

So I’m currently getting all my set up for a new tent now I wanna use a auto pot system in both tents to make watering easier for as I get busy between work, school, and life so I thought maybe a auto watering system would work wonders for my schedule. Now with this in mind I’m looking for feedback all negative and positive. Also would I handle ph the same as hydro and checking it everyday? Would I just leave it go? As I’m gonna be running an organic feed and not a liquid feed. Would organic or synthetic nutrients be more beneficial? Here’s the system I plan on purchasing would be two of them 1 for my veg tent and 1 for my bloom tent. Thanks in advanced and sorry in advance for many questions as this will be my first run around with a system like this.

Tent specs before asked
- Veg
2x4 (some off brand tent)
Controlled by controller 67 aci
Aci S24 light 200 W
4 inch intake
4 inch exhaust ( out of lung room )
-Flower
2x4 (gorilla grow)
Controlled by pro69 aci
Aci T24 260 W
6 inch intake
4 inch exhaust (out of lung room)

Hi, I've just started a grow with auto pots, I bought the 4 pack xl and I have them in a spiderfarmer 3x3 with an SF g3000 light. I'm new to auto pots but I have a couple of friend on here that's grown with them in the past and they're about 2 weeks ahead of me.

I just transplanted my 4 girls into the pots and I'm just waiting to start them up. I intend using General hydroponics 3 part in the res, not sure how it will go as its my first try with them.....

My girls are about 5 weeks in veg I'm going at least 2 more weeks before I flip them to flower........Anyways good luck there's a few of us you can watch the progress if you so desire.

as far as synthetic or organic the plants can't tell the difference, and you can't tell a synthetically grown plant from an organic......its all marketing and in your head....plants absorb ions and they can't tell the difference, nitrogen is nitrogen phosphorus is phosphorus, organic or synthetic its all the same

 

[DoobieBro462]

The only con I see with the Autopots is the bottom feed and your dependent on the feed wicking up the media.

 

[Skunk_dog]

SpringpotXL version... Organic adds top fed, clean/clear Rez...lowered feed rate due to bottom feed. No Cons to offer, its not a George Forman Grill you still need to know how to cook.

 

[ArtfulCodger]

I wouldn't run organic inputs through a system with a reservoir and tubing. Anything biologically active carries more risk of buildup. Which isn't to say you can't run organic this way. I'd just use dry amendments, and/or hand water any organic liquid inputs.

 

[PipeCarver]

The only con I see with the Autopots is the bottom feed and your dependent on the feed wicking up the media.

I think I've added too many clay balls in the base but if it doesn't work this run they can still be top fed. I added air domes and I covered the domes completely...then....watched a couple of YT vids again and ooops ....I think I added to many clay balls...lol.....Too late now but its a wait and see, They're not drying as quickly as in fabric so its still a few more days before I a can top feed again.......then when that dries I'm hoping to switch on the auto pots...

 

[Kdot57]

I wouldn't run organic inputs through a system with a reservoir and tubing. Anything biologically active carries more risk of buildup. Which isn't to say you can't run organic this way. I'd just use dry amendments, and/or hand water any organic liquid inputs.

I run a dry amendment my bad for not explaining I use Gaia green 4-4-4 for veg n Gaia green 2-8-4 for flower n epsom salt, gypsum, n rock dust for trace nutrients

 

[Kdot57]

I think I've added too many clay balls in the base but if it doesn't work this run they can still be top fed. I added air domes and I covered the domes completely...then....watched a couple of YT vids again and ooops ....I think I added to many clay balls...lol.....Too late now but its a wait and see, They're not drying as quickly as in fabric so its still a few more days before I a can top feed again.......then when that dries I'm hoping to switch on the auto pots...View attachment 1345313

I saw about the air domes what was the purpose of them?

 

[PipeCarver]

I wouldn't run organic inputs through a system with a reservoir and tubing. Anything biologically active carries more risk of buildup. Which isn't to say you can't run organic this way. I'd just use dry amendments, and/or hand water any organic liquid inputs.

The Auto Pot company claims with this new XL5 valve & increased ID of the tubing you can use organic nutes. I've been told a product to use for a regular cleaning in the auto pots is Hyclean along with your regular nutes

 

[PipeCarver]

I saw about the air domes what was the purpose of them?

added O2 to the root zone.....The vids I've seen were impressive. I used 4"net pots, I trimmed off the plastic top and added air stones. I thought I could use my Aquarium pumps but they are either too weak or too loud. I picked up a nice variable speed 4 port pump and mounted it in the centre of the tent.....now I've learned it should be outside....lol....next run will be better.......

 

[ArtfulCodger]

The Auto Pot company claims with this new XL5 valve & increased ID of the tubing you can use organic nutes. I've been told a product to use for a regular cleaning in the auto pots is Hyclean along with your regular nutes

I suspect it's more a case of reducing/slowing the impact of buildup as opposed to preventing it, but I don't really know. I run synthetic through Blumats, and add H&G Drip Clean to keep things flowing...but there's still some buildup to blow out of the lines and scrub out of the reservoirs at the end of every grow.

 

[elusiveshame]

Now when you say pricey what do you mean? I found it for only 150$. But I mean failure point I understand but build up I’m not so worried about as of right now as I’m fully organic no synthetic nutrients are ever used on my grows. I want to stay organic in my opinion as I like to grow multiple strains at a time and don’t wanna have to try and find a balance or have to switch to one strain only. But clean up wouldn’t be a problem as all my tents are throughly cleaned after each run and so it my equipment as my “lung room” is my personal room.

I built my bottom feeding setup for $30, and it has no moving parts to break and cheap to repair if necessary. $150 is just too much IMO to deliver water to plants.

 

[DoobieBro462]

I think I've added too many clay balls in the base but if it doesn't work this run they can still be top fed. I added air domes and I covered the domes completely...then....watched a couple of YT vids again and ooops ....I think I added to many clay balls...lol.....Too late now but its a wait and see, They're not drying as quickly as in fabric so its still a few more days before I a can top feed again.......then when that dries I'm hoping to switch on the auto pots...View attachment 1345313

Looks good. I hope everything goes well for you.

 

[DoobieBro462]

I built my bottom feeding setup for $30, and it has no moving parts to break and cheap to repair if necessary. $150 is just too much IMO to deliver water to plants.

Do you have a part list so other's can build one for 30$ ? That would be great

 

[DoobieBro462]

I suspect it's more a case of reducing/slowing the impact of buildup as opposed to preventing it, but I don't really know. I run synthetic through Blumats, and add H&G Drip Clean to keep things flowing...but there's still some buildup to blow out of the lines and scrub out of the reservoirs at the end of every grow.

That was the other con I just thought of. If your bottom feeding in say coco coir your nutrients are not getting flushed out with the runnoff like they would with hand watering from the top. The only thing I could think to combat this Is to water at least one time a day from the top until significant runnoff.

 

[elusiveshame]

Do you have a part list so other's can build one for 30$ ? That would be great

Cheap DIY alternative to auto watering bases

I was thinking about how to make watering easier in a larger tent with larger (and more) plants, so I started looking into auto watering options. I don’t want anything too complex or expensive, and then I stumbled upon AC Infinity’s auto watering base. I saw a video breaking down watering base...

www.thcfarmer.com

TLDR; a bucket, a riser, fabric pots, and some watering wicks.

Granted it might cost a little more than $30 if you don’t have anything around the house, but most of the cost will be with how you set up the platforms / risers.

I went to Home Depot and bought an overhead light grate ($20), 3 cinder blocks ($6), and I already had some buckets and watering wicks, but you can get buckets for around $5 each and the wicks are like $8 for 50 feet. So just under $45. I have 4 plants on this setup alone:

In my 4x4 I have a similar setup, but larger pots (5 gal vs 3 gal), and it’s configured a bit differently, but same concept for all 5 plants:

I haven’t watered my 4x4 from the top for at least 10 weeks (heading into week 6 of flower, started this around week 2 or 3 of veg).

The smaller tent I switched over about 3-4 weeks ago and haven’t watered from the top since either.

 

[DoobieBro462]

Cheap DIY alternative to auto watering bases

I was thinking about how to make watering easier in a larger tent with larger (and more) plants, so I started looking into auto watering options. I don’t want anything too complex or expensive, and then I stumbled upon AC Infinity’s auto watering base. I saw a video breaking down watering base...

www.thcfarmer.com

TLDR; a bucket, a riser, fabric pots, and some watering wicks.

Granted it might cost a little more than $30 if you don’t have anything around the house, but most of the cost will be with how you set up the platforms / risers.

I went to Home Depot and bought an overhead light grate ($20), 3 cinder blocks ($6), and I already had some buckets and watering wicks, but you can get buckets for around $5 each and the wicks are like $8 for 50 feet. So just under $45. I have 4 plants on this setup alone:

View attachment 1345332

In my 4x4 I have a similar setup, but larger pots (5 gal vs 3 gal), and it’s configured a bit differently, but same concept for all 5 plants:

View attachment 1345333

I haven’t watered my 4x4 from the top for at least 10 weeks (heading into week 6 of flower, started this around week 2 or 3 of veg).

The smaller tent I switched over about 3-4 weeks ago and haven’t watered from the top since either.

Thanks for this I really appreciate it. Hand watering 3-5 times a day is getting annoying. These ladies got so big I didn't think it was going to be so much work lol. And these are autos!