I have done many plants in autopots which are not to my liking except I do love the automation and the self regulated wicking feeding. It is the easiest system I know of. Not only do you do minimal hand watering with the system, your plants will drink as much as they need so you don't have to think about how much to water and when to water.
I'm always looking to improve things so I'm going to try a new automated irrigation system what will use small 1g pots and the medium is always coco. The last grow was done with the small 1g pots and I like that, but it was manual watering and that was a big pain in the ass esp with how frequent I had to water in flower. This system will differ from autopots in a few ways. The most notable way it differs in my mind is I have to control how much to feed and when to feed with this automated system, whereas with autopots you don't have to even think about it. But I like being able to control feeding so to me its not a big deal. I'll use the timer to control how much to feed and when.
My new system is based on drip stake irrigation. and it will be for 8 pots. And its going to be automated so it can be left unattended for days at a time. I am using a 36g rubbermaid Brute garbage bin for a res. A KEDSUM 500 GPH submersible pump. The pump will turn on N times per day and run for N seconds using a NearPow electronic timer. An 8 port Orbit irrigation manifold connected to the pump using a long pipe nipple. Then we will have 8 runs of 1/4 inch tubing out of the manifold all cut to the same length (to keep the pressure on all lines the same). The lines will go in to the tent and along two walls. each wall will have 4 pots. Each pot will have a drip stake in it.
This is the rubbermaid bin reservoir with the pump suctioned to the bottom with an 1/2 inch pvc pipe nipple on the output of the pump going to the top of the res. That will push water up the pipe to the Orbit manifold at the top of the nipple. I'll post some more pics as I build this. Next will be the irrigation lines. I'll post a picture of the lines in a day or so.
I'm always looking to improve things so I'm going to try a new automated irrigation system what will use small 1g pots and the medium is always coco. The last grow was done with the small 1g pots and I like that, but it was manual watering and that was a big pain in the ass esp with how frequent I had to water in flower. This system will differ from autopots in a few ways. The most notable way it differs in my mind is I have to control how much to feed and when to feed with this automated system, whereas with autopots you don't have to even think about it. But I like being able to control feeding so to me its not a big deal. I'll use the timer to control how much to feed and when.
My new system is based on drip stake irrigation. and it will be for 8 pots. And its going to be automated so it can be left unattended for days at a time. I am using a 36g rubbermaid Brute garbage bin for a res. A KEDSUM 500 GPH submersible pump. The pump will turn on N times per day and run for N seconds using a NearPow electronic timer. An 8 port Orbit irrigation manifold connected to the pump using a long pipe nipple. Then we will have 8 runs of 1/4 inch tubing out of the manifold all cut to the same length (to keep the pressure on all lines the same). The lines will go in to the tent and along two walls. each wall will have 4 pots. Each pot will have a drip stake in it.
This is the rubbermaid bin reservoir with the pump suctioned to the bottom with an 1/2 inch pvc pipe nipple on the output of the pump going to the top of the res. That will push water up the pipe to the Orbit manifold at the top of the nipple. I'll post some more pics as I build this. Next will be the irrigation lines. I'll post a picture of the lines in a day or so.