Grow Mediums 1st try didnt turn out well.

[oldjohngrows]

Hello ,
My 1st post and 1st time grow with autopots and it bombed. I started with a xl double tray autopot growing a 2 photos. Used airdomes, clay balls covering them, then 50/50 fine coco and perlite. Dyna grow nutes. Everything going great time to flip to flower then I notice one is a male. No problem just remove it. I think thats when problem started. When you remove 1 plant it didnt change the height of nutrients in the tray But I believe it allowed the roots to stay in water twice as long as it was used to causing ROT. I will try again with autoflowers next time, photos are too large for the double tray. I found coco chuncks sold as mulch replacement and I think I will use 100% of them next time. One more thing I turned off the air dome after they were clogged and I couldnt force any air through them. Any thoughts on causes of this rot and I had some low temps a few nights (mid 50s F). Thank Yall.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Just a tip for future reference... Mix the perlite with the coco. The perlite creates an even better aerated environment for your plants roots.

 

[JP1]

Skip the airdomes and skip the pebbles. The airdomes always get jammed and the pebbles will screw with the water uptake through the coco. Just mix 4 gallons rinsed and buffered Coco with 1 gallon of rinsed perlite and full the bag and let it rock . Also add a shut off valve to each pot and it'll allow you to harvest at different times or even leave a pot empty if you get a male or whatever. Plenty of autopot growers around here that'll help you along the way

 

[oldjohngrows]

Skip the airdomes and skip the pebbles. The airdomes always get jammed and the pebbles will screw with the water uptake through the coco. Just mix 4 gallons rinsed and buffered Coco with 1 gallon of rinsed perlite and full the bag and let it rock . Also add a shut off valve to each pot and it'll allow you to harvest at different times or even leave a pot empty if you get a male or whatever. Plenty of autopot growers around here that'll help you along the way

Thanks I noticed all the rot was in pebbles ,that 2 inches was recommended in the instructions. My setup was a double tray filled by 1 valve and I really think changing the uptake of water when removing one of the plants. The remaining plant sat in the same depth of water but it was twice the volume it needed to uptake to drain. Also I attached a photo of the coco I found Do you think this is too course to use?

 

[JP1]

I've never seen Coco like that. Should work but I'd be a little concerned with how much sea salt is inside those chips. A good flush with hot water will rinse it out

 

[Bob's Auto's]

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Thanks I noticed all the rot was in pebbles ,that 2 inches was recommended in the instructions. My setup was a double tray filled by 1 valve and I really think changing the uptake of water when removing one of the plants. The remaining plant sat in the same depth of water but it was twice the volume it needed to uptake to drain. Also I attached a photo of the coco I found Do you think this is too course to use?

That coco is meant a replacement for bark. You put that as a top layer around shrubbery. I've seen these compressed packs in stores around.
You can't use that as medium, but probably where you found that, they must have the finer material. These are fine to use after a good rinse and recharge with some cal/mag