Grow Mediums Autopot container size for super soil grows? And other misc questions..

[Wallflower82]

Does running super soil instead of coco change what kind of gallon container and how many one would choose given a certain space? For example: I have four 5 gallon autopot (the fabric pots version) and I had rolled the containers to only fill half way because I was worried they would over take my 3x3 tent.. so really I’ll have four 2.5 gallon autopots in a 3x3... at least that was the plan.

In the course of researching the right kind of supersoil to use, I discovered most supersoil won’t be water only from start to finish if they’re in a container less than 5gallons (and some people will even say larger) because there’s no way for super soil in smaller pot sizes to have enough ^available nutrition from start to finish (without needing top dressing or other supplementation anyways).

I had hoped to find a super soil that didn’t need those things since the plants will be bottom drinking from autopots ..but now I’m unsure what to do. Well, the ones I already started in 2.5gallons will need to finish that way and it looks like I’ll have to find a way to feed them as they may inevitably run out soon.. but for the next round, now that I know super soil needs a bigger container I’m not sure how many and how big to make it

Like four 5 gallon autopots with coco in a 3x3 would be nuts and wouldn’t work because things get kinda big w Coco... but would one get away with it using super soil? Would one want to? If using super soil would I be better off cutting it down to 2 autopots if they really need a volume of at least 5 gallons for super soil to truly be water only ? So... instead of four 2.5 gallon autopots in 3x3 it would be two 5gallons super soil (hopefully water only?)

If using organic soil and doing only water in the Res would one still want to use drip clean? Is there anything that would need to be done with the water other than maybe mosquito dunk ? I’m assuming that’s ok with organics and doesn’t harm the good stuff. Well, Seems like a good idea, I just had my first battle with fungus gnats. Well, trying to. As it isn’t over yet.

But yeh.. calmag? Growers rechargee? Molasses? I’m assuming those things would need to be given from top watering.. -Speaking of which.. if you do have to top water with an autopot.. is there a better time to do it? Like does the pot ever really dry out and would doing so... potentially delay it’s normal feeding / drinking time due to the pot being wet by another means ?

I didn’t realize how many questions I had until I went to set these up. Damn .. and now maybe I ordered the wrong number of autopots for a 3x3. Lol.. I’m so confused mine didn’t even come with root control discs is that bad?.. it came with some kind of sock that has copper in it. I put it on the outside of the pots copper side up facing the bottom of the pot, is that supposed to be my “disc?”, just confused it looks more like a sock

 

[Wallflower82]

Well all right then .uh .. I don’t know about other folks but I’ve had a very hard time getting the AFN site to load lately it seems like it goes down almost every day now... so when I saw no responses I was dissapointed but not really surprised,,, perhaps others haven’t been able to log in either.

Nonetheless I have 4 beautiful plants in these autopots and I’m worried because the awful shit smell went away like a week after then dirt was mixed up and it Had been gone a while. Between that smell and the fact that there’s alWys standing water in the bottom (silty water from whatever it’s picked up from the dirt. The reservoir is water only).

Should I go to .reddit? I sort of loathe reddit actually and had hoped that the autopot section over here wAs hopping.... but I’m desperate for some advice for these autopots. There’s alwYs standing water and it seems to have picked up the shit smell from the dirt (maybe because the dirt is sort of a super soil and has tons of smelly stuff in it. It had actually stopped smelling and then I turned the autopots on... and within like 2 days now anytime I open the tent you get smacked with a strong smell of crap

Plants couldn’t look happier Though they’ve doubled in size since turning the autopots on.. pretty crazy growth

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Heres a couple of thoughts for ya this morning....
super soil- im using kindsoil on a grow thats finishing up. Its been 90% water only as i have topdressed with calmag once and i have used recharge and molasses as well but thats it. I am using about 4 gallons of kindsoil though, and i think they recommend using at least 3 gallons for autoflowers.

Autopots- if you want to do water only in the res, you can always feed directly into the tray your pot sits in, pour your nute mix right down into it. That way you avoid possibly gunking up the tapvalve and lines.
I am running megacrop amd bud explosion directly in my res, going on a week now havent had any issues.
And im thinking about just adding an airpump to the res and then i might not ever dump/change the res

 

[blue]

Autopots- if you want to do water only in the res, you can always feed directly into the tray your pot sits in, pour your nute mix right down into it. That way you avoid possibly gunking up the tapvalve and lines.

Or directly into the top of the pot (which is what i do) .. Even further away from the valve and lines

All my extra ammendments and feeds (as i run a soil and biotabs base) go in the top - just a litre at a time so there's no run off to make a mess! The rez is water only (except a very rare capful of calmag, which is fine to mix in with the water)

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

So topdressing with autopots seems to be another area of growing that gets heated.
Apparently bottom feeding in the autopot can cause salts to build up in the top layers of your soil, when you then topfeed its pushing the salts down into the rootzone or some such. And thats apparently potentially bad for our plants.
I wanted to topdress but now im gonna just add anything extra into the tray, let the plant soak it up into the pot.
Im also using a fabric pot right now, not the pot that came with it. It makes sense to me that the autopot bottom feed pairs really well with the extra aeration of the fabric pot

 

[blue]

Apparently bottom feeding in the autopot can cause salts to build up in the top layers of your soil, when you then topfeed its pushing the salts down into the rootzone or some such. And thats apparently potentially bad for our plants.

Yeah i heard that recently too! - I can't say i've noticed the issue yet!
I think it's how the owners of Biotabs also add their mid grow and pk additions.

Im also using a fabric pot right now, not the pot that came with it. It makes sense to me that the autopot bottom feed pairs really well with the extra aeration of the fabric pot

Hmm thats interesting - I was wondering about interchanging the pots that sit in the aquavalve trays. I wonder if anyone is gonna try and strap their solo cup to an autopot setup

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Yeah i heard that recently too! - I can't say i've noticed the issue yet!
I think it's how the owners of Biotabs also add their mid grow and pk additions.



Hmm thats interesting - I was wondering about interchanging the pots that sit in the aquavalve trays. I wonder if anyone is gonna try and strap their solo cup to an autopot setup

Funny you mention the solo cup/autopot. Im trying to germ a couple of extra seeds for a solo cup grow, and im thinking i may set it up with a fake autopot setup, siptray water set up!
Keeping a solo cup watered can be a bear it seems, this would skip that potential roadblock

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Does running super soil instead of coco change what kind of gallon container and how many one would choose given a certain space? For example: I have four 5 gallon autopot (the fabric pots version) and I had rolled the containers to only fill half way because I was worried they would over take my 3x3 tent.. so really I’ll have four 2.5 gallon autopots in a 3x3... at least that was the plan.

In the course of researching the right kind of supersoil to use, I discovered most supersoil won’t be water only from start to finish if they’re in a container less than 5gallons (and some people will even say larger) because there’s no way for super soil in smaller pot sizes to have enough ^available nutrition from start to finish (without needing top dressing or other supplementation anyways).

I had hoped to find a super soil that didn’t need those things since the plants will be bottom drinking from autopots ..but now I’m unsure what to do. Well, the ones I already started in 2.5gallons will need to finish that way and it looks like I’ll have to find a way to feed them as they may inevitably run out soon.. but for the next round, now that I know super soil needs a bigger container I’m not sure how many and how big to make it

Like four 5 gallon autopots with coco in a 3x3 would be nuts and wouldn’t work because things get kinda big w Coco... but would one get away with it using super soil? Would one want to? If using super soil would I be better off cutting it down to 2 autopots if they really need a volume of at least 5 gallons for super soil to truly be water only ? So... instead of four 2.5 gallon autopots in 3x3 it would be two 5gallons super soil (hopefully water only?)

If using organic soil and doing only water in the Res would one still want to use drip clean? Is there anything that would need to be done with the water other than maybe mosquito dunk ? I’m assuming that’s ok with organics and doesn’t harm the good stuff. Well, Seems like a good idea, I just had my first battle with fungus gnats. Well, trying to. As it isn’t over yet.

But yeh.. calmag? Growers rechargee? Molasses? I’m assuming those things would need to be given from top watering.. -Speaking of which.. if you do have to top water with an autopot.. is there a better time to do it? Like does the pot ever really dry out and would doing so... potentially delay it’s normal feeding / drinking time due to the pot being wet by another means ?

I didn’t realize how many questions I had until I went to set these up. Damn .. and now maybe I ordered the wrong number of autopots for a 3x3. Lol.. I’m so confused mine didn’t even come with root control discs is that bad?.. it came with some kind of sock that has copper in it. I put it on the outside of the pots copper side up facing the bottom of the pot, is that supposed to be my “disc?”, just confused it looks more like a sock

It sounds like you got the xl autopot system, i have the standard 3.9 gallon rectangular pot which does come with the root disc.
What you describe sounds like a root sock wich should work like the root disc, or skip that altogether and get fabric pots