Grow Mediums Autopot saturation Levels

[Zer0TheH3r0]

Hey all,

That may be a bad title but I'm not sure how else to put it. I've been running autopots for a few months now and I seem to be having humidity issues in my tent. I think its caused by the saturation of the Autopots and I wanted to confirm with other AP users to see what I may be doing wrong.

I am running AP XL's (5.5 GAL) in a 5x4 tent. 4X total.
each pot has an airdome
all pots have clay pebbles covering ~70% of the domes
the rest is a mixture of coco & perlite (50/50)

I am still running the original sized valves. I have not upgraded to the bigger ones yet.

Starting out, I top feed for the first bit to establish roots and then let the APs do their job. when top feeding, water seems to try up in between as expected. Even when the autopots first start, the top of the mix is still dry. As the grow progresses though, the tops of the mixture start to show signs of saturation and twice, I've had to deal with pests due to the excessive moisture. I have been adding diatomaceous earth to try and get rid of them which works, but now the diatomaceous earth is soaked. My humidity can get up to 60-70% which is crazy since I live in a more arid climate.

I'm just wondering if this is normal and expected or what I may be doing wrong to cause this.

Let me know what other info you need and I am happy to provide.

Thanks!

 

[henry50]

Pull in more air and run your extraction fan harder is the traditional way of dealing with humidity - cheaply, though dehumidifiers seem popular. I have similar issues and am very interested in this - I ran a 60w then 40w incandescent bulb this winter to stabalise heat and humidity. ( I took it out last week). Im attempting a perpetual grow so have had small plants starting in soil regularly - these large mainly exposed soil pots raise overall rh and I counter that by using a strong fan on buds and opening the bottom tent vents - I can't control my extraction fan speed yet. I'm going to do what your doing quite soon, coco/,autopots. Good luck.

 

[Zer0TheH3r0]

Thanks for the response! I have lots of fans going on my tent and with fabric pots I was totally ok. Now with Autopots though, the pots seem to be literally filling up with solution. That is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't want to have to buy a $200+ dehumidifier if my AP's are not functioning properly or I'm doing something wrong. I don't feel the pots should be saturated all the way to the top.

 

[Carphunter]

Run your extraction fan harder. Also, check what the ambient humidity of the room your tent is in. If room humidity is higher or the same as inside the tent it doesn't matter what you do. You'll just be sucking humid air into the tent.

As far as your autopots being fully wet, thats normal. Their working fine. I use the xl 5 gal fabric unit just like you. If the top is completely dry then you have a problem.
When my plants went from veg to flower my humidity shot up aswell.

Mainly tho, you need to check the room humidity, if it's the same or higher then what's in the tent, you need a dehumidifier or a way to drop the room humidity. If the tent is at 60% humidity, and the room the tent is in is at 60% humidity, your never actually getting rid of the humidity, your just moving it from the room to the tent and back and forth.

If the room is lower humidity than the tent, then your not extracting enough air at a high enough rate to drop the humidity, gotta turn your extraction fan up.

 

[idiopathic neuropathy]

Thanks for the response! I have lots of fans going on my tent and with fabric pots I was totally ok. Now with Autopots though, the pots seem to be literally filling up with solution. That is the problem I'm trying to solve. I don't want to have to buy a $200+ dehumidifier if my AP's are not functioning properly or I'm doing something wrong. I don't feel the pots should be saturated all the way to the top.

Just a thought for ya.

If the tray is continually filling up with fluid without gradually receding it may be caused by the interior silicone not being square to the hole. This would cause the fluid to continually seep into the tray. This may also be the reason why the top of the pot is wet. The top inch or so is relatively dry in my 2.2 gallon pot and would be more so in the larger pots. But, keep in mind-this would also be dependent on the wicking ability of your medium and the pressure of your air pump.

 

[St. Tom]

i run autopots and ive never felt they have affected my humidity at all I mainly deal with lower humidity but it will raise to maybe 50 rh in flower with my plants being a lot bigger but in early veg, if I just have seedling i sometimes need to use my small humidifier so your autopots seem to be running fine but how big is your space i run a 4x4 tent with a high speed 5 inch 323M3/Hour) extractor fan and use my vents for fresh air

 

[BuddhaWolf's Breaking Bud]

Hey all,
RE Air dome in A
I am running AP XL's (5.5 GAL) in a 5x4 tent. 4X total.
each pot has an airdome
all pots have clay pebbles covering ~70% of the domes
the rest is a mixture of coco & perlite (50/50)

Newbie here!

I'm planning my first medicinal grow in my 2X4 spider gardener tent.

I"m thinking to buy the Autopots soon. Not sure about investing in the AirDomes too

This is the Air Dome kit. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162471031287?hash=item25d40731f7:g:D6YAAOSwU8hY7ifu

It seems expensive without knowing if it works.

Can you help?
I'm wondering if:
1. They work, and are they worth the money?
2. Do you have the kit or are you running it with or without the pump?

Thank you in advance!


The AirDome is placed at the bottom of the pot, covered with compost and then connected to an air pump

 

[Olderfart]

Newbie here!

I'm planning my first medicinal grow in my 2X4 spider gardener tent.

I"m thinking to buy the Autopots soon. Not sure about investing in the AirDomes too

This is the Air Dome kit. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162471031287?hash=item25d40731f7:g:D6YAAOSwU8hY7ifu

It seems expensive without knowing if it works.

Can you help?
I'm wondering if:
1. They work, and are they worth the money?
2. Do you have the kit or are you running it with or without the pump?

Thank you in advance!


The AirDome is placed at the bottom of the pot, covered with compost and then connected to an air pump

I don't use them, and would not use them if they were free. I doubt that they accomplish much, at least not with well aerated medium and fabric pots. OTOH, most of the time they do not seem to do much harm as long as you don't overdo the air, and some people think they help. In any case there is zero point in using the domes if you don't pump air into them. The whole idea is to deliver more oxygen to the roots, especially, I assume, in the center of the pot. So, my recommendation is forget them, you don't need them. But I use the XL fabric pots, and put at least ~30-40% perlite in them, so it is possible that solid plastic pots may behave differently.

The other thing I do not do is put clay balls or other drainage in the bottom of the pots - doing this interferes with efficient wicking of nutes up into the pot. You need material that wicks well all the way to the bottom of the pots.

 

[BuddhaWolf's Breaking Bud]

I don't use them, and would not use them if they were free. I doubt that they accomplish much, at least not with well aerated medium and fabric pots.

Good to know… i’ve decided to go with the fabric bags, instead of getting the plastic auto parts and then the oxygen dome system. A little bit more expensive, but far more practical. And less to go wrong!

fabric pots are highly recommended on YouTube too,


OTOH, most of the time they do not seem to do much harm as long as you don't overdo the air, and some people think they help. In any case there is zero point in using the domes if you don't pump air into them. The whole idea is to deliver more oxygen to the roots, especially, I assume, in the center of the pot. So, my recommendation is forget them, you don't need them.

But I use the XL fabric pots, and put at least ~30-40% perlite in them, so it is possible that solid plastic pots may behave differently.

I think you’re right, the plastic pots don’t breathe and so adding oxygen Seems to be done to compensate for the pot’s lack of air porosity

The other thing I do not do is put clay balls or other drainage in the bottom of the pots - doing this interferes with efficient wicking of nutes up into the pot. You need material that wicks well all the way to the bottom of the pots.

well that’s good to know, that in my eBay basket but I haven’t purchased the clay pebbles.

So, do you put the fabric bags directly into the tray? Do you have to think about mould or bacteria or does the pot just get on with it?

 

[Olderfart]

Good luck with the grow, I hope you manage to grow the meds you need.

Autopots with fabric pots work really well. If you go with synthetic nutes, just keep in mind that you need to keep the concentration lower than growers who top water. Have a look at the nutrient thread put together by @Mañ'O'Green. If you use salt nutes, the ppm/EC levels he recommends are a decent starting point, but with autopots you may want to start ~~20% or so lower unless your plants ask for more.

Unless you go organic, you will want a pH pen and a ppm/EC pen. Cheap ppm/ec pens work, but cheap pH pens are a waste of money and time - they die early, and perform poorly before then. I use an Apera PH60, Bluelab makes a decent pen as well.

As you likely already figured out, this is a friendly and helpful place, so don't hesitate to ask for help.