Autopots and Coco

[PeaceLove&Buds]

When I’m getting ready to do a project at home I envision the desired result then I’ll reverse engineer it coming up with a material list and a checklist of possible problems to encounter. I was looking at the little blue filter attachment that sits inside the tank and figure I’ll clean that and the tank once a week when I change my feed schedule. That lead me to thinking about buildup inside the tubes and research shows there’s a recommended cleaner called easy2flow that is bioenzymes or some shit that doesn’t affect your feed. I figure it’s easier to buy 100 feet of 3/8 tube and have some precut pieces ready to swap out every couple weeks and then clean the tubes by soaking or dishwasher or whatever.

That led me to thinking about my gh 8 part nute system, which I upped from the basic after 2 grows.

Even though there’ll be a pump circulating every so often I’m going to try going back to the basics so that I’ll have less ingredients in the concoction which need to stay mixed.

Ripley is doing well at 16 days, her leaves would reach the edge if they faced that way, I removed her first nodes today. I’m trying hard to wait til day 21, we’ll see how that goes lmao.

 

[JP1]

buildup inside the tubes

I never had a problem with buildup inside the tubing. When I was trying megacrop there was always sediment in the rez... I used slf100 and didn't really make much of a difference with autopots. Just clean the filter weekly and it's fine. My issue with sediment was that it can collect on the little rubber circle things in the valves and it can keep the valve from opening or closing correctly. Causes floods. But my system is probably 4-5 years old, so that may be different now

 

[JP1]

And you can turn it on now. That's plenty big enough. I'd recommend turning on when you've got some time at home to check for leaks. They can be slow but not uncommon to come home to a flood after turning it on or messing with it. It's the reason I bought a flood tray

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

And you can turn it on now. That's plenty big enough. I'd recommend turning on when you've got some time at home to check for leaks. They can be slow but not uncommon to come home to a flood after turning it on or messing with it. It's the reason I bought a flood tray

Sounds good to me man all I needed was a nudge I ran a 24 hour leak test a few days back and all good. I’ll be home tomorrow to double check. I just watered it really well and that’s what you’re supposed to do before turning it on so it’s a prime time. Thanks again

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

Ripley is 18 today and it’s only been 48 hours but so far no signs that she’s not being fed so that’s a plus I just tested my ph in the res and the color went from yellow to mustard which is about .5 so I added a pinch of down. Other than that I’m your usual newbie looking at her every hour to see if she grew more. This is fun already because it’s like a true mix of a first time grow and, well, not a first time grow I guess. She’s ready to top after 5 but I’m topping after 6 so a few more days.

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

So far so good with the exception of the ph rising in the res every day so I bought a blue lab self monitoring and dosing ph dealio and it’ll be here Tuesday. Credit to brother dankerson who happened to mention one in his thread. Pricey but like I told him, I have a feeling ph is going to be a bit more important in this style of feeding and that seems like an easy way to be both lazy and accurate. I’m really digging the rig and its possibilities with multiple stage plants so I’m willing to break down and spend for confirmation that I’m not fighting a ph problem. This should greatly help, at least mentally, when it comes time to troubleshoot.

But like I said Ripley has adjusted well so far. Some leaf tucking and topped after 6 today, day 21 which is right on schedule as was showing sex and confirming the pronouns are she/her

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

Day 24…switched to week 4 feed schedule a couple days ago and the quick connect really came in handy because I just drained the tank into a bucket while I mixed the next cocktail. Wiped down the tank and the tray and checked the silicon tip that keeps the aquavalve airtight and all looks good. No leaks yet so that’s nice. Ph doser delivery delayed til later today so no news there. Ripley is progressing as she should be and is going through training. Since I’m not watering from the top I can aim the leaves downward and that’s very convenient. She’s got a funky look due to a LOT of leaf tucking, some leaf finger removal, and the middle node fan leaves removed but she’s happy.

 

[JP1]

Looking good. Gonna really start to pick up speed now

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of ec and ppm and I can’t get out! My feed schedule that worked lovely while top feeding with runoff is apparently too strong for bottom feeding. Long story short, I’ve drained and refilled my res twice the last few days and I’m still not sure I’ve got the right ratio but I’m getting closer as I gain knowledge. The rest of this grow will pretty much be spent on finding the recipe to accommodate my toxic 350 ppm tap and watching for plant reaction. At this point I’m not concerned about this plant having a fruitful harvest since her childhood has been so abused, I’m just going to use her to monitor effects of the feed so I’ll be better prepared for the next beans. She’s doing fine but I noticed the growth was not near normal pace which led me down the ec/ppm path. It’s fun being new again and learning, I hope to dial it in soon.

 

[PeaceLove&Buds]

Ok so I just drained the res again and cleaned everything out. I found some info on my GH nutes for autoflowers and a general consensus seems to be 1/8 to 1/4 strength early then 1/2 most of the grow and back down to 1/4 last couple weeks. I had given thought to trying new nutes but have changed my mind. I’m confident they will work great with the autopot. She would normally be starting week 5 feed today which is early bloom feed but she’s still vegging because she slowed down so I went with week 4 again. I mixed my usual 4gal at 1/2 strength and poured out 1 gallon into another bucket. Starting water was 0.8 EC and after the mix and ph to 6 it was 1.5. I added 1.5 gallons of just ph’d water and ended at 1.1 which is about 800ppm. So there’s 5 gallons total in the res and 3 of them are plain ph’d water.

Feel bad for her because she’s sad! But she’s taking one for the team for sure. I’m gonna proceed like this for a couple weeks and keep an eye to her results. I’m pretty sure it takes a while to see her react but I’m going to be patient.