Grow Mediums Autopots with Biocanna. Any experience?

[shizoman]

Hello. Curious to try Biocanna line with Autopots. Have 47l res and 8.5l autopots with coco/perlite.
Any real usage feedback?
Planning to put some filter to the res pipe cause I think organic nutes can have some particles.
Can I use Drip Clean with it? Just to stay safe and clean?
Thank you.

 

[Nosias]

Hello. Curious to try Biocanna line with Autopots. Have 47l res and 8.5l autopots with coco/perlite.
Any real usage feedback?
Planning to put some filter to the res pipe cause I think organic nutes can have some particles.
Can I use Drip Clean with it? Just to stay safe and clean?
Thank you.

I use Mega crop and auto pots. I have not tried any organic nutes.

 

[Olderfart]

I use Mega crop and auto pots. I have not tried any organic nutes.

Hello. Curious to try Biocanna line with Autopots. Have 47l res and 8.5l autopots with coco/perlite.
Any real usage feedback?
Planning to put some filter to the res pipe cause I think organic nutes can have some particles.
Can I use Drip Clean with it? Just to stay safe and clean?
Thank you.

Organic nutes and coco are not a good match. Organic nutes do better feeding the soil flora than they do at feeding plants. Coco is a hydroponic medium, if you want to stick with it, you are better sticking with hydroponic nutes. Megacrop is cheap and effective.

If you want to go organic, I suggest larger pots and well "cooked" soil. If you go for soil in autopots, I suggest that the bottom couple inches be at least 50% perlite to make sure that the flood zone aerates well between the flood cycles. Unless you go with pots more than at least 7 or so gallons, you will need to supplement, and again, organic nutes may not do the job because they are slow to become available. If I combine the soil I have been cooking this summer with the autopot system, I will likely use 10 gallon fabric pots irrigated in my own tray by autovalves, and I will have Megacrop ready if needed.

There is lots of information on here about either coco or soil/organics, but you are best sticking with one or the other, not trying to combine the two. If you dig around here, you will find that many attempts to combine coco/perlite with organic nutes run into problems. The good news is that with coco, you can always flush and start over with hydroponic nutes, if of course, you have any available when you need them. With soil, if you run into problems they can be tougher to sort out because knowing exactly what the problem is and figuring how to fix it without generating other issues can be hard.

Good luck with your decision and your grow.

 

[Nosias]

Organic nutes and coco are not a good match. Organic nutes do better feeding the soil flora than they do at feeding plants. Coco is a hydroponic medium, if you want to stick with it, you are better sticking with hydroponic nutes. Megacrop is cheap and effective.

If you want to go organic, I suggest larger pots and well "cooked" soil. If you go for soil in autopots, I suggest that the bottom couple inches be at least 50% perlite to make sure that the flood zone aerates well between the flood cycles. Unless you go with pots more than at least 7 or so gallons, you will need to supplement, and again, organic nutes may not do the job because they are slow to become available. If I combine the soil I have been cooking this summer with the autopot system, I will likely use 10 gallon fabric pots irrigated in my own tray by autovalves, and I will have Megacrop ready if needed.

There is lots of information on here about either coco or soil/organics, but you are best sticking with one or the other, not trying to combine the two. If you dig around here, you will find that many attempts to combine coco/perlite with organic nutes run into problems. The good news is that with coco, you can always flush and start over with hydroponic nutes, if of course, you have any available when you need them. With soil, if you run into problems they can be tougher to sort out because knowing exactly what the problem is and figuring how to fix it without generating other issues can be hard.

Good luck with your decision and your grow.

Thanks O'Fart. Well stated.

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks O'Fart. Well stated.

Thanks @Nosias, I appreciate the comment.

 

[shizoman]

Thanks for feedback, pals. Using Canna Coco currently but curious about BioCanna line. It's not necessarily should be a coco. Was thinking about mostly peat with little perlite/coco and some worm castings.
And I seen some mentions around, but not whole reports. That's why asking here, any real-world experience appreciated.

 

[Nosias]

Thanks @Nosias, I appreciate the comment.

A well earned statement.

 

[Nosias]

Thanks for feedback, pals. Using Canna Coco currently but curious about BioCanna line. It's not necessarily should be a coco. Was thinking about mostly peat with little perlite/coco and some worm castings.
And I seen some mentions around, but not whole reports. That's why asking here, any real-world experience appreciated.

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks for feedback, pals. Using Canna Coco currently but curious about BioCanna line. It's not necessarily should be a coco. Was thinking about mostly peat with little perlite/coco and some worm castings.
And I seen some mentions around, but not whole reports. That's why asking here, any real-world experience appreciated.

If you go with "soil", you still need to deal with pot size and the nature of your soil. Merely adding some worm castings to a peat/coco/perlite mix does not make soil that will finish plants without supplementation, and as I mentioned, adding organic nutes part way into an auto grow will not likely supply what the plants need soon enough.

IMHO if you want a good grow, you have two basic options likely to be successful for a new grower. The first is a "soil less" grow in coco, peat, or a mix of the two with lots of perlite for aeration. Whatever mix of coco and peat you use, you will still need to use synthetic nutes, and adding some worm castings alone will not change this. Adding organic nutes part way through a grow in a soil-less setup is unlikely to work well if at all.

The second option, and the more difficult one in my opinion, is to put in the time to develop real soil. Some soil recipes are simpler than others, but they all require time for soil flora and fauna to grow and do their thing. There are no good shortcuts to an effective soil grow. You can have all the organic goodies in there that you want, but until the bugs make it available to the plants, the nutes might as well not be there. If you want a soil grow to complete with only water, you will likely have to use at least 7 gallon pots, and if you don't go with large pots, you will again be faced with finishing the grow with synthetic nutes, and choosing the nutes will be more difficult than sticking with soiless in the first place.

My last advice on this is to stick with a coco/perlite/megacrop grow for an intial grow or two, and leave moving to organic soil until you have more experience, and the time to develop some nice soil to work with.

 

[Hypathetical Gardener]

Hello. Curious to try Biocanna line with Autopots. Have 47l res and 8.5l autopots with coco/perlite.
Any real usage feedback?
Planning to put some filter to the res pipe cause I think organic nutes can have some particles.
Can I use Drip Clean with it? Just to stay safe and clean?
Thank you.

After looking at the line a bit i dont suggest it with autopots. Or with a res thats going to last more that a day at all. They also recommend top feeding. Not saying its a bad line. Just not for autopots. Megacrop is cheap. And h&g is a good product.