Grow Mediums Best medium setup?

[Olderfart]

@NickyC , As others have pointed out elsewhere on this site, you would be best choosing an approach that others have proven to work, and stick with the details rather than combine bits, particularly re. the soil mix.

As for the coco option, I used 60/40 brick coco/perlite and fabric pots with an autopot setup and reviewed the results in the link in my signature. If you want to go soil less and use hydroponic compatible nutes, 60/40 perlite in fabric pots with the autopot system will grow you some monsters. Do yourself a favour though, get a decent pH pen (Apera is good) and an EC/PPM meter and use them. You can get away with cheap EC meters, but forget the cheap pH pens - they crap out too regularly, and losing one in the middle of a grow is a pain. And before you dive into coco, have a look at the information on cocoforcannabis dot com. Be particularly careful to make sure your coco is buffered or you will run into problems.

If you want to go with hydro type nutes, Megacrop is an excellent and very reasonably priced option. For a first grow, you likely wouldn't need anything else other than pH down (and/or possibly, pH up).

If you are keen on organic, I am sure that it can be made to work with autopots, but pot size could will limit what you can achieve. If you used an autopot valve to flood a tray with a large SIP planter in it, you could likely match what peeps on here are achieving with the earthbox system. However, going full organic only works if you have the time, inclination, and available conditions to build your soil. I would love to try it, but I am not around home enough in summer to attempt the soil setup.

One final comment - if you go with organic soil in autopots, make sure that your soil is well drained, and put a couple inches of 60/40 coco/perlite in the bottom of your pots. One risk with organics and autopots is that the flood zone established by the autopot valve may not stay sufficiently oxygenated for root health. By putting 60/40 perlite only in that zone, and sticking with fabric or air pots, you should avoid problems regardless of the texture of your organic soil. Don't use clay pebbles, gravel or the like in the bottom of the pots instead of coco/perlite. Nute mix will wick perfectly between the coco mix and soil, but if the particle size difference across the boundary is more extreme, wicking can be compromised.

Good luck with your grow, and don't hesitate to ask for help here, there are lots of growers here able and happy to help.

 

[Growpito_Aleks]

Disagree on coco. Have a look at my completed grow and autopot review. Autopots work a treat with 60/40 coco perlite and fabric pots, and do not require air domes. If the OP wants to use hydroponic type nutes, coco would be an excellent choice. So would Pro Mix HP myco, and likely lots of other options, but the coco/perlite and fabric pot setup works perfectly.

I don't disagree that it will work it just isn't optimal

Growing Cannabis in Coco Coir with High Frequency Fertigation - Coco For Cannabis

Learn how to unlock the magic of growing cannabis in coco coir with high frequency fertigation! Guide to feed and water cannabis in coco like a pro!

www.cocoforcannabis.com

 

[Olderfart]

I don't disagree that it will work it just isn't optimal

Growing Cannabis in Coco Coir with High Frequency Fertigation - Coco For Cannabis

Learn how to unlock the magic of growing cannabis in coco coir with high frequency fertigation! Guide to feed and water cannabis in coco like a pro!

www.cocoforcannabis.com

Until someone does a controlled side by side test with multiple clones, I suggest that it is impossible to identify whether there is a difference in results between high frequency fertigation and autopots, or which is best if there is a difference. As far as I am aware, cocoforcannabis dot com says nothing about autopots, nor am I aware of anyone else having done the necessary comparison. If you can refer me to such a test, I would love to have a look at it. In the meantime, I suspect that if there is an edge to be had in the comparison, it may well be in favor of the continuous fertigation provided by autopots rather than high frequency fertigation produced with other systems. I suspect that if a grow is dialed with autopots, it should approach the yield of full hydroponics which is about as good as it is likely to get, plus with autopots, I expect that it is possible to set up an effective full organic grow which is difficult or impossible with hydroponics.

In any case, what is optimal for one grower's circumstances and interests may not be for someone else. Automatic watering without using electricity was top of my short list, but means squat to a lot of other growers. To each his or her own. Done well, any of the techniques commonly used for growing cannabis can be very effective.

 

[St. Tom]

It seems like the best medium has been changing over the course of time as have must do's so ide like to ask for those of you who have been in the know longer than me your thoughts, I have google searched autopots and tried to read the most upto date info but that doesn't always help when grow journals don't mention they are using the system.

Seems air domes are out but are we still using root socks?

I was thinking of going soil less medium, so I could easily just follow a feed chart but I have been hearing some have PH lockout issues... Yet I have seen lots that don't. Is this happening often?

If one does go soil less medium is there a gold standard + ratio?
Coco and perlite seems to be anywhere from 50/50 to 70/30
What about promix HP? Straig or mixed with coco and what ratio?

The most recent info I've heard but not read is soil with 30% perlite mixed in at 70% and 30% coco as this avoids the PH issues but then your in a soil grow...

Currently I have 30% perlite and mkyos mixed into my 5 gallon fabric pots, they have a center plug to the bottom of happy frog followed by the top 1/4 with happy frog while the rest is ocean forest. It made it until about week 4 until I needed to feed nutrients as my tds dropped to 1000.

If one is going to go soil should we just go light soil as to deplete it asap so we can get to the hydro like game for bigger yeilds?

If not then I was thinking I might as well run a happy frog plug followed by the rest in a super soil that's hotter than even ocean forest, bluesky organics super soil.
Also is there a down side to running the plastic pots if only running autos which have limited veg thus smaller roots?
Because 5gallon smart pots fit in the autopot XL but the plastic pots they give you are more like 6.7 gallons and that could give you and extra week of not feeding any nutrients.

hi pal i run autopots with canna coco/clay pebbles 60/40 with great success if you look at any of the grows in my sig at the bottom and i won a lot of grow battles this year and i use remo newts also @Growpito_Aleks your medium is something I'm very interested to see people grow with it

 

[Growpito_Aleks]

hi pal i run autopots with canna coco/clay pebbles 60/40 with great success if you look at any of the grows in my sig at the bottom and i won a lot of grow battles this year and i use remo newts also @Growpito_Aleks your medium is something I'm very interested to see people grow with it

You can check our currently Deceased Communal Thread

Just shoot me a message if you want more info. We'd love to get some Autopot user feedback.

Congratulations on your grow battles- spectacular plants.

 

[Mizzo81]

You can check our currently Deceased Communal Thread

Just shoot me a message if you want more info. We'd love to get some Autopot user feedback.

Congratulations on your grow battles- spectacular plants.

Where did the growpito section go.

 

[Growpito_Aleks]

Where did the growpito section go.

Gone for the moment. Getting some things together but in the meantime i am always available for support if needed.

 

[Mizzo81]

Gone for the moment. Getting some things together but in the meantime i am always available for support if needed.

Ok cool. I have medium for now But been checking this out and thinking of autopots. I think this will be easier then coco.

 

[Growpito_Aleks]

Ok cool. I have medium for now But been checking this out and thinking of autopots. I think this will be easier then coco.

I switched from coco to this for my personal growing due to the lower water and nutrient usage. Drip systems can be problematic and costly. Reusing coco has worked but Growpito doesn't experience break down.

5.5-6.0 pH and a starting EC of 1, even for autos, and everything should be fine. Whatever nutrient you use is fine.

If you get a journal going tag me in so I can follow along.

Hope you enjoy our product!

 

[NickyC]

I just want to say thank you to @St. Tom and @Olderfart your input is greatly appreciated and helpful, this won't by my first grow so I have a handle on some things and should have most of the right equipment.
I do have to ask @Olderfart have you ran air domes and non air domes in a side by side test or seen someone compare them (in fabric)?

Same goes for clay pebbles vs no 1" of clay pebbles?
I don't plant to run air domes because I was planning on running 60/40 or 70/30 coco perlite mix in 4 plants, compare two with the pebbles in the bottom two without. Unless someones already ran this test?
@St. Tom why did you choose that medium? Glad your having good results with your grow but I'm just inquisitive and havent had a chance to see alot of autopot tests. I read the manual and I've seen @Screwauger on another forum, alot of people do fine with this or that but I'm Intrested into comparing all these variables to find out what runs best with autos in general.

I do have access to promix HP but I grabbed the perlite with clay for the bottom because promix is pest based and it compresses if km correct. The local hydro guy said half the people he sees growing autopots are mixing coco/perlite while the other half are mixing promix hp and perlite.

I figured when I pre charge my coco I can just add in my own Mykos I have.