Grow Mediums Best medium setup?

[St. Tom]

I've done pure coco and also coco and 20 pcent pebbles at the base and they all work pretty well but the reason I like the coco / clay mixed is I'm a person who prefers an easy life and these are pre washed pebbles in the canna coco so just the most easy but same results also with this I dont have to pre charge either just pot and go

 

[Olderfart]

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.

I haven't run a side by side air dome/no air dome test. If you run a side by side, I will be interested in seeing the results. As to other growers doing some sort of side by side, I think there are growers out there that have experience with both approaches, but I do not have links to their comments. The impression I am left with is that those with experience with both see little difference.

In my grow, I chose to use 60/40 perlite throughout my pots, and since that resulted in healthy root growth throughout and excellent yield in spite of my mistakes, I see no reason to take on the extra complexity.

As to the choice between clay pebbles or not in the bottom of the pot, I have read that the dramatic shift in particle size can hinder wicking of liquid across the boundary. As I recall, this information was in a more generalized technical discussion of container growing, not one specific to cannabis, but the principle should apply. Again, I have no link for you, but you should be able to find something with a bit of searching. In any case, I elected to try the most simple setup, and since it worked, see no reason to risk poorer sub-irrigation results by using clay pebbles.

If you do a side by side and have the choice, you would be better off with clones than seeds. A small sample size of seed grown plants will be hard or impossible to interpret due to normal phenotypic variation.

Good luck with your grow, I will be interested to see what you come up with in a side by side test.

 

[NickyC]

To update this I ran 60/40 coco perlite and did two with clay pebbles and two without, looking like the plants with no clay pebbles at the bottom are going to take the first and second prize while the other two bring up 3rf and 4th.
So no more pebbles thankfully because I had to rinse them and then soak them at 5.8 water over night adjusting it a couple times just a big hassle really even though they were buffered or PH balanced so they said I didn't want to risk it.

I would like to try promix HP against coco/perlite mix in autopots can't seem to find anyone trying that comparison

 

[Olderfart]

To update this I ran 60/40 coco perlite and did two with clay pebbles and two without, looking like the plants with no clay pebbles at the bottom are going to take the first and second prize while the other two bring up 3rf and 4th.
So no more pebbles thankfully because I had to rinse them and then soak them at 5.8 water over night adjusting it a couple times just a big hassle really even though they were buffered or PH balanced so they said I didn't want to risk it.

I would like to try promix HP against coco/perlite mix in autopots can't seem to find anyone trying that comparison

Thanks for posting your results. I'm glad to hear that the 60/40 coco/perlite worked well for you. If you do a comparison between coco and Promix, I think you will have to set up two reservoirs because optimal ph will be different, as may some nute requirements, especially calcium/magnesium. Good luck with it if you give it a try, and please tag me if you do.