Grow Mediums First Autopot, Megacrop, and Coco Grow. How does my nute schedule look?

[DesertBudzz]

I have a brand new set of autopot XL’s that I’m excited to try out. After my first grow in soil and after seeing some monster grows on here I decided to make an upgrade and switch up the medium/nutes. Here’s what I’ve mapped out after seeing some very helpful posts on this sub. I welcome any advice!

• 2x Mephisto autos (AvT and Sour stomper), 2x4 Tent, SF2000+SF1000 LEDs, 2 Autopot XLs + Airdomes
• Deciding on which brand of coco and coco/perlite mixture % (or 100% coco?)
• Not sure if I need a pump in the reservoir, or if giving it a good mix for a few hours before putting nutes in res is better to prevent ph drift?
• Since I’m used to soil, I’m trying to gauge how much water I should top feed with prior to turning on the autopots, given that the pots are pretty big at 6.6 gallons.

 

[Carphunter]

Everything looks good to me, tho I'm no expert and only on my second autopot grow. Have almost the same grow going. Just different lights really. Wish you the best of luck.

As to your brand of coco question. Any good 70/30 premix is fine. I've used most of them. The only things I personally look for is a prebuffered one, mother earth is normally what my local shop has, or coco-loco. For my next autopot grow I'm going to try a higher perlite ratio for a airyer mix. Just to see if it has a effect on the rate at which the trays refill.

For the pump in reservoir, I personally use one. I find it does help with ph stability. The smallest one from active aqua is what I use. You don't need much flow rate.

The only thing I would suggest maybe changing is simply how you measure your nutrient. I would switch to measuring by EC, and measuring the rez itself. I personally found that you can have nutrient build up in the rez, leading to higher than assumed nutrient levels. I believe evaporation from the rez is the culprit. Although if you are completely refilling the rez each time it shouldn't be an issue.

Outside that, only tip is to check your ph at both the rez and in the trays. Airdomes can have an effect on ph. Adjusting at the rez to compensate.

 

[St. Tom]

i know a couple of guys who use autopots and others who use megacrop so i will tag them for you @Nosias @bushmasterar15 @pop22 they should be able to help you out i grow in coco and autopots myself

 

[DesertBudzz]

Appreciate the advice! I updated and adjusted the feed chart a bit to focus more on PPM. I figure this will be a good starting point and I'll adjust as needed based on how the babies look.

I'm leaning towards mother earth pre buffered coco 70/30 perlite w/ hydroton on the bottom, covering half or so of the airdome. I also got a small 55 gph pump for the res, curious to see how managing the ph drift goes. My plan is to mix nutes a day before adding to res and balancing to 5.8, so that if it drifts up to 6.2 or so I'll still be good to go.

 

[Carphunter]

Sounds like you already got everything down. The mother earth coco is good, I've used it myself multiple times.

Are you planning on letting the rez empty fully and then refilling with fresh, or topping up as you go? Either way is fine, but each one I found needs it's own way of doing things.

Refilling the rez completely each time is the simplest. Goes more in hand with preparing the nutes ahead of time.

If topping up the rez, I find it better to do everything in rez. Close valve, fill rez with plain water, measure EC, add nutes to desired EC level, check and adjust ph after letting it mix via the pump for 20min. Open the valve and go.

I do this because I found that when adding premixed nutes when topping up there started to be a culmilative factor going on. Causing a way higher EC than I wanted. Even tho my premix was spot on each time. I chalk this up to evaporation from the rez mainly.

Either way you go the ph drift will be about the same. If using RO water, try and stick to same source, i.e. walmart, grocery store, ect.. I found that starting ph from different places can vary wildly.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[DesertBudzz]

Sounds like you already got everything down. The mother earth coco is good, I've used it myself multiple times.

Are you planning on letting the rez empty fully and then refilling with fresh, or topping up as you go? Either way is fine, but each one I found needs it's own way of doing things.

Refilling the rez completely each time is the simplest. Goes more in hand with preparing the nutes ahead of time.

If topping up the rez, I find it better to do everything in rez. Close valve, fill rez with plain water, measure EC, add nutes to desired EC level, check and adjust ph after letting it mix via the pump for 20min. Open the valve and go.

I do this because I found that when adding premixed nutes when topping up there started to be a culmilative factor going on. Causing a way higher EC than I wanted. Even tho my premix was spot on each time. I chalk this up to evaporation from the rez mainly.

Either way you go the ph drift will be about the same. If using RO water, try and stick to same source, i.e. walmart, grocery store, ect.. I found that starting ph from different places can vary wildly.

Hope some of this helps.

Very helpful, thank you for the advice!

How would you recommend watering during the first couple of weeks? I'll be transplanting from a jiffy pellet directly to the autopots, top feeding until day 21 at which point i'll start bottom feeding (turning on airdomes at day 15). Should I water the entire pot to runoff during the first couple of weeks, or just a bit around the plant and let it dry out to help the roots develop?

 

[TexasGrows]

Howdy!!! I'm a new Autopot and Megacrop user also. I am in soil. My first two plants I over saturted the pots up front, then over watered, theh both stunted. I pulled them and started a new seed.

My new seed I started in a 20 oz seedling cup and up potted to a 1 gal then to the 3.9 gal Autopot. It is growing wonderful. I did this to help with establishing a good root system and not over watering.

Not sure if over watering is an issue with coco so may not be an issue for you.

After having read most every post on Autopot and MegaCrop here I have come to one main conclusion.

1. Most issues I've read about were directly related to using too much nutrients and cal/mag etc.... I am sticking to @pop22 recommended 500 ish PPM.

So far so good!!!


Good luck!!!!!

 

[pop22]

She's a beauty!

Howdy!!! I'm a new Autopot and Megacrop user also. I am in soil. My first two plants I over saturted the pots up front, then over watered, theh both stunted. I pulled them and started a new seed.

My new seed I started in a 20 oz seedling cup and up potted to a 1 gal then to the 3.9 gal Autopot. It is growing wonderful. I did this to help with establishing a good root system and not over watering.

Not sure if over watering is an issue with coco so may not be an issue for you.

After having read most every post on Autopot and MegaCrop here I have come to one main conclusion.

1. Most issues I've read about were directly related to using too much nutrients and cal/mag etc.... I am sticking to @pop22 recommended 500 ish PPM.

So far so good!!!
View attachment 1317822View attachment 1317823

Good luck!!!!!