Grow Mediums occassional top hand watering as a best practice with autopots

[lunarman]

I'm no master grower or botanist or farmer. So I wonder about shit and then want to ask questions that might seem stupid.

With bottom wick feeding a plant can go 3 months without any feed water from the top. The bottom is saturated though 100% of the time though.

Is there any growing science out there that would bolster an argument that occasional top feeding is going to help a plant that is in an autopot system?

And I'll add in to the discussion that some people recommend a good flush midway thru a grow regardless of pot type. So if you side with that and use autopots, then you will end up top feeding.

 

[KonopCh]

Autopots were designed for easy setup. You top reservoir when it's empty and that's it. Why would you top fed and washing salts down... Plants take water from bottom and they love it. Even more than 3 months.
Better start reading, bro. You opened 50 threads about autopots in a month.

 

[lunarman]

Autopots were designed for easy setup. You top reservoir when it's empty and that's it. Why would you top fed and washing salts down... Plants take water from bottom and they love it. Even more than 3 months.
Better start reading, bro. You opened 50 threads about autopots in a month.

That's the second time you commented on things I do or ask questions about on autopot board. I'm not liking the vibe I'm getting off of you dude. If you don't like the things I post about then don't read them and don't reply to them. It's pretty simple actually

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[lunarman]

Autopots were designed for easy setup. You top reservoir when it's empty and that's it. Why would you top fed and washing salts down... Plants take water from bottom and they love it. Even more than 3 months.
Better start reading, bro. You opened 50 threads about autopots in a month.

Btw, Bro, here a couple of quotes from a Director from Autopots Global Ltd. Do you think this guy has read all all there is about autopots? Or do want to tell him to chill out and read some more?

1. If it’s coco I’d drop it down to 5.8 and run a couple of gallons through the pot on the first water to bring the pH down
2. I do believe in the situation that hand watering from above at the correct pH should get things back on track.
3. If there was no hand feed period, then you could remove from the tray and hand feed for 7 days, then return to the tray.

So my advice to you is don't making any more comments about what I post or ask questions about, unless you are actually adding some value to the AFN community. Because right now, you are adding zero value and just insulting members. I'll report your ass the next time you do it.

 

[KonopCh]

Actually I have answer to your question.
Theory is one thing, practice is other thing.
Start working.

 

[Nonpoint]

 

[Ross3k]

The people from autopot say it's a no-no all the salts etc get pushed to the top cos your bottom feeding so then if you decide to top feed your washing all that old shitty stuff back down in the root zone.. There is a video on YouTube they explain about flushing (not being nessecary) and why not to top feed..

 

[lunarman]

The people from autopot say it's a no-no all the salts etc get pushed to the top cos your bottom feeding so then if you decide to top feed your washing all that old shitty stuff back down in the root zone.. There is a video on YouTube they explain about flushing (not being nessecary) and why not to top feed..

Well I had a senior guy at Autopots in the UK tell me top water for a week. And i did. And it worked out well from what I can tell. 3 plants that were top watered for a week just finished draining 20 liters out of the res over the last 3 days. The one plant that was not uptaking or wicking from the tray is now back on the res feed and doing well. I weigh that pot every day and it's constant so I can tell its uptaking properly now. Before it was light and not uptaking.

I can see as a general rule they dont recommend flushing or top feeding. But this was necessary because there were issues. And their recommendation to top feed worked out. It will be interesting to see where all the salt buildup is when I harvest and look at the inside of the pots and roots etc.

 

[lunarman]

The people from autopot say it's a no-no all the salts etc get pushed to the top cos your bottom feeding so then if you decide to top feed your washing all that old shitty stuff back down in the root zone.. There is a video on YouTube they explain about flushing (not being nessecary) and why not to top feed..

Sorry I think I see your point better now. Top watering is not a best practice, which was what this thread was looking at. So the answer is not to do it, unless there is an issue like I had I guess. I for sure hope to avoid top watering in the future to be honest. Now that I'm back on the autopot res and trays, I'd rather stay that way.

 

[Ross3k]

Sorry I think I see your point better now. Top watering is not a best practice, which was what this thread was looking at. So the answer is not to do it, unless there is an issue like I had I guess. I for sure hope to avoid top watering in the future to be honest. Now that I'm back on the autopot res and trays, I'd rather stay that way.

Yea if you were having issues that changes things.. I hooked up 4 plants to autopots around 21-22 days in, 3 out of the four were bigger healthier plants, the smaller one didnt drink from the tray for the first few days so I took it back out and hand watered til it got slightly bigger. The autopots seemed to work well but I didn't like how much water mine were constantly sitting in 20mm or so and I didn't get the air stones plus I run all different strains so some prefer stronger feeds than others so the res system doesn't really work out. I might try them again in the future..