Grow Mediums Using an Autopot aquavalve for a tray of small containers of coco (SOG)?

[Olderfart]

I tied it last spring with 3 cloth pots in a modded ( 4 the valve) 12x18 tray. The excess water made the pots tooo wet . Never thought about the closed cell trick

Thanks for chiming in, that confirms my suspicions. When I was thinking about how to set up something serious with small multi pots in a large tray, I figured one easy way to do it might be to cast a concrete base with water access channels beneath it and molded cavities in the concrete for the pots. The concrete would only need to be a bit more than an inch deep, so it should be easy to do. If I did that, I would consider sealing the concrete with epoxy to prevent nutes from grabbing more calcium from it. OTOH, in coco, maybe a bit extra would not go amiss. I'd love to see this sort of setup tried with a bunch of solos in a SOG grow. I expect that one Autovalve would supply a 4x4 full of solos - say 16 of them for a round number. At a couple ounces per solo, we are talking about roughly two pounds of bud. One of these days...

 

[Olderfart]

Thanks for your detailed reply!

About hydroton under pots: Okay. The 1L airpots have a small air gap under them, but I have usually added a wick to give the roots a head start until they grow past the air gap and down to the tray. With the solo cups, I don't start bottom-feeding until the roots have spread to the hydroton layer, which is probably small enough that the autopot's fill layer should still contact the coco. I've added that because I noticed that the roots in airpots really liked that small air gap, and all my solo cup plants responded very well to adding a ~1/2" layer of hydroton. Before that I had roots plugging all the holes I've drilled in the cups and causing drainage problems, then root rot.

Putting something inert between the pots to take up volume in the tray is an excellent idea, and would allow some control over how much it floods, which could be fine-tuned over the grow.

Stirring the reservoir: I previously used an airstone in my reservoir, continually bubbling and buzzing. (The venturi aerator should be much quieter.) A little aeration on a timer would probably be plenty. I haven't had problems with nutrients coming out of solution, but I will have a filter on the autopot intake just in case.

I will check out the Troubleshooting the Autovalve thread, and if I decide to go this route for my next batch (likely around late December/January) I'll tag you.

Good luck with it. Your observation about the solos is interesting. I haven't done sub-irrigation with them, but I can see how that could be a problem. When I pulled the root balls out of my solos, I was shocked at how completely plugged the cup was with roots. I'm not even sure how that can happen without exploding the cup or pushing the root ball out of it, but it seems to work. Anyway, I'd still be pretty careful about elevating the solos much, because the autovalve will not give more water until the hydroton layer is emptied, and that might leave your pots a bit drier than optimum, and for longer. Another solution to this might be to simply put a layer of thick cloth material beneath the solos. I know that Autopot actually sells a coco mat that serves this purpose, although I have never used one. One more option that comes to mind is to just use bigger drainage holes or more of them. Dunno, because I haven't tried it.

If the filter you are putting on the reservoir is one of the small ones provided by Autopot, I would not depend on it. The little flat one that I am thinking about just has some very coarse filter material in it. It looks to me that in order to keep the thing small and not have it plug prematurely, the filter material is far too coarse to stop everything that might foul the valve, and the small size reduces longevity if there is anything to build up in it. The poor design of the autopot filter is why I went with the pleated household one. It removes all material anywhere near big enough to cause issues in the valve, and with the small volume used in our mischief, they last for multiple grows even in my 4x4. Your 2x2 uses a lot less water than my 4x4, so filter plugging may be a much smaller risk but crud getting through the filter could be a problem.

I look forward to seeing how you put it all together, and how it works for you!

 

[parsing_trees]

When I pulled the root balls out of my solos, I was shocked at how completely plugged the cup was with roots. I'm not even sure how that can happen without exploding the cup or pushing the root ball out of it, but it seems to work.

In one of my last grows the solo had so much root growth that it pushed several inches out of the cup. I posted a picture of the mass inside the cup after the harvest. I'm still not sure what to make of that, but among other things the hydroton layer from the bottom of the cup was all pushed more than halfway up. I could see one of the plants standing up straight in time lapse when I watered and starting to slouch as the coco/roots dried out. Not the stem, leaves, etc., but the whole mass stretching up out of the cup.

About the filter: Will keep that in mind.

 

[JP1]

There's someone here, I think @Zer0 ? That's using a 4x4 kiddie pool with an autovalve with pebbles in the bottom of the pool and puts the pots on top of that

 

[Olderfart]

In one of my last grows the solo had so much root growth that it pushed several inches out of the cup. I posted a picture of the mass inside the cup after the harvest. I'm still not sure what to make of that, but among other things the hydroton layer from the bottom of the cup was all pushed more than halfway up. I could see one of the plants standing up straight in time lapse when I watered and starting to slouch as the coco/roots dried out. Not the stem, leaves, etc., but the whole mass stretching up out of the cup.

About the filter: Will keep that in mind.

I'm pretty sure I saw the pics of your solo, I've never seen anything like it on here before or since. None of my coco solos lifted the medium at all. Mind you, mine were hanging in open air and top irrigated, so roots tended to air prune. With immersed subirrigation, the roots might behave very differently.

 

[Zer0]

There's someone here, I think @Zer0 ? That's using a 4x4 kiddie pool with an autovalve with pebbles in the bottom of the pool and puts the pots on top of that

That's me. It is working good so far but i can't just leave the valve on with 4 pots using it just yet.

Not enough pots/plants drinking it, so what i do is turn it on, it fills the pool up and a week later i look at how watered they are and turn it back on, they are getting decent in size now so i may try just leaving the valve turn on but 1 cycle uses about 50% of the 13 gallon res so i would need a bigger trashcan res to fuel the 4x4 kiddie pool valve idea.

It may not be hands free (yet) but it still is easy to water them, i just turn a valve and turn it off a few hours later.

After this harvest i will fill the 4x4 up with as many pots on the pebbles/hydroton as i can and try leaving the valve on or stop trying to use a huge 4x4 and just flood my 2x2 or 2x4 tent with 2-3 pots per tent.


Any questions about it let me know, this was just my 1st try at it and it can be improved upon i'm sure.

pictures of my setup

1st week of me using it

Today

 

[parsing_trees]

After thinking a bit about how to improvise one, I decided to just get the optional "pot sock" that surrounds the aquavalve and blocks roots, perlite, and anything else solid that could cause the valve to fail open and flood. I'm considering using it to water the remainder of my current batch (currently on day 46), which would show how well it works once the plants are large enough to drink everything even when I bottom-feed twice per day. If I do I'll tag you (Olderfart).

@Zer0: It's like you're growing weed in a ball pit How long does it take for the pump to fill the 4x4 to its stop height?

 

[Olderfart]

After thinking a bit about how to improvise one, I decided to just get the optional "pot sock" that surrounds the aquavalve and blocks roots, perlite, and anything else solid that could cause the valve to fail open and flood. I'm considering using it to water the remainder of my current batch (currently on day 46), which would show how well it works once the plants are large enough to drink everything even when I bottom-feed twice per day. If I do I'll tag you (Olderfart).

@Zer0: It's like you're growing weed in a ball pit How long does it take for the pump to fill the 4x4 to its stop height?

good plan, although as I recall, the pot socks are intended for the pots, not the valve. Mind you, I haven't been on the Autopot website recently, so maybe they have a new product, or I missed it. In any case, it is possible that completely enclosing the valve in pot sock material will result in the valve repeatedly doing flood cycles inside the sock due to the nute mix not escaping quickly enough. I would tend to set things up so that the valve is protected, but not all the nute mix has to go through the oot sock material. As long as you arrange enough distance that the roots have to travel to get the valve, you should be ok for a week if you trim before leaving. If you place pot sock material underneath the valve, make sure that it can't lift and interfere with the inner valve float. I'm not sure how the mischief with loose material under there works, but I can tell you it does.

Good luck with it, give me a shout any time if I might be able to help.

 

[Zer0]

After thinking a bit about how to improvise one, I decided to just get the optional "pot sock" that surrounds the aquavalve and blocks roots, perlite, and anything else solid that could cause the valve to fail open and flood. I'm considering using it to water the remainder of my current batch (currently on day 46), which would show how well it works once the plants are large enough to drink everything even when I bottom-feed twice per day. If I do I'll tag you (Olderfart).

@Zer0: It's like you're growing weed in a ball pit How long does it take for the pump to fill the 4x4 to its stop height?

No pump, its gravity fed from a res sitting higher than the autovalve,i have not timed it but its a slow trickle so i'd say maybe 15 mins at max?

The roots don't grow very far in my system because of the dry wet cycles so the roots self prune back to the pot area. i find it a fun and easy setup.

 

[parsing_trees]

good plan, although as I recall, the pot socks are intended for the pots, not the valve. Mind you, I haven't been on the Autopot website recently, so maybe they have a new product, or I missed it.

Oh, I meant the "aquavalve pot sock kit", which they show with an aquavalve in it, and apparently it also comes with a metal plate to ensure it stays flat. It may not be ideal, but it seems to be what they're selling for exactly the situation I have in mind, and I figured once I've tried it I could improvise a replacement if necessary. I'm more worried about stray perlite floating around than roots sneaking up on it.