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

[parsing_trees]

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.

By "pump" I meant the aquavalve, so question answered, thanks.

I've had some roots spread pretty far from bottom-feeding, even just hand watering, but I can check on them before any traveling. They don't spread that quickly.

 

[Olderfart]

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.

I agree on the perlite, but that could be dealt with by using more permeable material around the valve. The issue with the pot sock stuff is that it lets water through it slowly. This does not matter with the pots, but could be an issue with the valve. I think it is worth trying though, if you run into cycling inside the sock, you can just cut a bit of it and overlap a piece of more permeable stuff, like panty hose, for example. Funny how panty hose keeps coming up.

Really, I don't have a fetish for the stuff. But there are a couple cashiers at the dollar store that might say otherwise - the looks on their faces when the old bugger shows up at the cash register with an armload of extra large is precious. I'd love to get a video of it one time.

 

[Olderfart]

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
View attachment 1528917

Today
View attachment 1528918View attachment 1528919View attachment 1528920

You might want to not leave the valve on top of the hydroton, that will mean that the hydroton will be flooded continuously, and this might have consequences for the girl's roots.

 

[Zer0]

You might want to not leave the valve on top of the hydroton, that will mean that the hydroton will be flooded continuously, and this might have consequences for the girl's roots.

It should be fine, its not on top of the hydroton its flush with the kiddie pool's bottom and away from pots and the cover keeps the valve from floating away.

My testing with bottom feeding my plants with autopots and hand watering controls the roots pretty good, i have dry and wet cycles, not always wet for the roots to stay alive and cause problems outside the pots and getting in my valves. When i harvested my last girls with hydroton balls under the pots they grabbed 2-3 inches out of balls and stopped because of the pruning back from dry cycles.

On my normal autopots i use the copper disc/potsock and those always blocked the roots from getting in the tray area where the valve sits.

 

[parsing_trees]

I agree on the perlite, but that could be dealt with by using more permeable material around the valve. The issue with the pot sock stuff is that it lets water through it slowly. This does not matter with the pots, but could be an issue with the valve. I think it is worth trying though, if you run into cycling inside the sock, you can just cut a bit of it and overlap a piece of more permeable stuff, like panty hose, for example. Funny how panty hose keeps coming up.

Makes sense. I've seen a couple people recommend covering airpots with pantyhose to keep fungus gnats out of the sides, too. If I run into any issues with poor water flow I'll try that.

 

[Olderfart]

Makes sense. I've seen a couple people recommend covering airpots with pantyhose to keep fungus gnats out of the sides, too. If I run into any issues with poor water flow I'll try that.

fungus gnats were the reason I started with panty hose. It is handy stuff.

 

[pop22]

I don't consider air pots a good candidate for use in a flooded tray, but if I did, I'd use wicks in the pots rather than material under them.

And using "drainage material" in any kind of pot is a myth and contrary to the laws of hydaulics which states that the movement of water between disimilar materials will resist the flow of water until overcome by gravity. Which mean that trying to wick upwards will be even more difficult.various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success. And the pots can stand in water for 2-3 days without a problem.
Look up Tony21, he grew this way, flooding his trays via a bucket, and he grew monsters!

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.

 

[parsing_trees]

I don't consider air pots a good candidate for use in a flooded tray, but if I did, I'd use wicks in the pots rather than material under them.

And using "drainage material" in any kind of pot is a myth and contrary to the laws of hydaulics which states that the movement of water between disimilar materials will resist the flow of water until overcome by gravity. Which mean that trying to wick upwards will be even more difficult.various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success. And the pots can stand in water for 2-3 days without a problem.
Look up Tony21, he grew this way, flooding his trays via a bucket, and he grew monsters!

I'm not putting any material under the airpots, aside from a wick or two. Once I start bottom-feeding, the roots grow down through the small air gap between the base disc and the tray, then roots fill in that space, and the plant is less reliant on the coco itself wicking. When I put hydroton/LECA at the bottom of a solo cup, it's to create similar air pockets the roots can grow into. When I had coco all the way to the bottom of the cup, I ran into a more issues with roots trying to seek water and plugging all the holes in the cup around ~20 days from sprout, which definitely created drainage problems.

You're missing part of a sentence above, "[...] various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success.", could you please expand on that? Will check out @Tony21's grows, thanks.

 

[pop22]

LOL lost some of the sentence...

I have used various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success.

I'm not putting any material under the airpots, aside from a wick or two. Once I start bottom-feeding, the roots grow down through the small air gap between the base disc and the tray, then roots fill in that space, and the plant is less reliant on the coco itself wicking. When I put hydroton/LECA at the bottom of a solo cup, it's to create similar air pockets the roots can grow into. When I had coco all the way to the bottom of the cup, I ran into a more issues with roots trying to seek water and plugging all the holes in the cup around ~20 days from sprout, which definitely created drainage problems.

You're missing part of a sentence above, "[...] various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success.", could you please expand on that? Will check out @Tony21's grows, thanks.

 

[parsing_trees]

LOL lost some of the sentence...

I have used various size pots in a tray with an Aqua Valve being used to flood the tray with good success.

Excellent. That's what I was hoping you meant, because sometimes I end up with a hodgepodge of smaller containers.