Grow Mediums Welcome to the Autopot Forum!

[pop22]

Well you all know I'm known for doing things different, and in the process, proving or disproving common gardening techniques. So as an experiment I began to do no till in my auto pots. I merely cut out the stump and plant in the hole. I've complewted three grows that way and have even surprised myself! They have been my three best grows ever! I'm using 70% soil, 30% coco. When I start a new plant I feed only water for the first 10 days. The plants use some of the left over nutrients ( I NEVER flush ). I've had not one nutrient related issue since adopting this method. I'm feeding with Megacrop.

Here's the last plants I grew this way. Its only issues were F'n mites.

 

[Kodak45]

Hey I'm starting my first grow with a autopots I'm trying to figure a good medium can u use just hydroton or all coco with some pebbles at bottom with air dome r do you have to mix some perlite I have a bag of ff coco and some hydroton any tips and suggestions would be highly appreciated

 

[MedCzech]

Hey I'm starting my first grow with a autopots I'm trying to figure a good medium can u use just hydroton or all coco with some pebbles at bottom with air dome r do you have to mix some perlite I have a bag of ff coco and some hydroton any tips and suggestions would be highly appreciated

70 coco/30 hydroton and after putting the liner down, put about 5 cm or 3 inches of hydroton pebbles to create space for your roots to grow and this is extremely important when bottom feeding. You can even do more than that. Some growers will do up to 8 cm or 5 inches. If you want to do the airdrome. You just put that on the liner before adding the hydroton.
No worries bro. You got the right stuff!

 

[HemiSync]

Hey I'm starting my first grow with a autopots I'm trying to figure a good medium can u use just hydroton or all coco with some pebbles at bottom with air dome r do you have to mix some perlite I have a bag of ff coco and some hydroton any tips and suggestions would be highly appreciated

Just because we like to confuse folks, there are a few of us here that have tried several combinations and while MedCzech is correct according to Autopots documentation, it is not what myself and pop22 now recommend after many grows. Check out his post right above yours by Pop22 where he mentions using 70% soil, 30% coco. We are both recommending a combo of soil and coco to have the soil help buffer any issues. I’m currently testing soil and perlite in the same 70/30 mix and it seems to be about the same as soil/coco. I don’t use any hydroton on the bottom either, cannabis doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Although, I do recommend use of the airdomes if you can.

If you are going to use all coco or coco/perlite do yourself a favor and add some dolomite lime to the mix because you will almost always have cal/mag deficiencies with coco as the primary. I use about a half cup of lime to every 5 gallons of medium. No lime? Prebuffer your medium with a good dose of cal/mag and be prepared to use it for most of your grow.

 

[Ivean]

I'm 70/30 soil perlite and don't use any stones at the bottom with the airdomes

 

[MedCzech]

Just because we like to confuse folks, there are a few of us here that have tried several combinations and while MedCzech is correct according to Autopots documentation, it is not what myself and pop22 now recommend after many grows. Check out his post right above yours by Pop22 where he mentions using 70% soil, 30% coco. We are both recommending a combo of soil and coco to have the soil help buffer any issues. I’m currently testing soil and perlite in the same 70/30 mix and it seems to be about the same as soil/coco. I don’t use any hydroton on the bottom either, cannabis doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Although, I do recommend use of the airdomes if you can.

If you are going to use all coco or coco/perlite do yourself a favor and add some dolomite lime to the mix because you will almost always have cal/mag deficiencies with coco as the primary. I use about a half cup of lime to every 5 gallons of medium. No lime? Prebuffer your medium with a good dose of cal/mag and be prepared to use it for most of your grow.

Correct! There are many ways to do it that work. He asked for the materials he had, I thought that was the best way. I do buffer with cal mag and use it the entire run because I use LED and you need the extra for that as well. I don the want the extra electric needed to run the airdromes so I like the hydroton at the bottom to get more air around roots that way. I have had excellent results with this technique for a long period of time.
I don't believe anyone is trying to confuse anyone here, we are simply sharing information and opinions. We all eventually find our way and our comfort zone in growing. I have found one that, for me, works well and consistently.

Happy growing to all!

 

[MedCzech]

Here's my tent running a 60/40 coco/hydroton on this run and 4 inches of hydroton on the bottom feeding with hydro nutes from Advanced Hydroponics of Holland and a few supplements from AN. These are two Auto Night Queeens by Dutch Passion, different phenos though. The only issue I had was light burn because they got bigger than they are supposed to get. Not a bad problem to have. This was two weeks ago. They are still not finished and keep adding weight.

 

[HemiSync]

I don't believe anyone is trying to confuse anyone here, we are simply sharing information and opinions

Sorry, it was a joke that obviously fell flat.

 

[HemiSync]

because they got bigger than they are supposed to get. Not a bad problem to have.

I usually like it when that happens. I did let one get way out of control a few years back when I grew in DWC. The picture was taken just a couple weeks into flower and I fought this for weeks. I learned a lot about super cropping that grow.

 

[MedCzech]

I have been adjusting to led. Grew with hps before. And had a system down for that, but to make it even me complex, I have five different lights with slightly different par values and spectrums. Makes for dialing it in a little tougher. I am still not sure which of them I like best. Cobs are nice, but I think they are missing some of the spectrum for the best buds. Maybe this combo I am running will not be that bad. Although I do see that these lights delay the entire process from the hps. Hard to tell exactly because I keep growing different strains, but I can see a difference.