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does anyone here use an auto feeder system
- Thread starter autopotking
- Start date
autopotking
Member
autopotking
Member
autopotking
Member
The beauty about the smart pump kit is that it will run up th 2500 pots at a time and you can use their powder form A & B nutes @ $55AU that lasts me with 60 pots in total about 10 months (and i use the same nute for flower and grow stages as recommended by them) giving great results as far as yield and little looking after. Also the pump kit can run on a solar panel the only thing you need to do is decide how big to make the nute reservoir as to how often you need to refill it i have a friend that has 2 x 220Ltr nute reservoirs and has yet to top them up after 11 Mths
autopotking
Member
Here is a scan of their smart valve it decribes how these little babies make water and food delivery a forgotten issue.
autopotking
Member
Any questions please fire away i will try and respond ASAP.
I have tried many different systems over the past 20 years and nothing can come close to this for ease of use and outstanding results for much less effort (not really true as now i spend more time trimming and making more grows) and reading the forum here.
I have tried many different systems over the past 20 years and nothing can come close to this for ease of use and outstanding results for much less effort (not really true as now i spend more time trimming and making more grows) and reading the forum here.
autopotking
Member
habeeb and lazyman have a bit of a read of my last few posts im telling you organic soil used with the autopot system is so simple it just works look at the pics.
autopotking
Member
Why plants grow so well in the Autopot
Why plants grow so well in the Autopot
EXTRACT FROM THERE WEBSITE:
The common conventional hydroponic system using media are drip to waste and ebb and flow. In a variety of ways and under a variety of systems of control, a water/nutrient mix is supplied to the plants in the system. The control at its simplest is manual, and at its most complicated, computer controlled. Even in the most comprehensive computer controlled Nutrient Film (NFT) systems, the cycle is normally dictated by the needs of the thirstiest of the plants in the system, so the average plant will get more water/nutrient than it needs which is usually also more than is good for it. This is done on the basis that a bit too much water, while perhaps not the ultimate in supplying the best growth rate, is better than too little water. There’s an old farmers saying that “you can always grow something in mud but you can’t grow anything in dust”.
Another side problem with conventional hydroponic is that all systems recirculate nutrient which very often accounts for the nutrient becoming corrupted and spreads disease problems through the entire system. To alleviate this problem it is standard practise to constantly monitor and balance the pH and CF level of nutrient which requires a significant investment in both equipment and time, or in many professional systems, excess water and nutrient is run to waste.
Why plants grow so well in the Autopot
EXTRACT FROM THERE WEBSITE:
Why plants grow so well in the Autopot Systems.
A further advantage is in the way in which water is delivered to the plant. Many Hydroponic systems recognise the fact that nature conditioned most plants to get alternating cycles of moisture so that they start out wet and then gradually dry out before it rains again to supply more moisture. If the water comes too frequently before the plant has dried out the growth of the plant is inhibited. And if the plant dries out completely and stays that way for a period longer than it is conditioned to tolerate, it will either die completely or suffer a severe setback in its growth pattern.The common conventional hydroponic system using media are drip to waste and ebb and flow. In a variety of ways and under a variety of systems of control, a water/nutrient mix is supplied to the plants in the system. The control at its simplest is manual, and at its most complicated, computer controlled. Even in the most comprehensive computer controlled Nutrient Film (NFT) systems, the cycle is normally dictated by the needs of the thirstiest of the plants in the system, so the average plant will get more water/nutrient than it needs which is usually also more than is good for it. This is done on the basis that a bit too much water, while perhaps not the ultimate in supplying the best growth rate, is better than too little water. There’s an old farmers saying that “you can always grow something in mud but you can’t grow anything in dust”.
Another side problem with conventional hydroponic is that all systems recirculate nutrient which very often accounts for the nutrient becoming corrupted and spreads disease problems through the entire system. To alleviate this problem it is standard practise to constantly monitor and balance the pH and CF level of nutrient which requires a significant investment in both equipment and time, or in many professional systems, excess water and nutrient is run to waste.
autopotking
Member
The smart valve opens only after all the water has been used by the plant there is a smart valve in each pot.
http://www.autopot.com.au/
http://www.autopot.com.au/
AutoPot concern.....not sure it really ever dries out....
AutoPot concern.....not sure it really ever dries out....
Hey all,
I have been using the AutoPot system for about 2 weeks now. I have been lifting my pots and checking the trays to see if they are ever dry...........I have done this too many times to mention and yet to see a dry tray????? The plants had not shown signs of overwatering....until yesterday (just a few) I had been nervous of the potential of over water (nute solution) and have shut off the valve to each autopot to allow the plant to absorb the nutrient solution in tray, I plan on opening back up after a few days. (FYI) I am using the rec. substrate of coco mix with perlite. Also another bit of info... I purchased the Autopots from a supplier in New York (Futuregarden) I was in contact with the owner (Keith Roberto) who is the author of "How-To Hydroponics" with his fith edition coming out soon. He claimed to be the exclusive distributor in the United States. As the deal was being finalized he casually said that he may send me the "knock-off" version of the MK2 because of the problems he had recently dealt with on a system he sold someone (over a 100 units), and he wanted to "make sure they work for me". Anyway, Autopotking my question is...do you have any experience with the "knock-off" of the smartvalve? Can you comment on my concern with always seeing nute solution in the trays (when I lift the pots up). Also, how long do your plants stay in the Autopots? I guess what I mean is, do you SOG with a 1,2,or 3 week veg period then flower?? Or do you veg for 4,6 or 8 weeks get em real big then flower?? The reason I ask is I am concerned about the size of the pots....possibly too small (2.5gal) for anything but SOG tech. ?? I have looked into buying 3.5gal that will fit the trays...........just don't know what too do.
sorry, lot of type I will stop now HA!
ciao from San Diego!
AutoPot concern.....not sure it really ever dries out....
Hey all,
I have been using the AutoPot system for about 2 weeks now. I have been lifting my pots and checking the trays to see if they are ever dry...........I have done this too many times to mention and yet to see a dry tray????? The plants had not shown signs of overwatering....until yesterday (just a few) I had been nervous of the potential of over water (nute solution) and have shut off the valve to each autopot to allow the plant to absorb the nutrient solution in tray, I plan on opening back up after a few days. (FYI) I am using the rec. substrate of coco mix with perlite. Also another bit of info... I purchased the Autopots from a supplier in New York (Futuregarden) I was in contact with the owner (Keith Roberto) who is the author of "How-To Hydroponics" with his fith edition coming out soon. He claimed to be the exclusive distributor in the United States. As the deal was being finalized he casually said that he may send me the "knock-off" version of the MK2 because of the problems he had recently dealt with on a system he sold someone (over a 100 units), and he wanted to "make sure they work for me". Anyway, Autopotking my question is...do you have any experience with the "knock-off" of the smartvalve? Can you comment on my concern with always seeing nute solution in the trays (when I lift the pots up). Also, how long do your plants stay in the Autopots? I guess what I mean is, do you SOG with a 1,2,or 3 week veg period then flower?? Or do you veg for 4,6 or 8 weeks get em real big then flower?? The reason I ask is I am concerned about the size of the pots....possibly too small (2.5gal) for anything but SOG tech. ?? I have looked into buying 3.5gal that will fit the trays...........just don't know what too do.
sorry, lot of type I will stop now HA!
ciao from San Diego!
I've used "Green Genius" automatic watering systems as well as Blumat watering spikes to good success to keep dirt going while on a months vacation.
autopotking
Member
Ok there are new pot inserts that are black instead of the green ones you probably have, which now have a flap to lift up and they expose the smart valve these have just come out here so i guess it will be a while before you see them but they are a lot better IMO than the green ones(nothing wrong with those i have about 20 of them). The pot size needs not be changed it will allow a single plant to veg for as long as you want to and flower all the way through.I recently grew a plant up 8ft and then trained it across the roof of a pergola another 12 feet round it was massive all out of the 10" pot and it never showed signs of over water or over nutes. I run an EC of 30 from start to finish with no issues.
autopotking
Member
The system is amazing and the things it will do i could not believe but guess what it really does work, also i like their powder nutes as you use it for flower and grow (i know they say you need two types but i have tried it and its all good). I have not seen the impostor smart valve as the original one works great and no need to dud the original designer of his hard earned efforts. The reason you always see water/nute solution in there is that once it has used it all up it only takes about 10-20mins for the smartvalve to reopen and top up the reservoir. So unless you sit there and wait and watch it run out you will always see solution in there. One word of caution do not top feed adatives to your pots as this will add to the levels of water and the plant wiil get root rot just put your adativis into the main resivoir that feeds the autopots (learnt this the hard way).
autopotking
Member
Also if you lift them out all the time they will fill up and then when you put them back in the water level is too high and you will see signs of over-watering just leave them in. I know your frustration that is why i now prefer the black holders as you just flip the lid to look at the smartvalve and water level.
autopotking
Member
Photos of the black ones a little later.
autopotking
Member
photos will not upload will try later
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D
Daddy-O
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Thanks for all the info!! Quite helpful, however, help me out here....I understood that the water level was controlled by the "SmartValve" and it would only refill once the tray becomes dry to nearly dry. So explain why lifted the pot out of the tray would cause the valve to open and fill more water??? I don't get that. Because just lifting the pot and subsequently seeing about 1/4-1/8 inch of water shouldn't trigger the valve because there is still water there....right?? I thought the valve was "Smart" it only releases when it is dry (which of course makes the device tip and opens the flow) kinda like a float mechanism inside the tank of a toilet. So it doesn't seem logical that this action could cause overwatering??? Please enlighten me.....I may just be retarted!! I am a women, and sometimes these simplistic things go beyond our BIG brains....lolollol. About the 12" black one pot system...........I actually am familiar, I tried to buy that one instead but could not find a source in the United States, FutureGarden said he didn't carry them. Let me know if you know a way to buy them in the U.S. because I would prefer those because of the flexiblility of moving a single plant around....and the two pot version seems that these plants may get a little crowded (one next to other). Even with the above concerns mentioned I still really like the system. I will use it and buy more most likely. I have the same experience as Daddy-O with the stability of the PH and PPM because of the no re-circ. LOVE it!!
thanks again AutoKing for the attention to my posts.
love to see as many pics of your successful op. as possible!!
ciao
from San Diego
thanks again AutoKing for the attention to my posts.
love to see as many pics of your successful op. as possible!!
ciao
from San Diego
autopotking
Member
Absolutely no financial interest of this product other than i get a discount from them as i have now bought so many of them i just love the product for its ease of use and outstanding results.
As for salt build up flushing this is another reason i use their nutes i have yet to do a flush through a cycle other than when they are finished i hose out the pots/tubs.
As for the levels it only stuffs up if you drop the pots in quick the plunge effect stuffs it up if you lower them in slowly so as the water soaks up into the pot no problems.
As for salt build up flushing this is another reason i use their nutes i have yet to do a flush through a cycle other than when they are finished i hose out the pots/tubs.
As for the levels it only stuffs up if you drop the pots in quick the plunge effect stuffs it up if you lower them in slowly so as the water soaks up into the pot no problems.
