does anyone here use an auto feeder system

[Daddy-O]

.http://www.amazon.com/Pot-Easy-Grow...sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=garden&qid=1261373394&sr=1-4

 

[autopotking]

daddy-o i agree i have added a bubbler to A+B and the smart pump to do the same as i have long runs of poly around the place, this is a new addition and will see if it improves anything.

 

[autopotking]

Here is there new pot/holder

 

[autopotking]

two more

 

[autopotking]

veiw of working roots

veiw of working roots

Here is a finished plant as you can see the root build up is not all at the bottom as the bulk of the roots sit at the top of the water line and maintain the theory plants like to dry up a bit before the next water.

 

[Craven_au]

looks like u need some help autopotking i have used the autopot system for 4 grows now and all ways have my mothers growing in one, i have big planes 4 the autopot system 4 my attic grow in winter
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=146328&page=3

Ok what i know about the autopot

The smart valve the heart of the system

The smart valve is a very sentence device and should not be touched
the device works by trapping air into it and stopping the Nutrients like a float switch once the nutrients is used up the air is release and the trays will begin to refill again.

By lifting the pots and touching the smart valve u could be releasing the taped air in the device and f in the hole thing up.

Over watering

Over watering is caused by using the wrong amounts of media.
smaller pots up to 10'' or 5 Litre need well draining media 100% perlite work best.
larger pots like there 12'' pots need a media that can hold more water a 70% perlite and 30% vermiculite mix works well.

I must say that there powdered nutrient is the best nutrient for there system well it was design 4 it and its the cheapest 2 part nutrients u can get.I will put there nutrients two the test come winter.

There Faq http://www.autopot.com.au/default.aspx?PageID=2ee577ee-b27b-4e26-b9dc-e05d03ff5da0

 

[autopotking]

got most of it sorted out just had a few heat issues with roots in my room (any ideas how to cool the roots) i upsized the A/C in the room to 14000 BTU and only running 6 x 600 cool tubes (did have 3 x 1000 as well but lent them to a mate) i am hoping there will be no more issues. The rest of my out door garden is all fine tomatoes had some heat issues as well so i only put it down to the heat.

 

[Craven_au]

Them dark green and black pot can absorb a lot of heat try to insulate them with some thing. just a though them car window shade are quite cheep mite work or maybe you could just cover them in mylar or pant them white.

 

[autopotking]

thanks mate i think im going to add a few milar panels on top of the pots to insulate and reflect up wasted light

 

[autopotking]

do you use an auto doser as well or just a res ?

 

[autopotking]

any pics of your setup ?

 

[Craven_au]

I just use a rez i did stop grow for awhile and i lost all my pic with overgrow.com spewing bad i just don't like keeping pic on my PC could be used agents u i do have some pic of my big bud mum and some snow white clones in the 2pot autopot system.

 

[autopotking]

looks good im just trying to find a cab for my moms very similar to the one you have as i now have 4 moms of diff strains

 

[dodo5678]

Autopots are cool

Autopots are cool

Check out this thread. Johnny yielded almost a pound off of 2 plants. He used ScROG and a coco/perlite 60/40 mix.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=63136

I haven't seen anyone just using perlite, but does not sound like a bad idea and may need to try that next go around. My first attempt sucked 'cause i didn't know i should flush the coco before using it. When preparing the coco for my clones this go around I did flush it and measured the water- it came back with an EC 1.9 on the first flush!

Anyway this go around i plan on putting 1" hydroton on the bottom of the buckets then running the coco/perlite 60/40 mix in the bucket and see what I get. I'll have to try the 100% perlite next time, or shit maybe in one of my trays this time! Why not?

100% perlite worked very well in this cheap cloner H3ad made:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=10225

Never in my life did i have 100% success when cloning. Thanks for sharing your autopot grows, i'll be checking them out. I thought I may have read something on why you shouldn't use 100% perlite, but it seems to be slipping my mind... don't know why

-dodo

 

[mayorofthdesert]

just finished my first go-around with my cabinet using autopots. I'm sold - my big issue is that I have to leave home, often 4-6 days at a time. I was away probably 30 days total out of my 90 day grow & they worked flawlessly and efficiently. I found that 3 plants (that each yielded between 1 & 2 oz) mid flower could go about 7 days on a 3 gallon resevoir in my set-up. I tried just using the smartvalves in my own trays so I could pack more plants into each chamber, but I started fighting algae & I never did get a great way of keeping the smartvalves from floating up. Seems like they designed them to be difficult to use without their own trays. I like 'em enough that I'll be buying a few more trays to fill out the cabinet.

 

[dodo5678]

just finished my first go-around with my cabinet using autopots. I'm sold - my big issue is that I have to leave home, often 4-6 days at a time. I was away probably 30 days total out of my 90 day grow & they worked flawlessly and efficiently. I found that 3 plants (that each yielded between 1 & 2 oz) mid flower could go about 7 days on a 3 gallon resevoir in my set-up. I tried just using the smartvalves in my own trays so I could pack more plants into each chamber, but I started fighting algae & I never did get a great way of keeping the smartvalves from floating up. Seems like they designed them to be difficult to use without their own trays. I like 'em enough that I'll be buying a few more trays to fill out the cabinet.

Yeah- i like the fact that plants can feed when they are hungry. what type of medium do you grow in?

 

[mayorofthdesert]

I used 50/50 coco/perlite with about one inch of pure perlite on the bottom for drainage.

 

[dodo5678]

I used 50/50 coco/perlite with about one inch of pure perlite on the bottom for drainage.

Very cool. Yeah, i've seen some people say that is a good ratio too. Kinda goes towards what Craven was saying about using more (100%) perlite:

looks like u need some help autopotking i have used the autopot system for 4 grows now and all ways have my mothers growing in one and i have big planes 4 the autopot system 4 my attic grow in winter
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=146328&page=3

Ok what i know about the autopot

The smart valve the heart of the system

The smart valve is a very sentence device and should not be touched
the device works by trapping air into it and stopping the Nutrients like a float switch once the nutrients is used up the air is release and the trays will begin to refill again.

By lifting the pots and touching the smart valve u could be releasing the taped air in the device and f in the hole thing up.

Over watering

Over watering is caused by using the wrong amounts of media.
smaller pots up to 10'' or 5 Litre need well draining media 100% perlite work best.
larger pots like there 12'' pots need a media that can hold more water a 70% perlite and 30% vermiculite mix works well.

I must say that there powdered nutrient is the best nutrient for there system well it was design 4 it and its the cheapest 2 part nutrients u can get.I will put there nutrients two the test come winter.

There Faq http://www.autopot.com.au/default.aspx?PageID=2ee577ee-b27b-4e26-b9dc-e05d03ff5da0

Craven- what other ratios or mediums have you used with the autopot? Looks like in your pics you are possibly using coarse perilite, is this true? Also i think i remember reading something about if you were to use 100% perlite that there are issues with cation/anion exchange between the medium and the plant, have you ever noticed any issues with feeding? and have you noticed better yields with one medium setup as opposed to another.

Thanks guys, really appreciate your time
-dodo

 

[Craven_au]

Yes i have all ways used 100% coarse or medium perlite i have never had issues with feeding in the autopot.
I'm planing to test other mediums soon in my new grow room i will also be testing other nutrients up agents the autopots 2 part nutrients to see how they compare i may do a test run in my closet first in February.I will be trying a new way to grow with the smart valve u will just have to wait n see.

 

[autopotking]

I was talking to the Jim and he told me of a new cut to any length up to 3m of gutter style channel that you can cut any size hole in the top and have 1 x smart valve in the middle with no medium required or if you wish you can cut it big enough for a pot to go in there. It has its limitations of length of 3m due to ratios of the smart valve, it also has a channel in the bottom the same as the two pot system.