4th Grow. Runtz Auto, weekly update on the Lead Farm

At what point, if at all, should I think about using the self watering bases?
With those I believe they use a couple of wicks to draw water from the basin a bottom feed the plants. Apparently this is effective once the roots reach the bottom of the pot, but not sure when that would be, or if they are worth attempting.

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I can’t help with that one. Haven’t looked into them yet. I’m curious about where the runoff goes.
Roots grow fast so taproots probably already there.

I just checked it and the user manual pdf. I don’t think I would have bought those. Reusing runoff is generally not recommended around here. You are probably better off sticking to the basics for the first grow. I would probably just use it to catch runoff then empty and leave it dry. Plus it is nice to be able to move and turn them when you need to so let’s keep the roots in the pot.

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Yep, I’ll just stick to top water. If I try them, it’ll be after I get a little experience and a couple successful grows. They do make turning them when watering (less frequent now) very easy and do an excellent job of catching runoff.
Thanks again for the advice

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If you ever need to leave for a prolonged period of time, you’ll be glad to have them.

I use autopots, rather than the self-watering bases. The only distinction is the wicks. AC Infinity has self-watering bases with wicks, which can get gunked up, come out of place, etc. the autopot is just a tray the plant sits inside of and doesn’t have any opportunity for those issues - the water lines can get clogged, don’t get me wrong, but if you avoid nutrients that gum things up, it’s much less an issue.

Still true. There is a distinction to be made between an automatic bottom-watering system and simply letting your plant sit in its own runoff. The key is where the plant typically gets watered from. When you decide to bottom water, you need to quickly accept that you cannot top water again - or if you do, it needs to involve a heavy flush.

When you water a plant, the expended salts travel the direction you water - I.e. if you watered from the top, the water and the salts both flow downward. This is why we emphasize runoff so heavily - if you don’t water to runoff, the salts just hang out at the bottom of the plant/in the root zone and eventually cause massive issues. The same thing is true for a bottom-watered plant. The water is flowing up, instead of down. The salts get pushed up to the surface of the soil/coco. You can’t really bottom-water to runoff, so it just sits up at the surface. If you watered from the top, you’d be washing all those salts back down into the roots and causing those aforementioned problems.

The real takeaway is: bottom water, or top water, but never do both. You can top-water a young plant til the roots are established, then switch to an auto-watering system, that’s common practice. But otherwise, stick to one and don’t change it up. :100:

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He’s using grow dots. Doesn’t that limit watering exclusively to top watering for the dots to work?

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Not in my experience. I’d mix the dots in the bottom half of the pot instead of throughout the whole container, but otherwise it’s fine.

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Thanks. I’m going to use dots for the first time in the future, possibly next grow. I keep things simple and cheap as possible in my tent so I only top water by hand. I’m little help answering questions beyond my limited experience and I appreciate your time given to keep novice growers on the right path. Thank you.

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Thanks for all of the guidance. Pretty good idea the coloration on the leaves was because I got several leaves wet. It looks like the only ones that got discolored were the ones that got saturated. When


testing the PH of the runoff Monday, I got 6.2 and 6.5 with the apera ph meter. I tested the soil Tuesday with a Bluelabs soil PH tester and it tested at 5.9 and 6.2. I calibrated both before testing. I will test it again when its time to water again. Looking good in the meantime.

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@Graysin and @OverallQuill80. Thanks for the detailed information.

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Starting to see some flower beginning

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I see a full tent there looking pretty good. You plan to train them or leave them to do their thing?

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Not sure yet, may just let them do their thing.






Today was watering day, both phd around 5.6, gave them both a light flush with around 3/4 to 1gal , then added a teenny bit of ph up to a gal. of spring water (ph 11ish) and split between the two. Let it sit for a bit. Tested soil about 2 hours later to 6.5 ph. Gave them each 20 oz. of spring water with grow dots recharge in both (3/4 dose per volume.) and added a little cal mag to the one (also 3/4 dose) that was showing a little bit of clawing. Hopefully I’m not over doing trying to do too much.
Either I’ve done good, or Im an idiot.
They are looking a little better than this morning, leaves were drooping a little…they were thirsty.

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Mayy have done alright, grew an inch eah overnight and the flowers grew a bit.
@OverallQuill80
Also added another 6" ventilation fan for open tent days. Also extends about 3’ and wifi control.
The 69 pro controller really flaked out with the humidifier connected. Had to reset twice after the blower and humidifier stopped working(and even deleted the program twice). Just didn’t like the humidifier( also ac infinty). Runs perfectly without it. Ended up grabbing the 69 again which runs the humidifier flawless, and also have a couple spare ports ( I do love redundancy) which I am thinking of adding a auto watering using smart outlet, 24 VDC power supply, aquarium pump and 1/4" tubing…also using stakons to allow me to throw in a momentary pushbutton for better manual control.

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Also movedd the humidifier out, and by using 1" smooth polly tubing, is running 175% more efficiently than sitting in the tent. Could not get it to maintain setpoint with the supplied corrugated hose.

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Maybe that’s the ticket for the humidifier. I think it’s intended to be outside the tent by the manufacturer. Looks pretty good there.

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Enjoying watching these girls grow.

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Week 6 / day 1 … watering day. Gave each 3/4 gallon spring water with a light dose of Cal-Mag for one.
Soil Ph tested at 6.8 and 6.3. Lost my vivosun ppm meter so was unableto get the tds, but just picked up an apera so will test at next water.




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Quickly running out of headroom

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