Autopots Issues Q/A

So I’ve run the Autopots 3.9 x24 system for almost a year now. I’ve run into QUITE a few issues but my MAJOR issue that has seemed to persist is that I can’t keep my coco wet as if the wicking effect is just NOT happening.

Just ran my lines for my new run in veg yesterday and instead of top feeding for 14 days like everyone says you’re supposed to, I top fed for 22 days. I figured that the issue was that my roots weren’t established enough which may have been causing the issue. I had 5 plants over 6 feet looking super lush and green, about 15 plants around 4.5 feet looking pretty decent, and 4 plants that were major troubled ones. The issue became apparent when in flower, I could tell that the roots didn’t seem to be up taking any of the nutrients and the trays would become stale and the food would solidify in these trays, where as the healthy plants looked like the food was relatively clear and clean, you could tell the plants were drinking from these.

This was the first run in my new flower room using 10 DE 1000 watt phantoms, a Quest 165, which is almost useless as the room never got above 65% humidity. I did however see a MASSIVE daily fluctuation in the humidity. I was seeing 65%-33% relative humidity in a day. I also believe that this massive change in humidity could be the cause of the coco drying up so much. I just bought the Anden humidifier to keep the humidity UP.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? I’m running the CANA COCO line with several minor tweaks. Hydroton in the base, then Tupur coco to the top of the pots. NO air stones in the res, NO air domes in the bottom of the pots.

I’m still considerably new to the system but have run into my fair share of hiccups and growing pains through my first 3 runs. Please reach out and lets help build the autopot community as I don’t believe there’s nearly enough information and this might be the most lacking growing technique when it comes to videos and tutorials. If anyone has some good resources, please share them!

I think @Nicky can probably give some good advise when it comes to auto pots.
Good luck! :+1:t2: :sunglasses:

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I run mine as such

Germinated seed into solo cup filled with coco and perlite mix

Once the plant is showing it’s established real growth over edges of cup they transfer to xl pots and sat into system.

The coco should be freshly made and still damp to touch.

Feed every other day with nutrients for a week or so and let the bottom feed take over

Never use AN in reservoir or anything organic. Keep it hydroponics to keep lines clean…er.

Top feed teas and flower boosters

As always thoroughly clean all aspects of the system between grows

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You need to run 30-50% perlite in your coco mix.
Top feed until the leaf tips touch the edge of the top and then try turning on.

Your issue is your running straight coco.

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@Nicky I do know that Tupur coco has perlite in it. Though I’ve done a search and can’t find exactly the amount of perlite it contains, and will do so when I’m back at my garden tomorrow and report back for those wondering… I am for sure that it does contain perlite. Can you suggest a better coco/perlite mix? I’m also running my system under 315 LECs that the light base footprint begins at about 7’9". Could the harsh light possibly be causing the pots to dry out? Just spitballing here as they have dried out after being done with the hand watering which I did for a total of 24 days. Any info/suggestions welcomed and appreciated!

@PharmerBob I completely ditch ALL my lines and run new lines after each cycle per room. 1 VEG cycle= new lines in the veg. 1 BLOOM cycle= new lines in bloom. I’m coming out of a clone bucket and not starting from seed so I’m going directly from the cloner into the 3.9 pots, then under T5s while I hand feed. Then under 315 LECs for the remainder of veg. Then into the flower room under 1000w DE HPS.

But perlite separate from coco.

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Your lines are fine don’t waste your time money or the environment by replacing them so often.
After 4 grows I soak all my lines in a 5 gallon bucket with a strong concentration of drip clean /florakleen for 24 hours it takes any crud out and I re use them.

As @PharmerBob said buy Perlitre separate, as well as your coco and mix it together yourself at a 30-50% perlite ratio.

I have super powerful lights myself so it’s not your lights, the medium would stay wet and your leafs would go crispy if it was

@PharmerBob @Nicky I will most definitely mix my perlite and coco next time I set my veg run! My leaves are always looking healthy even now in my veg, the coco is drying out but the leaves are praying when the lights are on. I just don’t understand why this is happening. I was really hoping the extra 10 days of top feeding by hand would help my root base work its way down enough and the wicking effect would keep my coco moist this run, but that does not seem to be the case. I just don’t get it! Having said that, most of the trays are staying pretty clean and sediment isn’t building up, so I know my plants in veg are drinking right now so I’m guessing the extra time hand feeding helped.

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I just finished my first grow using AutoPot. I got a bit concerned with the medium being dry and contacted the AutoPot rep. That is totally expected and normal. Then later in the grow one pot was bit damp at the top of the medium, and I again bugged them with that concern and was told it was perfectly fine. As far as the humidity fluctuating, we live in arid climate with rh in 20s on a good day but generally lower.

I never really concerned myself with the little reservoir at the pot base other than on occasion checking to make sure the roots had not invaded the valve. I did us the copper flat piece and the copper pot sock. I never considered uptake as the plants always looked really good. Only toward the last couple of weeks I checked the TDS and made an adjustment. Kept the pH in tight control around 5.8 to 6. I do use the Airdomes. If the big reservoir is going down then they are drinking what they need. I understood that too much top feeding won’t encourage the roots to go down to where they need to be. I only top fed the new grow a few days and they have not shown any need for water. And I put these babies in when they were really small seedlings. Like only four days after they came up. Kind of playing it a bit wild and reckless I suppose but they look good.

How does (or did at this point in time) your plants look? That was my big indicator on issues. Just watching the plant. My AutoPot plants are considerably bigger and healthier than the Soft Pot plants.

Just for a fun comparison, here is the new grow. The three smaller plants are Blueberry X Big Bud and you can see the dif with the Soft Pot one. Larger plants are Lemon Haze. All are autos.

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One problem that caused my Autopot 3.9 gal 70/30 coco/perlite to dry out! What I discovered was the autopot base has to be completely level or the valve can malfunction and water flow is greatly reduced. I had to manually lift the black float assembly to allow the valve to completely open and flood the tray. After leveling, my autopots suffer no more drying out problems. I grow outdoors in Tucson AZ, and the temperatures are 80-105 degrees days and rel. humidity 30% or less with a dry desiccating climate.
Nutrient lockout is my greatest issue. Cheers!:beers:

The only issue I’ve had is that the nutrients block the valve.
Are the plants your having issues with further away from the res then the others ? I only had this issue before I added a air stone to the main res

On a side note the next run I do I’ll be adding a flat air stone to the bottom of the pot in clay pebbles and a smaller on in the mini res on the side, I’ll also be running a wick from the bottom of the pot to save top watering as I don’t have much spare time in the day.

Ps I’m no expert just thinking out of the box to suit my needs, as the saying goes there’s more than one way to skin a kangaroo :man_shrugging:t4:

Transplanting is a process that helps your marijuana plants grow bigger and healthier. It means changing the type or size of the pot that your plant is in. This allows the roots of the marijuana plant to expand more, which leads to stronger branches, bigger buds, and improved health.

Please follow our guide to know when to transplant cannabis plants.

Running the autopot XL system with fabric pots will help your tents humidity, just a FYI for anyone but a humifier should do the job as long as the tent is equipped with an AC infinity duct fan controller or similar to help aid humidity by only venting when heat or humidity exceed set limits, thus keeping VPD in a better range.

AutoPots must be level yes, exactly.

Top watering should be done until the leafs of the plant stretch over the edge of the pot, this is a sign the roots are deep enough.

At times my coco has gotten to wet or to dry on the top as well, it just happens most of the time no issue.
Its important to have that mix of perlit in there though to avoid it always being to damp and having no air spaces.

Sometimes I will turn off a try or my system to allow the pot to dry out a bit just once and a while.

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