Set it and forget it, autopots auto grow

[Nicky]

Specifics of this grow:
3x3x6 with Kingbright two 240w 3500k +660nm and IR
AC infinity T6 exhaust fan and controller setup.
6L ultrasonic humidfior
this will be the starting tent, filter is not plugged in right now

4x2x7 (this current is finishing a soil grow in autopots)
320xl HLG 3000k
Inkbird duel humidity and temp controller
6inch vivohome fan and filter
Old humidifier that needs to be replaced…

Autopot XL 4-6 system with smart pots
100L/26 Gallon tank
A bag of perlite here comes in 25L bags so I bought one and bought one bag with 50L of coco, mixed it all together in a bin and added Mykos. Was shooting for a 70/30 coco so I’m a bit heavier on the perlite but it was easy and it worked so yeah.
In the bottom of two pots is a layer of PH stable clay pebbles, I soaked them at 5.8ph overnight just to make sure. This will give me an idea if it’s worth the hassle of doing the pebbles or not. One per tent/strsin vs one without.

Will be using chemgro 4-20 mix, as per their very aggressive mix
My tap water is 170-250 depending on the day/month so we will just do our best with what we have, it has a fair bit of calcium in it but I’ll be using calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate along with the main nutrient.

Okay well this is for me personally the first time I have ran coco and I’m doing so in my fairly new autopot system. The system is Awsome I’m just learning how to tweak it. I currently have two autos growing in autopots in a 30% perlite soil mix. That will finish in the 4x2 until harvest when these guys and spread their wings a big more.

48hr soak and all looked good but a couple days later the northern lights autos have not popped so I dropped two more and plan to reach out to sensi seeds and see if they can help me out so I can try and grow some of these wicked northern lights autos I’m meant to be getting.

I had to do a fair bit of organizing and setup and prep but that all said and done I figure we are going to be playing the waiting game for a bit.
We have one lemon AK that already is needing to go in the pots so I’ll get at tonight or Tomorrow.
Have been running the tents to make sure Temps stay good and everything seems to be working fine as of now.

@TDubWilly
@Axemanjake23
@Oldtimer69
@Bubblehead
@Bulldognuts
@Sutton
@DankGunslinger
@Cannabian
@Not2SureYet
@Myfriendis410

[Nicky]

@AAA
@BobbyDigital
@Covertgrower
@peachfuzz
@Seeddog
@Drinkslinger
@PurpNGold74

[Cannabian]

Good start! Ill be WATCHING oOOOOo !

[Myfriendis410]

Set to Watching!

[Nicky]

Oh I forgot to add that today I pre charged the pots, I mixed up a 550ppm batch of 5.8ph water and they each got about 3.5 gallons of water before running off. This is meant to give the seedlings a healthy environment to start growing, fingers crossed it isn’t to hot.

[borialis]

Quick??? What is an auto Pot?

[Covertgrower]

I’m in.

[DVM]

Do you have any isolation valves in there? I have one outside the tent that disconnects the reservoir from the trays that is handy at refill time. I also have one per tray to disconnect the tray, it’s useful if you want to pull a plant early and not deal with the added humidity.

It looks like your tent has a liner (mine does) but that’s quite a big reservoir. If an Aquavalve starts leaking does the liner have enough volume to hold the contents of the reservoir?

I ask because I just got done cleaning up 2 hours ago after one of my Aquavalves started leaking (first time in 3 years - some roots escaped), fortunately I caught it after only 20L leaked. I noticed the reservoir had dropped more than I would expect overnight so I closed the external valve and waited for lights on before cleaning up.

I’m pretty sure my liner would cope with the full 60L reservoir, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t because I grow in the cellar on a concrete floor but I see you have carpet

[Bulldognuts]

As previously stated I’ll be watching this one closely.

[Nicky]

@borialis time to google =p
It’s a bottom feeding gravety watering system that needs no power.

@Covertgrower good to see

@DVM you raise a very valid concern, if I get a leak I’m shooting myself in the foot huge…, I’m in a mobile home extension room that I’m growing in so it would be bad news bears.
Even my stock tank would leak out the 4x2 though so if I have a leak… I’m screwed, I wasn’t thinking to much about it until you just pointed that out.
I’m gonna cross my fingers they don’t leak at this point.
That being said I think we will employ a system of just turning the water on once a day for 5 min or so. Then it’s off the rest of the day.

[DVM]

Sorry if I am raining on your parade, I would hate to hear that your reservoir dumped itself out on your carpet

Certainly 5 minutes of watering a day would reduce the risk but it kind of defeats the point of the Aquavalve. As I’m sure you know, the idea is the valve delivers as much nutrient solution as the plant requires ‘on-demand’. Have you considered only partially filling your reservoir?

With 9 plants in flower I use 10L per day, I refill my reservoir every 5 days but I am lazy and I could do it every 2 days without too much hassle. I’m not sure how many plants you’re going to flower (2?) but if you just put 20L in your reservoir you get the benefits of the Aquavalve without the risk of the bad news bears coming to your town

[Oldtimer69]

Sounds like a great start… I’m ready and happy growing brother!

[Covertgrower]

@DVM aqua pots are very reliable, and they’ve proven to work. I wouldn’t be in the least bit concerned as long as the valves are maintained and cleaned every so often.

[DVM]

Sure, I’ve been using them without an issue for nearly 3 years and then this week one Aquavalve started leaking and I had to mop up 20L of nutrient solution. It could have been worse, it could have been 50L but my tent’s liner would have contained even that much. I think it was @Blasting had a similar issue …

My point is, for stress free growing, know your bunding’s capacity [Bunding - Wikipedia] and size your reservoir appropriately.

I keep all my electrical stuff (air pump and fans) up off the floor for the same reason, house fires suck even more than flooding

[kettle]

I don’t know what’s going on here exactly… but I like it… set to watching…

[DVM]

Oh, some guy’s trying to grow some premium bud and I’m being a worry-wart about leaks

[TDubWilly]

@DVM

Do you have any isolation valves in there

I use these inline to separate the tank from the trays

5 Pack (25 Total Fittings) Orbit 1/4 Inch Barbed Drip Irrigation Tubing Shut-off Valve - 5 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071QWYMPB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_NE.tEbH6SQBVZ

The tank itself uses its own shut off valve also

I don’t use these for leaks.

I put them in so I could take out individual trays and clean or work on them.

Also, if any plants finished before other ones I can take just that one plant out, flush it, then put it back under the lights but not in the tray to finish.

[Dbpooper]

Looking great guys! How but a poc of the kitty cat too ya know? Cant leave that lil guy out. I’m set to watching bud you guys are gonna crush it this grow.

[TDubWilly]

@Nicky

My tap water is 170-250 depending on the day/month so we will just do our best with what we have, it has a fair bit of calcium in it

No biggie, calcium in your tap water helps to stabilize pH

[Nicky]

To be honest we might just roll the dice, I’ll be home every 2 or 3 weeks and I will maintain it then, pull the Res and clean it, check the filter, flush the lines, rinse the trays out and clean the aqua valves, clean up the pots until I buy root socks, etc.
The idea of going autopot for us is so we don’t have to haul all the plants out, or water them each individually, collect run off ect ect. Turning the main valve on once or twice a day to fill the trays is an easy of enough fail safe but I doubt it will get done lol. Complacency, we will see.

The ideal of the bigger Res is so that once a week the wifey can water the plants/fill the Res. While just checking on them once a day really.
She’s a university student so checking on them before bed or in the morning depending on homework/class size is sooo much easier than having to water 2 or 4 plants every 2 days to run off then cleaning up the run off.

@Covertgrower yeah that’s the plan, everytime I’m home from a work hitch I’ll clean them full top to bottom and then run them while I’m at home to make sure no new issues pop up, finally I will top everything off before I leave (reservoir, PH, feed level, lights, Temps/ humidity) then hopefully we don’t have any issues.
The wifey can fill/feed once a week, PH it and check/adjust PH every second day. May need to adjust lights here and there to but that’s about it.
It’s still an hour per check that I’m taking away from her so I try to keep that in mind, the once a week takes a couple hours to fill water, mix nutes, adjust lights.

@DVM why did your leak occur? What was the culprit? Did you not clean your tray/valves?

@tDubwilly I heard the valves block easier so I only put one in the end as a bleed and thr main one on the reservoir.
You make a good point about the tap water staying a stable PH.

First lemon AK transplanted, gave him a little water of my nute mix that I pre charged the coco with 550tds

Of the others the lemon ak is showing its about to stand up but it nor the others has moved in the last 12hr…so I’m doubting them.
Of the two northern lights one I can see the seedling but again hasn’t moved in a bit and the other is not doing anything.
By far the worst germination I’ve had…

I have two more nirthen lights auto soaking. But keeping them in the dark for now.

Bo$$man loves the grow room this was us mixing up the medium

And him supervising my vacuuming