I’ve been searching all over ilgm and can’t find my answer. I know there’s a lot of members who use autopots and I’m going for a autopot run next grow. Have (4)6.6gal hard pots with airdromes , airbase and upgraded filter. I’m in 5gal fabrics with FF coco loco now. Using cronk nutes lineup. I’m excited about the autopots but my questions are:
What soils work best?
I see people using living soil and running plain water in rez tanks but what about recharge and other top feeds ect?
The whole top feeding process?
Very confusing to me. I understand the few weeks for root establishment but again top feeding eliminates the reason I want autopots.
And would that not overwater? Been my issue just starting out. Again the reason I got autopots.
Also I’d like to do 4 different strains so should I get additional rez tanks?
I have a lot of nutrients that I’d like to use but if cronk is going to clog up things what is the best products to use instead? They have a YouTube but in the grow they top fed bud booster or monkey juice because it clogged the lines. The rest of the lineup was apparently fine. Some put nutes in the Rez and have no problems other say it’s a pain to clean. I’m really looking for someone who has a sure fire recipe for yields and ease. All I can find is older threads and any input is very much appreciated. Sorry for babbling. Thanks
I’m 3/4 in the bag right meow but I’ll try to help…
I’m not at all familiar with cronk, I use jacks in coco. The top watering thing is just so long as it takes to get the roots down into the pots far enough that they can draw water from the trays. Usually that’s about when the leaves reach out to the edge of the pot. When I’m starting out and still top watering I usually water around the stem the most, I think this helps the main roots shoot down instead of just filling out to the sides. Once I turn the system on I never too water again because with a bottom feed system like autopots the salts will rise up and top watering at that point will just wash them back down where you don’t want them…
You need to be careful with what your feeding, especially organic because it will clog your lines and aqua valves.
One last thing if you grow 4 different strains they might have 4 different needs, there’s a few ways to combat this but they involve more work… autopots are the ultimate lazy person system…
Is that a super troopers reference? Lmao! And yes growing 4 strains and each one wants different love I need more Rez tanks. Right? (I’m peeled too pls excuse me) so that’s why I assumed two out of 4 on their own tank. I could probably adjust from there? Top fed salts go back down I’ve heard this. Cronk is organic and made for autos… I see every post with autopots include jacks. Everyone uses it but what about the “just water” feeds in between? Or is that a thing? And the compost teas? So confusing… What a predicament… I always appreciate the input and knowledge. Thanks bud!
Lol, if I thought I was jacked up before…
Top fed salts go down, bottom fed salts go up. That’s why it’s generally frowned upon to top feed an autopot system because it will wash them back into the root zone.
I also fell into the jacks thing… it’s not the best it’s not the worst. What’s great about it is that there is 1 mix that you run from beginning to end. Yes you can make tweaks…so if your going to grow 4 different strains on 1 rez you would mix your nutes, dump it in the rez and then make changes based on the individual plants right in the tray. I highly recommended you just run the same strain to start out with untill you get a feel for it.
I’m a lazy grower and I have mobility issues.I’ll mix up my nutes 3 gallons at a time because that’s what I can carry upstairs, normally I’ll do that twice per refill. Then I don’t even bother to open the tent for 4-5 days. Lol, I’ll re-read this tomorrow when I’m sober… @Nicky is an amazing resource and the guy that started me down this road, plenty of good reading here
I would recommend not using soil with auto pots. I say this because I tried a run with soil and it stayed too wet unlike the dry cycle soil needs. You mentioned organic, is this dry or liquid nutrients? Mixing about 50% perlite with a good fine loose soil may work but also think the air domes would be useless in soil due to the density of wet soil and clogging the tiny air holes. You could layer the air domes with hydroton to help with this. Good luck Grow Bro but recommend coco and no top feeding once the system is turned on
Soil will stay too wet and also compacts when wet. Coco seems to be the go to for auto pots. As for the top watering I moisten my coco mix well enough with low nutrient water and don’t water for the first ten days or so letting the plants find their own moisture. Once they look like they’re established and doing well I turn on the reservoir.
Put 1" of perlite in the bottom.
Mix the rest with 50/50 coco and perlite.
Use fabric pots or smart pots system don’t go plastic unless you have a humid environment. If you go plastic then get air bases and air domes.
Top feed your plants, outside of the autopots until the leafs hang over the edge. Then place them in the trays and turn on the system.
As @Pinboy
Said Jack’s works fine, and it’s super affordable.
However it can be tweaked to run better in veg, and running a slightly different mix in flower it can be run better.
The old 321 formula works however its not the best, but it’s easy and it works so most people here still use it.
It won’t hold you back when you start that’s for sure.
Lesnring about environments like VPD and DLI will be your struggle. As you build more knowledge you can tweak Jack’s.
A ton of information. Thanks everyone! Just what I’m looking for. I already have the autopot xl 4 pot 6.6 gallon system. But after 2 scotch’s and and a few hours of research I bought the 5 gallon fabric pots and socks also. It appears people are getting better results out of the fabric vs the hard pots. I will also use coco for the medium. Only question now is pre amended coco like coco loco or straight coco perlite mix. Some people like the living soil but I can see how it can clump hold water.
@Brian384
I use the bag of pre buffered coco. I don’t wanna mess with the compressed bricks and having to buffer it.
When I talked to the customer service rep at Autopot, he recommended coco and a 50/50 mix with perlite. He also said to put in 1” of perlite at the bottom (#3 size in the bottom).
Glad you ordered fabric and the socks and will use Jacks + silica and epsom salt.
Do yourself a favor and search the forum on mixing Jacks order. There is a specific order to mix or else it’s cloudy and yucky.
I think I’m going to order jacks whole lineup. Comes with pretty much everything. Only need silica now. I’ll do like you said and get 50/50 perlite #3 which I have and coco. I don’t want to use the fox farm coco loco. Decent for traditional fabric pots but runoff is higher than me after watering. I like to control my grow instead of waiting for FF nutes to die. I read a lot about jacks I think I’m going to like it. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge!
@Brian384
I use silica blast (Amazon). Liquid. I mix in my water/fertilizer solution. I mix 5 gallon at a time.
Silica goes in first and give it several minutes to mix well.
Again, search on mixing jacks order and you’ll get lots of education.
Also use a wave maker (Amazon) in your tank/reservoir (not a air bubbler). I also use on in my 5 gallon bucket as I mix and until I dump in my res.
Lastly, I use hot water when mixing my nutrients. I get small container of hot water and divide it into smaller containers. Seems to help dissolve the nutrients (I think).
I don’t think the brand of silica makes much difference. I use gh armor si because that’s what my local store has. If you plan on training your plants much go real easy on the silica until you get them How you want because it will harden the branches and they will be more prone to snap
I use that all the time, most people just kinda glaze over it…