Any one use this? are they worth the money?
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There have been a number of posts on them and this link will take you to those discussions. The only thing you need to be careful of with self watering systems is that cannabis in soil needs wet/dry cycles for good root health. The soil should be left to dry out between waterings. If in coco it is a bit different. Coco should be watered and fed daily, as it does not hold water very well (a good thing.) Coco becomes hydrophobic if it is left to dry out.
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I personally think they make watering frequency more difficult, with synthetics you should be watering to runoff and that may only make that more difficult.
With organic growing it would be more beneficial, but I had a hard time keeping the wicks in the proper position.
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Autopots are way better, basically the same principle but with a large reservoir and less maintenance
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Bottom feeding with synthetics is awsome if ya follow a few basic rules.
Run lower ppms and top feed until roots are well established and once bottom feeding is started, absolutely nothing goes in from the top.
Top and bottom feeding together will almost always have issues as the salts need to build up in the top layers from the wicking of the water and going in from the top pushes it into the root zone.
I love SIP (sub irrigation planter) setups and of course my autopots. Wicking systems work great once you get your head around useing the growing medium backwards in a sense 
It can be hydroponic results with out all the ph balancing as the media buffers well.
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GroBuckets were a game-changer for growing indoors in just soil…are autopots any better?
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I’ve only ever used them with coco-coir and perlite and/or clay pebbles. But I agree, absolutely a game changer.
Autopots are basically the same as a “growbucket” really.
Some differences in the mechanics where a SIP or grow bucket is self contained, the autopots have a reservoir that feeds trays, each tray has a neat little float in it and you just set the pot in the tray.
But both are wicking systems. I’ve very little experience with wicking in soil but I absolutely love Wicking hydroponic setups 
I love these things
I use trash cans of all sizes for reservoirs because they are cheap and work 
Any container that fits in the trays can be used, i use everything from 3gal-5gal bags and even some 7gal plastic pots.
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just from my experience, ive tried to use these wick bases with soil and basically, issues happened after about a month, due to the fact that soil needs a dry cycle, and after a while the wicks weren’t transferring nutes to the plant and i got deficiencies.
so what i did was cut out the side where u add water so i could fit a shopvac hose into it, i removed the wicks and now i top water with those under the plant as a runoff bin than vacuum it out. but thats just for soil in my experience.
pictures for reference
i recently switched to coco and i am going to try the wicks with coco now, since coco needs to stay wet i feel like it should work.
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You can see in @1HappyPappy second picture. The AutoPot has a dual float device that fills the tray. These fill to about a 3/4 inch level, and will not refill until the level drops to about 1/4 inch. When at 1/4 inch the level it is at the same height as the opening in the bottom of the pot. So the the plant doesn’t sit in liquid constantly, that is provided, that the plant is large enough to use a pint or so of nutrient solution daily. This why they want you to wait so long before turning on the reservoir that feeds the AutoPots.
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Good feedback. It sounds like indoor soil-only grows are still best in SIPs like GroByckets then since you can have the reservoirs filled from the day the seed goes in and can keep them topped off with no concerns for dry cycles.
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I could totally see the issues with soil being consistent feed and the “wicks” not transferring nutrients.
I’ve never actually seen these bases in person 
Say they actually have some kinda wicke?
With autopots the plants pot actually sits in the water rather then the water pulled up to it.
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I bought these bases two years ago and never opened the box because of the mixed reviews. I grow in coco using jacks 321 and I love my autopots. I’m worried this wicking business isn’t enough for coco coir.
@yourviolentpast
I used them successfully on my first grow with coco/perlite. The plant was drinking a gallon every day during flower.
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Good to know!
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