Self watering vs. autopots

One great thing about bottom-feeding is that you don’t need to worry anymore about watering too much or too little, the plants going to take exactly what they need, and the res needs to be checked often for pH, nutrients, temperature would be good to check and you should put a little aquarium pump in it.
Also remember that autopot it’s only from the second week into flowering, till then you need to top feed to establish roots long enough that the plants can drink from the bottom

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Idk if someone else told you, but remember to account for the room they take up plus the res, which you can put outside the tent.
Also, remember that once they are in a place in your tent, moving plants around requires a bit more work than just single top-fed pots.
Another thing, when they start bottom-feeding avoid feeding anything from the top, The longer the plants have been bottom-fed, the more the salt accumulates on the soil surface

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Thank you, I use 2 at a time, in a 3x3 tent and a 2x4 tent, both Res’s are on 10" risers next to the tents they feed, I have shut off valves on Res and one just before it enters valve body, so when I trim up the plant I just valve off to pots and disconnect pull the pot with the plant, and same if one needs cleaning or maintenance.

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Yup, all true, :+1: good

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Not true! When the plants are about 10" high, or the leaves hit the edge of the pot, that’s when you turn them on. I just finished a grow, first time using them. Incredible growth rate! I also have airdomes in mine and an air pump. I believe that the bubbling action not only forces air through the root system, it also “pushes” moisture up to the higher roots.

The air bases are on my Xmas wish list, but I just add an inch of perlite in the bottom before filling with ProMix. Like @Bentstick , I have shutoff valves at res and along the lines so I can disconnect pots and take them out. I also have to disconnect an air lines when I take them out. You CAN spin the pots or turn then (5gal ones are round and 3gal are square). My res sits outside the tent on an old milk crate. I only mix up about 5 gallons of nutes in a bucket and add it to the res, never filled it to 12 gallons yet, but will if I need to go away for a week or 10 days.
They do tend to go thru way more food than just hand feeding, and my humidity was high thru the entire grow (in garage, no a/c, humidifier, or dehumidifier), over 90%. Previous grows it would get into the 70’s, maybe the 80’s.


The white styrofoam box holds my airpump…noisy little thing, this helps muffle the sound!

I had to sacrifice 1 tent plant, so only 3 in tent in this pic. But these in the tent and the pic after are all from clones taken from same mothers ( second pic taken a week earlier)

These were hand watered in 1 gallon pots. You can tell the difference in growth!

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You did great, great results, well done.
About when to start top feeding can be 2 weeks, plants 10 inches high or leaves touching the pot.
Also i have not said you CANT change the pots around, i said it’s harder than normal top feeding pots.
You got to 90% humidity no problem? I got up to 88 and had some rot and i worked my butt off to contain it. Here is mine, first solo project, just started second

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LOL, yeah I got up to 97% for a while! Near the end of flower, too! Lots of air exchange and air movement. I have 3 - 6" fans around the base/mid section of the plants, and above the light I have a 16" fan pushing lots. I’ll tag you in my journal so you can see my issues and results!

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Sure, tag me up

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I must say that most of the problem with rot was with the Grandaddy Purple, the big bud in the picture.
It is a monster, the buds very thick and the inside was drenched. I cleaned up the rot and put a 16" fan blowing directly on the canopy, Grandaddy was in the direct flow.
Every night, I was hunting for rot, checking every bud; there was some light rot on the other plants, 5 plants altogether. I do not want to repeat that, i need a dehumidifier but can’t afford atm, the new crop is ok for a while without a dehumidifier, ill get one soon enough

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Yeah, I’d get one if I was allowed…in my garage I don’t know f I could really control it tho, too many gaps under the garage door. And The deep freezer pumps a lot of humidity into the air.

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Ok, i think i am about to say something stupid but, the dehumidifier can be put inside or outside the tent , i think…

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true, but that would mean 1 less plant! Most of the time tho, my rH doesn’t get above 70%, it might be the autopots causing it. I’ll have to check it out on the next run.

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Autopot, I believe, can cause the RH to rise just because at any time there are trays full of water in a warm environment, it becomes the Amazon, the plants are fit to burst, and they can drink as much as they like. The Grandaddy Purple at the end was drinking 2.30 litres every night; it could have taken more, but I stopped the feeding at 2.30 Lt. The day after it’s tray was as dry as a bone

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I am currently using autopots and l love them and they were 100% worth the 200 ish dollars for two pots and reservoir, for the simple reason i mix 4 gal of water every 3 or 4 days, no run off to check, no wasted nutes or mixing time, if i read this correctly the ac wicking pots dont use a res!? It sounds like a good way to avoid overwatering either way if groing hydro/coco. Im also using 5 gal fabric pots that some say can cause humidity probs with bottom watering. I havent noticed but my climate is so dry i run a humidifier 24 hours a day and now leave my tent doors open all the way only due to heat inside tent and tent humidity still stays lower than lung room by a couple percentage points. Some info ive read here has not been my experience.
I also have to agree with @Myfriendis410 100% with advice he gave you. Jacks 321 is a good simple way to go and much of the reason i went with coco, jacks, and autopots was through direct or mostly indirect advice. Good growing to you buddy, if you have any questions about anything ive mentioned please feel free to tag and ask :v:

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Also maybe @Hershy420 might chime in with bottom watering, along with @Low and @OGIncognito they are all great peeps with much more experience than i have.

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I just let the plants adapt to lower RH: I’m also in a dry (and high!) climate at 7,100 feet elevation. Frankly; it’s better than living in a humid environment.

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Have been running AutoPot 3gal SpringPot (cloth pots) for a few years now and love them. Have 4 in my 3x3 sometimes with another plant or two squeezed in. Use them mainly for flowering tho as I have a separate tent for veg.
I usually put about 2-3” of perlite in the bottom of the pots before adding my own soil on top to help wick the water up.
I keep my res outside the tent and on a 5 gal bucket. Over the years the only problems that I have had was with one specific brand of nutrients that continuously clogged the system and molded in the bases.
I run jacks 321/bloom/finish with Miicrobial Mass, bat guano, fish shit, molasses, etc with Autopots Easy 2 Flow microbial solution and no clogs or buildup in my res.
Usually mix up 4-5 gallons every couple days depending on how thirsty they are.
I don’t worry about PH at all as the plants suck it up pretty quickly and the microbes take care of the rest. (Tested my tap water ph a few times over the years and always the same. I de-chlorinate with an air stone for 18-24hrs as letting it sit can take 5-7 days naturally.)

Maintenance wise I have replaced the seals for the floats in the bases once and that was a week or two ago. With regular cleaning between grows they work amazing and def worth the price. They also do military/vet discounts if you email them before you purchase. Only thing else I need to replace is the cloth bags themselves and the root liners as they have been used constantly sense I got them.

I’m to the point of just growing in the final pot from start to finish with no transplanting so as soon as they go in the flowering tent and into the bases it’s turned on as the roots are already developed deep enough at that point. If transplanting I would def wait the recommended 2 weeks before turning the system on so the roots can spread outward instead of straight down to the water.
Current grow! Big one in the back should be over 1lbs by itself.

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