Set it and forget it

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i’m having my first kid in january. that means growing needs to take less time and attention. so, i’m going on a journey to find the best set-it and forget-it grow system i can come up with.

i’ve always kept hand-written grow journals (and will continue that), but i thought that posting a journal here might help others in the future. anyone is welcome to jump in with questions, or add thoughts, but please remember i’m reducing the workload. if you have a great idea, but it costs time, i might not take it. please don’t be offended.

about me.
i’ve been growing vegetables for 25 years, have helped countless friends with cannabis grows, but did not start growing my own cannabis until i was a legal medical patient in my state (this past year).

about the grow.
this is going to be a grow of ‘firsts’

  • i’ll be using a brand new chilled x6 mini (330W) light in a new gorilla tent 2’x4’
  • growing in coco for the first time (100% coco, since i’ll be pumping in air)
  • 3 seeds will be planted in 6.6 gal autopots, with airbases and airdomes
  • i’ll be controlling everything from an ac infinity controller 69 pro
  • whole bunch of odds and ends that i won’t bother you with

strains.
for this run i’ll be doing 2 mephisto autoflowers and 1 fastbuds

double grape by mephisto (60/40 indica/sativa, estimated 65-70 days)
creme de la creme by mephisto (70/30 indica/sativa, estimated 65-70 days)
blue dream by fastbuds (25/75 indica/sativa, estimated 63-77 days)

nutrients.
if you’ve read this far. feel free to give your input here. this grow won’t start until thanksgiving and i’m terrible at deciding, until the final moment. i’ve got 2-ish choices (all already on my shelf).

i already know that i won’t be disappointed in either choice

choice 1:
jacks 321 + mkp (@Hellraiser’s thread is what i’d follow, here: Hellraiser grows Zkittlez and Banana Kush in coco with Jacks 321 - #3 by Hellraiser)

choice 2:
grow dots (@Graysin’s journals convinced me this was viable, here: Jack’s vs. Grow Dots: Rebooted)

wildcard:
i asked autopot support what they thought of these two options, and they supported both, but they also mentioned that they had been using beanstalk crf for the last few grows. it’s similar to grow dots in that it is a time release fertilizer, but comes in parts which you can control yourself. they had a free trial (pay shipping), so i snagged that. if i end up doing grow dots, i will do one pot of beanstalk to dry them out against each other.

what’s next?
for now, i’m still in the planning phase, but i’ve been slowly putting together the autopot system and will share photos of that when i can. thanks for coming along for the ride!

ps - i’m new here. hi everyone! i don’t exactly understand the right etiquette (if there is one) on tagging people, so i apologize to the two people i tagged if i’ve now signed them up for a lifetime of notifications on a thread they had no interest in.

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I’d stick with Jacks imho. It has been my favorite and I use it today. Avoid the FF Trio. It’s too salty and will require flushes. Not good when you are trying to minimize time spent.

You are definitely on the right track.

Coco is probably more productive, and that’s coming from a soil guy. If you want to save time I’d go with soil. You only really have to tend to a plant every 2 to 3 days in soil but at least daily in coco.

You can manually reset a thread back to “normal” and avoid the notifications. No big deal, but very considerate of you to be concerned about it. You get the good citizen award today. :slight_smile:

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Hi! I’m set to Watch!

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We used to see a lot of recommendations for 240 watt lights in a 2x4. I was one of them making the recommendation. We’re smarter now. 320 watts work out to ~40 watts per square foot, which is a decent number. I run 330w above each plant now to achieve a PPFD of 1,100. Anything above 1,100 has diminishing returns unless you are running CO2, and CO2 is a PITA.

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Take a look at the Dutch bucket system using coco. Fairly simple to build.
Mine has been incredibly stable to the point i spend maybe 30 minutes a day taking care of 4 plants.

I also recommend Canna brand nutrients for the grow.

In coco coir i used the Canna-Coco and in the hydro i use Canna-Aqua.

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i’ve never grown anything in coco in my life. but the idea of just coco in a bucket with an airdome sounded too simple to not at least try it. if it’s more productive, that’s an added bonus.

well at least it isn’t permanent pain and anguish, whew! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

this is where my calculations ended up as well. going to be doing a 24/0 for the first time, instead of 18/6. i figure that winter is the best time to try 24/0 since it will help keep the temps steady.

agreed, i’m not trying to win any awards, co2 is too much extra work for not enough payoff (i’m just growing for myself).

appreciate you jumping in with some ideas!

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i’m looking to be a lot lazier. like 30 minutes a week to mix nutes and pluck some foliage. these do look fun to build though, so maybe i’ll play around in the future when i’ve got more time.

canna a + b was where i thought this journey was headed. but, i’m worried about needing to clean my lines during the grow; that’s how i ended up on jacks/grow dots.

appreciate you checking out the thread and giving ideas!

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I’ve been running for at least a month and I’ve not had any problems. I only changed my reservoir because of an algae outbreak… but other than that I’ve had no problems at all with the nutes. I was using Coco A&B but switched to Aqua A&B and then Flora A&B. I do have a filter bag on my filter. I did have some clogs in my sprinklers until I put that on… been great since then.

Canna has the Coco line for coco-coir, AquaFlores for RDWC, and Terra for DWC with waste runoff. So, it’s made for the water!

I thought about trying the Jacks 321 system, but decided to stay with what I know. Though I am always looking for something better.

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No apology necessary. I juggle three jobs so I’m slow to respond but I’m always happy to help.

I’m a Jack’s diehard, but it turns out since I got so incredibly busy I’ve been keeping my coco plants alive solely because of the good graces of Grow Dots.

I’ll be getting more Dots and continuing to use them while I try and persuade my life to calm down.

I do both exclusively in coco. Jacks is great for hydroponics too but I haven’t had the space lately for that kind of setup. I’m waiting for fall to set in before I reorganize my garage (I don’t want to work in 110° heat) but once I do, I should be back to a hydroponic Jacks system and several coco plants with Grow Dots as their nutrient system. It just means less keeping track of things in my chaos. :joy:

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@xero You are on the right track to spending minimal time on your plants. The AutoPots with a nutrient line that keeps the reservoir and lines clean make it really easy.

I’m gone five days a week so I’m only home on the weekends to deal with the plants. I spend less than 10 minutes on the weekend filling the reservoir and adding the nutrients. Every 3-4 weeks I spend extra time emptying and cleaning the reservoir and filter. I spend on average 10 minutes each weekend pruning and cleaning up each plant. I could probably spend even less time but like admiring them.

The worst is harvest time. It take me about 90 minutes per ounce to trim to my liking. That’s an entire day to trim each plant. I hate those weekends.

This last year I tried starting one plant each month so I wouldn’t have to spend too much time trimming. I kept with it for one year, built up a stash of 3 pounds or more with a dozen different strains to choose from. Despite my best plans I still had harvest falling too close together when some plants took longer to finish, other less time.

Now that I have a big stash and wide assortment set aside I’m going to start one plant every 2 months. Still far more than we can use and the stash will continue to grow, but with all the seeds I’ve purchased, at 6 per year I’m going to die long before I need to buy more.

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much appreciated @Graysin, i totally get the three jobs/life chaos. this last year especially. i own a small business and work on outdoor music events. i normally have a “slow” period each year, but this past year that never happened. still waiting for the chaos to subside. ugh!

i’m leaning grow dots i think, for similar reasons. i think i’d love the more fine tune control of jacks, but on this one i just don’t know that i’ll have the extra time for it (even if it’s not all that much extra time).

in your dots grows, are you adding anything to the rez other than ph’d water? autopot rep suggested a root stimulator like regen-a-root and miicrobial mass (which looks expensive). couple threads here and on reddit mention tribus (which i think might replace miicrobial mass). and lastly, i don’t want to get buildup in my lines so i’ve heard folks also talking about things like hydroguard or bio balancer.

would love to avoid all the extras, but if their needed it starts to feel like it’s not much different than just using jacks to begin with.

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wow! this is super helpful, thank you. you’re situation sounds pretty darn close to what i’ve got going on, what i’m trying to do, and likely what i’ll end up doing (cutting back once the stash has got enough variety and quantity).

you mentioned you do use nutrients, do you use jacks? anything extra you add beyond just the nutrient line. i’ve been eyeing microbial brands, but honestly don’t know one from the other. it’s gotta keep the lines clean for a full grow though.

harvest time is definitely where the ‘set it and forget it’ model falls apart, lol! on the upside, my partner doesn’t mind trimming also and i’ve got some friends that’ll work for beers and joints. maybe one day we’ll have trimming ai, until then i’ve got bribery.

thanks again for adding your input

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I spend less than that a week with full tents living soil. Water only. I look in through window…20 seconds. If see any issues i go in 2 minutes. Otherwise open and keep moist. That is it unless i have to put stakes when heavy flowers. I am super lazy on growing. Just tents with weeds in them to me anymore. Good lighting and airflow and letem go is what i do.

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love hearing this, thank you! at first i was like, i want to know everything! now i just want something as simple as a microwaved dinner. glad to know there are others out there just applying a light touch of love and getting good results. appreciate the input!

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There are some solid organic /living soil growers in here. If you choose that route mucho info with search. Many threads.

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i’ve got a local friend in organics/living soil and loving it, but he spends a lot of time with his plants. after hearing how you’re working with it, i’m now wondering if he just likes to spend a lot of time with his plants rather than actually being in there working for hours at a time.

too late to turn back on this grow, but definitely going to put some search time in on the subject.

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I go with that…grin.

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I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the different ways there are to grow, but it does seem like most all of them can be pretty automated these days in their own particular ways.

Just my opinion, but it seems like most of the regulars on here are really just wanting to spend more time with their plants, but there’s really nothing to do once it’s dialed in… so chatting and reading about it is the next best thing :grin:

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Honestly lately I have just been throwing an unnamed amount of tap water into the coco and hoping for the best. So far no issues (knock on wood) but I need more Dots to topdress. The dots my plant is using were already gently used before I transplanted this gal into that pot so I know they won’t last the full grow cycle.

I use Continuum - it’s the Tribus v2 essentially. Just sorta smelly. It takes very very little to do the trick, and I only add it once a week because it doesn’t really need frequent application to stay effective. I used Miicrobial Mass once for 2 trial period bottles worth. The results weren’t noticeably different than using Recharge, Tribus (which is what I had until Continuum came out - which is from the same company, similar formula, just better generally), Fish Shit (my least favorite of them all), or TPS Billions. I’d go the Tribus/Continuum route for the autopot method, because Recharge is GREAT and made to work with Grow Dots, BUT it will clog your autopot lines like nobodies business. So will Fish Shit, and it’s meh at best. Miicrobial will work but it’s expensive and you use a LOT of it. Continuum will be concentrated, it only takes 1-2mL per gal, and it doesn’t clog lines (probably because it takes so little).

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@Graysin you pretty much nailed down all the things i had been comparing and looking at for the last few days. i think i’ll grab the bottle of the continuum, sounds easy enough… my local shop had the same feedback about fish shit. they recommended the miicrobial mass but didn’t have it in stock (it seemed super expensive though). appreciate the extra details!

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