Autopot Medium

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inth3shadowz

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I've been seeing hit or miss reviews about using autopot systems. Some say it's great, some say terrible maintenance. Im going to try a small 2 pot autopot system for a 4x4 that I've got for experiments. What medium do you recommend I use and why?
 
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CannabisCanuckles

Member
AutoPots are FANTASTIC!! No moving parts, no worry of overflow and water damage. But for sure get the newer 'version' with the 9mm tubing; far superior to 6mm. I used it with ProMix HP and the plants grow like crazy.
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
CannabisCanuckles said:
AutoPots are FANTASTIC!! No moving parts, no worry of overflow and water damage. But for sure get the newer 'version' with the 9mm tubing; far superior to 6mm. I used it with ProMix HP and the plants grow like crazy.
Click to expand...
What makes the 9mm tubing version superior to the 6mm version?
 
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Treesomewanted77

Well-Known Member
Star Dog said:
What makes the 9mm tubing version superior to the 6mm version?
Click to expand...
Prevents blockage in the small lines. But these systems are not flood proof they can and will get stuck vavles and overflow the entire res into the grow area of not monitored. I’ve had it happen. They are very simple design but there is moving parts unlike posted above the aqua vavle has a moving float that closes when they pots get to a certain water level and they can get stuck open. I used clay balls at bottom then a coco/perlite mix for the rest of it and used the air domes and personally I get far better growth with drain to waste. So I stopped using the auto pot res and valves and just use the pots and trays and hand water them. Some folks have had great results and no issues and they are very low maintenance but I find it to be like growing in soil very boring but that’s just my opinion
 
Star Dog

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
Treesomewanted77 said:
Prevents blockage in the small lines. But these systems are not flood proof they can and will get stuck vavles and overflow the entire res into the grow area of not monitored. I’ve had it happen. They are very simple design but there is moving parts unlike posted above the aqua vavle has a moving float that closes when they pots get to a certain water level and they can get stuck open. I used clay balls at bottom then a coco/perlite mix for the rest of it and used the air domes and personally I get far better growth with drain to waste. So I stopped using the auto pot res and valves and just use the pots and trays and hand water them. Some folks have had great results and no issues and they are very low maintenance but I find it to be like growing in soil very boring but that’s just my opinion
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Thanks bud very interesting, I used the older version some years ago with 100% perlite and coco/perlite mix.
I liked them but as I gained a better understanding of hydro I swapped over to coco/dtw.

Boring I can relate to I do remember having very little maintance to do which at the time didn't suit me, however now it's very appealing having a little maintainance so I was thinking of giving them a go again just to see how it compares to dtw.
 
Sofa King Smoooth

Sofa King Smoooth

Well-Known Member
I'm trying out a 4 cloth pot set up right now.

Put about an inch of perlite at the bottom of the bag and mixed up around 50/50 coco/perlite.

Top watered by hand for 2 days before turning on the valve and see what happens.

Have Jack's to use but decided to try the one part megacrop for simplicity
 
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Dr_Smoke

Active Member
I'm using a 6 flexi pot system with a 100 litre res and the 9mm tubing. I also have 1 in soil that is hand watered I wanted to see the difference in growth and overall yeild. I'm looking at buying another tent in the near future and running a side by side comparison of the autopot coco and perlite vs soil.

So far there's a noticeable difference in the overall size of the coco plants compared to the soil plant but in saying that the soil plant may have been the runt of the litter regardless. That's why I'm going to run another tent! SOIL VS COCO can't wait to see the differences.

As for the Autopot system itself I've only had it on for the last 5 days. Prior to that I was hand watering every other day for 2 weeks. I haven't run into any issues yet with clogged lines or flooding from clogged valves and fingers crossed I can avoid runing into those issues altogether lol. I think if you stick to a maintenance schedule, clean the res and clear the hoses every so often you shouldn't have any issues.

I'll post an update further down the line if I encounter any issues.
 
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Treesomewanted77

Well-Known Member
Dr_Smoke said:
I'm using a 6 flexi pot system with a 100 litre res and the 9mm tubing. I also have 1 in soil that is hand watered I wanted to see the difference in growth and overall yeild. I'm looking at buying another tent in the near future and running a side by side comparison of the autopot coco and perlite vs soil.

So far there's a noticeable difference in the overall size of the coco plants compared to the soil plant but in saying that the soil plant may have been the runt of the litter regardless. That's why I'm going to run another tent! SOIL VS COCO can't wait to see the differences.

As for the Autopot system itself I've only had it on for the last 5 days. Prior to that I was hand watering every other day for 2 weeks. I haven't run into any issues yet with clogged lines or flooding from clogged valves and fingers crossed I can avoid runing into those issues altogether lol. I think if you stick to a maintenance schedule, clean the res and clear the hoses every so often you shouldn't have any issues.

I'll post an update further down the line if I encounter any issues.
Click to expand...
You will notice the coco plants grow faster and yield much better over the soil. A buddy has been running some soil in 5 gal buckets and coco in 5 gal buckets and just got rid of all soil he says it’s hand down no comparison of the quality between them he says the coco is better in every way. I just turned him onto the sunshine advanced mix#4 to avoid the fungus knat issue he has been battling with both soil and coco
 
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CannabisCanuckles

Member
Treesomewanted77 said:
You will notice the coco plants grow faster and yield much better over the soil. A buddy has been running some soil in 5 gal buckets and coco in 5 gal buckets and just got rid of all soil he says it’s hand down no comparison of the quality between them he says the coco is better in every way. I just turned him onto the sunshine advanced mix#4 to avoid the fungus knat issue he has been battling with both soil and coco
Click to expand...
"Soil" is a very loose term. I have used Coco side by side with ProMix HP, and for me personally the ProMix HP worked far, far better. However, I am in a rural area with well water that tends to be hard and a high PH. I don't bother adjusting when watering with ProMix and the ProMix did far, far better than the CC. But keep in mind, ProMix HP is not a "soil"- much like coco, it is an inert medium. It is just much more forgiving towards PH due to the limestone in it. I am going to try a drain to waste system, but likely using a new hemp fiber product called 'Terrafibre loose fill".
 
D

Dr_Smoke

Active Member
CannabisCanuckles said:
"Soil" is a very loose term. I have used Coco side by side with ProMix HP, and for me personally the ProMix HP worked far, far better. However, I am in a rural area with well water that tends to be hard and a high PH. I don't bother adjusting when watering with ProMix and the ProMix did far, far better than the CC. But keep in mind, ProMix HP is not a "soil"- much like coco, it is an inert medium. It is just much more forgiving towards PH due to the limestone in it. I am going to try a drain to waste system, but likely using a new hemp fiber product called 'Terrafibre loose fill".
Click to expand...
Sounds interesting! Let us know how it works out for you.
 
D

Dr_Smoke

Active Member
CannabisCanuckles said:
I am rather excited actually. To grow my weed in weed basically!! Waiting on some parts to try out a DTW Bato bucket system.
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I just watched a video on the Bato bucket system it looks like a decent system. You've peeked my interest with the hemp fiber medium also. I think i'm going to do a little research lol.
 
iggy097

iggy097

Well-Known Member
Dr_Smoke said:
I'm using a 6 flexi pot system with a 100 litre res and the 9mm tubing. I also have 1 in soil that is hand watered I wanted to see the difference in growth and overall yeild. I'm looking at buying another tent in the near future and running a side by side comparison of the autopot coco and perlite vs soil.

So far there's a noticeable difference in the overall size of the coco plants compared to the soil plant but in saying that the soil plant may have been the runt of the litter regardless. That's why I'm going to run another tent! SOIL VS COCO can't wait to see the differences.

As for the Autopot system itself I've only had it on for the last 5 days. Prior to that I was hand watering every other day for 2 weeks. I haven't run into any issues yet with clogged lines or flooding from clogged valves and fingers crossed I can avoid runing into those issues altogether lol. I think if you stick to a maintenance schedule, clean the res and clear the hoses every so often you shouldn't have any issues.

I'll post an update further down the line if I encounter any issues.
Click to expand...
Any updates?
 
D

Dr_Smoke

Active Member
I love this system. I'm at week 10 of flower ready to harvest in a couple of days. These plants are the biggest and healthiest plants I've ever grown. It's such a simple way to grow, I'm using canna nutrients and their online feeding schedule is so easy to follow. I've flushed the pipes once this entire grow and that's when I switched to flower, after the grow is done I will flush again and clean the valves.

Cons...
- Flexi res: once filled with water leans a little to one side, this can mess up your measurements and you end up with a little higher or lower ec.
- Fabric pots: roots are growing out into the part of the tray where the valve sits. I Have the copper pads in but they didn't do anything. It hasn't caused me any issues but you run the risk of roots getting into the valve and if that happens entire res could leak into your grow area.

Apart from those 2 things I really do love this set up and highly recommend it
 
C

Canadian_Growing

Active Member
CannabisCanuckles said:
AutoPots are FANTASTIC!! No moving parts, no worry of overflow and water damage. But for sure get the newer 'version' with the 9mm tubing; far superior to 6mm. I used it with ProMix HP and the plants grow like crazy.
Click to expand...
My friend who is retiring his would disagree. He had his original system replaced by the AutoPot rep directly after not getting the proper upgrade kit from an online store in Canada. He said he had two floods due to the valves getting crusted up by salts or something and was thankful he only had the small reservoir, both in the same crop. He said they grow good plants, for the amount of effort to prevent issues, it's easier to hand water.
 
C

Canadian_Growing

Active Member
Dr_Smoke said:
I love this system. I'm at week 10 of flower ready to harvest in a couple of days. These plants are the biggest and healthiest plants I've ever grown. It's such a simple way to grow, I'm using canna nutrients and their online feeding schedule is so easy to follow. I've flushed the pipes once this entire grow and that's when I switched to flower, after the grow is done I will flush again and clean the valves.

Cons...
- Flexi res: once filled with water leans a little to one side, this can mess up your measurements and you end up with a little higher or lower ec.
- Fabric pots: roots are growing out into the part of the tray where the valve sits. I Have the copper pads in but they didn't do anything. It hasn't caused me any issues but you run the risk of roots getting into the valve and if that happens entire res could leak into your grow area.

Apart from those 2 things I really do love this set up and highly recommend it
Click to expand...
Or the valve gets stuck due to some other reason, and the entire res leaks into your area. I was talking to a friend about what to plant in an upstairs bedroom, and thought AutoPots were a safe bet. He said hell no, they aren't, his entire res leaked into his tent twice in one grow. I wanted to protect my nice flooring and thought they would be the safest option. Glad for that conversation. Gotta love Discord for facts from people who AREN'T trying to sell you products.
 
Sofa King Smoooth

Sofa King Smoooth

Well-Known Member
Canadian_Growing said:
My friend who is retiring his would disagree. He had his original system replaced by the AutoPot rep directly after not getting the proper upgrade kit from an online store in Canada. He said he had two floods due to the valves getting crusted up by salts or something and was thankful he only had the small reservoir, both in the same crop. He said they grow good plants, for the amount of effort to prevent issues, it's easier to hand water.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, do you know if your friend was using tap water or RO water?
I was thinking of trying with tap but my tap water leaves heavy mineral deposits when it evaporates. I was concerned that it would build up on the valve and possibly leak.
 
iggy097

iggy097

Well-Known Member
For what it’s worth I’m on week 8 of flower and week 1 of flower in two tents running auotpots. Very happy with them - after I got my ph problems figured out.
 
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