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Questions Autos in soil in AutoPots - looking for recommendations

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matommy
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Hello Percy's!

I am a DWC person usually. I have had one (mostly failed) run in soil, where I tried to use living soil in 2.2 gallon AutoPots without realizing that 2.2 gallons of living soil does not have enough oomph to run plants all the way through flowering.

For those who don't know about them, AutoPots are a pot/reservoir system where the water (and nutes) are drawn from the bottom by capillary action.

I do want to use the AutoPots again, but I need some help with soil and an approach to nutrients. I have GH Trio sitting around and would also love to try Fox Farm products out since I am sitting 2 blocks from their HQ and love how embedded they are in the community here in Humboldt.

So what I would love to hear are peoples' opinions on what soil I should use to start, and what nutes and schedule (ideally something week by week) to use.

I hope this is clear - please let me know if I have not provided enough info.

Thanks in advance!

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
- Bertrand Russell

 
Posted : February 22, 2023 8:02 pm
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twisted1
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@matommy ive never used auto pots  but have grown many plants in Fox farms soil. i use 50/50 ocean forest and happy frog.  then i used the fox farm trio + calmag at 1/2 strength.

they have a feed schedule to follow. just use 1/2 of what they recommend.


Sativa to change the things I can, Indica to accept the things I can’t.

 
Posted : February 22, 2023 8:12 pm
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davetg01
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There is more than 1 approach to soil growing.  Using a base (FFOF) that has some nutes built in and adding liquid nutes is one approach and is very popular.  Others build more nutrients into the soil so it has enough for a grow, sometimes top-dressing with dry nutrients as the grow proceeds.  This requires a collaboration with microbes in the soil.

Dave the Grower

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 12:01 am
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matommy
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@davetg01 I think I have to do the first one because I got some really good feedback that the 2.2 gal pots are too small to handle your second approach and that I should have at least 5 to do that. Thanks.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
- Bertrand Russell

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 12:10 am
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matommy
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@twisted1 This sounds good. I have been reading that the FF nutes might be to thick for AutoPots and might clog the lines. I might just use the GH trio stuff I have sitting around.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
- Bertrand Russell

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 12:11 am
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davetg01
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@matommy  A friend of mine commented some years ago that organic nutes grew microbes which clogged up his pumps & tubing and required a major H2O2 cleaning.

Dave the Grower

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 10:10 pm
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matommy
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@davetg01 I have been seeing the same thing. Love your .sig. Reminds me of eighth grade!

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
- Bertrand Russell

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 10:12 pm
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davetg01
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@matommy  Thanks.  I used to get quoted that a lot at about that same time of life.  

Like your sig too.  Wish it had been applied in 2016.  

Dave the Grower

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 10:19 pm
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im_sparky
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@matommy, I know this does not answer your question exactly, but it might be of some help. I just finished a run of micro autos using soil in 1.5 liter pots that were self-watering. The soil I used was very enriched "living soil" I had made previously, but knowing that the size of the pot was the limiting factor, I wanted to experiment with synthetic nutes for a calibrated syn-ganic approach.  Of course, these are not autopots, and I did not use FF nutrients because I had General Hyrdoponic nutes on hand.

As an experiment, I let the autos grow with water only for the first couple of weeks and then started supplementing with the GH nutes (first Grow and Micro, later with Bloom). I found that about 1/4 - 1/3 strength was just about right for the both of the strains I was growing. When I increased feed to 1/2 strength, I got nutrient burn. When I backed off to 1/3 strength again, they resumed with vigorous growth. It worked so well for me that I am planning on keeping some of these micros in the corners of my tent from now on.

Here is a pic of one of them just before harvest:

48764DC2 80D4 443E 9B47 489993D1DB82

To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.
― William Blake

 
Posted : February 23, 2023 10:43 pm
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matommy
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@im_sparky I think this *does* answer my question perfectly! I think I'll exactly this. Thanks for the detail.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
- Bertrand Russell

 
Posted : February 24, 2023 2:01 am
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