Autopot feeding question ?

Hello.

I've been reading about autopots for a while and something still confuses me.

I've come across many users say stuff like "I feed 3 times a day" when using autopots.

Aren't autopots supposed to feed automatically as the name suggests? Fill the tank, mix your nutes, set your pH and let it do its thing until the tank is empty, right?

Thanks.

rippled said:

Hello.

I've been reading about autopots for a while and something still confuses me.

I've come across many users say stuff like "I feed 3 times a day" when using autopots.

Aren't autopots supposed to feed automatically as the name suggests? Fill the tank, mix your nutes, set your pH and let it do its thing until the tank is empty, right?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm curious too. I have a 2x2 and light being delivered tomorrow and I haven't decided what medium to use. I looked at autopots and the one I thought about has a 12.5 gallon reservoir. So it should go a few days without worrying about watering, but what about a nutrient schedule? I would think that in the beginning you would have to water frequently until the roots get established and grow out. They could be foliar feeding too, who knows.

Yes auto pots feed all the time if setup the way they are supposed to be. They have a res that feeds the aqua valve that just keeps the water level at a certain height the whole time but make no mistake these systems can still malfunction and cause floods if the aqua valve gets stuck open. I use my auto pots without the res and valves I just hand water into the bottom tray and have had good results doing it this way

I've been running autopots for a while now ...yes you have a reservoir and ....but buy yourself some Dripclean from H&G ...haven't had a problem since I started using it as far as clogging

micksob said:

I've been running autopots for a while now ...yes you have a reservoir and ....but buy yourself some Dripclean from H&G ...haven't had a problem since I started using it as far as clogging

Click to expand...

I switched to the half inch from rez to 3/8 to pot. I’ve not any problems at all. The old 1/4 line would get clogged sometimes

rippled said:

Aren't autopots supposed to feed automatically as the name suggests? Fill the tank, mix your nutes, set your pH and let it do its thing until the tank is empty, right?

Click to expand...

This is exactly right. The system is so easy to use, it should be illegal.

The mechanism is nothing more than a float valve which feeds water into a tray where the pot sits. There is nothing special about the pot itself (it has holes in the bottom of course...).

The pot (and plant) constantly sits in a low pool of water which gets refilled very gradually, and always to the plant's water need. The substrate will be slightly moist at the surface at all times.

If you set the system up according to instructions, you will fill the bottom inch of the pot with pure Perlite or Hydroton (clay pebbles), then fill with a 50/50 mix of inert substrate (e.g. Coco) and airation substrate (e.g. clay pebbles). This means that effectively only maybe a half-inch of the substrate actually sits in water.

It works extremely well in practice, I can only recommend it.