Autopots with soil and perlite 50:50 or coco and perlite 70:30?

[Doctor Dee]

Budbud wrote this reply in another thread...

"woody gave some good advise there. if youve not potted up yet my advise is get some coco and some simple to use nutes like hesi or canna coco.
if you can swap to coco im more than happy to mentor you and get you through this grow,i cant do that with soil im sorry
nute burn and lockout in coco are very rarely seen this is because is so hard to burn them or lock them out coco is so much more forgiving than soil. in my experiance soil is VERY easy to do both!.
i have 4 grows under my belt with coco and the autopot system so like i say im hapy to mentor you if you like i promise no lockout or burn!"

He has me convinced anyway. I'm gonna use coco instead of soil. My growshop guy said he thinks soil and perlite 50:50 gives better results than coco. I dont know if he meant 100% coco or what. But I have used coco before, not in autopots, and I agree with you bud about the capillary action with coco being better. I am gonna use the airdome things and thinking about a layer of clay pebbles around the dome and and up to the level of the water in the autopot water tray. And then put coco perlite %0:50 on top. Or would yo say 70:30.

I'm also wondering failed valves causing the gravity-fed tank of nutes to empty itself in the room. Anyone ever had any problems like that?

Would realyy appreciate some advice here. Have lots of experience with clay pebbles in flood and drain, and with hand watered coco, but not autopots. I am switching to them now, and have to decide the best course.

Cheers

[Fieldy]

Mate, give my friend Friday a nudge!

[Friday]

Mate, give my friend Friday a nudge!

U nudging me again Fieldy mate - people are going to talk mate

Wots ur concerns Doc ???
Coco in Autopots is defo the way forward mate - IMO u don't need the perlite just straight coco and a good layer of pebbles in the bottom of the pot - 1/3 of the pot is wot I do.
Make sure u put a dome in the bottom or a air ring if uv not got a dome - I use both in my 25ltr pots.

Take a look at my diaries mate - Iv put all the info in there of how I potted up.

[mmg]

I'm using vermi compost %50 , coco %25 and perlite %25 this blend gave me good result.

[jimmi420]

Not sure about using soil with them , may get waterlogged pretty easy, but just coco on its jacks with a few clayballs at the bottom, will give you great results.

[Doctor Dee]

Hey Friday, appreciate you taking the time to answer my query. As it happens I've found and read your diaries in the meantime, and a very enjoyable couple of hours it was too. Answered a good few questions I had, so many thanks your diary too, mate. I am waiting on autopots and airdomes to arrive, and will do as you say with the pebbles and coco.

I've done flood and drain in pebbles for years, rockwool slabs before that, soil before that, and have had a couple of grows hand-watering coco a couple of years ago. But I really like the sound of these autopots. And the results you get with coco are really impressive. And my guess is that the key reason it works so well is the use of those airdomes in the pebbles at the bottom.

Can I ask you another thing? How much of a difference do you think the mycorrhizal fungi make?

One more thing that might help your cause...I cant remember how old the post was, but you got this big silver air pump, and you were saying how it was the noisiest thing in your room? A few years ago, I got one that looksa exactly the same as yours, they are good and powerful and have multiple ports, but I didnt use it for more than 5 minutes, cos you could hear the fucking thing out in the garden!
I have had a few different ones since but the best I have used is the Tetra Whisper and this little gem is the bollox.

So, thanks again, I'll be keeping tabs on yer diary, looks amazing so far, and I'll be keeping you posted on how I'm getting along....cheers mate.

Doc

[Doctor Dee]

Cheers mmg, think Im gonna go with straight coco, see how it goes, its working well for others and seems like less hassle, but if I dont think its as good as it supposed to be, I will look at blending like you. I'll let you know how I get on.

[Doctor Dee]

Jimmi, thanks for that mate, and I m a gonna do just like you say. Cos I think your are dead right, the soil might compact too much, even with the perlite, or its not gonnabe as good at wicking the water as the soil I dont think, and even if it was, I would still go with coco because its gives me the control I like with hydro. ANd I know where I am with hydro

Cheers then mate.

[Doctor Dee]

So, anyone any horror stories of an autopot valve getting stuck on open, and a 100 Litre res gravity feeding its contents into the floor of the growroom. In an attic. I've heard rumours thats all.....

[Friday]

Hey Friday, appreciate you taking the time to answer my query. As it happens I've found and read your diaries in the meantime, and a very enjoyable couple of hours it was too. Answered a good few questions I had, so many thanks your diary too, mate. I am waiting on autopots and airdomes to arrive, and will do as you say with the pebbles and coco.

I've done flood and drain in pebbles for years, rockwool slabs before that, soil before that, and have had a couple of grows hand-watering coco a couple of years ago. But I really like the sound of these autopots. And the results you get with coco are really impressive. And my guess is that the key reason it works so well is the use of those airdomes in the pebbles at the bottom.

Can I ask you another thing? How much of a difference do you think the mycorrhizal fungi make?

One more thing that might help your cause...I cant remember how old the post was, but you got this big silver air pump, and you were saying how it was the noisiest thing in your room? A few years ago, I got one that looksa exactly the same as yours, they are good and powerful and have multiple ports, but I didnt use it for more than 5 minutes, cos you could hear the fucking thing out in the garden!
I have had a few different ones since but the best I have used is the Tetra Whisper and this little gem is the bollox.

So, thanks again, I'll be keeping tabs on yer diary, looks amazing so far, and I'll be keeping you posted on how I'm getting along....cheers mate.

Doc

Alright Doc dude
Well 1st off mate thanks for taking the time to read my diaries and im glad u could learn/pick up a few things from them mate

As far as the Mycorrhizal fungi - I was recommend it by a really good grower on here a few grows back and thought I'd give it a bash and its really good stuff mate IMO as my root growth since using it has been a lot better and healthier come the end of the grow compared to when I didn't use it.
It takes a good 4 weeks to kick in but once it does mate ur plants seem to thrive and the root ball come the end is thick of tiny roots compacting the coco so u can't break it apart - ill be using from now on in that's for sure. U need literally a sprinkle in the hole as u repot and that's it so the packet I got will last for time - plus Iv used it in all my garden plants/trees and Iv still got half a packet left

Cheers on the heads up on the Tetra air pump ill have a look in to mate - cheers

As far as the "Autopot Nightmares"
Well I think we've all had the valve stick open/shut mate but its just a case of keeping ur eye on them. More then often it's down to human error mate and they get knocked off their seating in the tray or the valve sticks.
Uv just got to put ur trays in big trays mate and if they do stick open then the tray will catch most of it. I have a inner bottom to my tent and that saved me when mine leaked but mine was only 14ltrs not 100 as ur using.

It's also down to how u set ur system up too mate - Iv ran mine in 19mm silicon tubing instead of the 6mm tubing they supply with the system so I get a good flow rate to the valves and I have my res's a good distance above my tray level so the head pressure is there.

Are u going to be running all ur trays/pots off 1 res ??
Wot size pots are u using ???
Are u using single pot or double pot modules/trays ???