Grow Mediums 1st timer questions on autopots.

[HemiSync]

Started my res up. Slowly the water came up but seems shallow to me. Like an inch, maybe inch and a half. I wonder if thats deep enough to completely submerge the air tubes in the dome?

Get much more than that and you will have water on the floor. If your air domes are setup correctly, the actually air tubes will be right up against the bottom of the pot, where they will aerate the water a little. I no longer use the domes, just a square of RainBird irrigation tubing Amazon product ASIN B000LNSX82 around the bottom of the pot with air forced thru it. When I open the trays to check the valves I can actually see the bubbles being created by it.

 

[TreyDogg]

Ahh. I see said the blind man.

I thought it was more used to spray the water onto the dirt outside the dome.

Yeah I got maby an inch of water in the bottom. I'm going to let it ride from here. I will fight the feeling to top feed her.

 

[HemiSync]

Ahh. I see said the blind man.

I thought it was more used to spray the water onto the dirt outside the dome.

Yeah I got maby an inch of water in the bottom. I'm going to let it ride from here. I will fight the feeling to top feed her.

It’s more about injecting air into the root zone which would help with the fact that your growing medium is fairly wet all the time. Although, there are some here that don’t even use them and grow monsters, so more testing still needs to be done. I have even thought about taking the irrigation tubing winding it around the inside of the bottom of the pot and then continue winding around the inside to the top then attach the air supply. With the air pump I have it would have oxygen being infused into the growing medium at all levels. Then I could run that pot against one with no air and see what happens. :smoking:

 

[NewDream]

I use 70/30 soil and perlite in my autopots
I don't put any extra layer of anything over the domes and it's fine without.
I use biotab nutes in my soil so the system only ever has water in it. Saves any blockages.

I top water for about 3 weeks before turning the system on
Hope it helps

I’m thinking of using Biobizz light mix soil on my next grow, with biotabs. I was going to layer the bottom with clay around the air domes but you say it works to just bury the domes?

I had some problems on my first grow with overwatering which I think happened because of the grow stones I used to layer the bottom, which retain water. Also, getting the nutrients & ph right as a beginner has been a task. I’m hoping my new plan will work better. Any advice?

 

[Ivean]

I’m thinking of using Biobizz light mix soil on my next grow, with biotabs. I was going to layer the bottom with clay around the air domes but you say it works to just bury the domes?

I had some problems on my first grow with overwatering which I think happened because of the grow stones I used to layer the bottom, which retain water. Also, getting the nutrients & ph right as a beginner has been a task. I’m hoping my new plan will work better. Any advice?

I've never used anything around the domes just my soil mix.
With biotabs you don't need to worry about ph etc just use plain old tap water in the res