Indoor Autopots KIS Organics Water Only Soil

[terp182]

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve done a journal, and I wanted to share this one and get any insight from those that may have gone down a similar path.

The intent of this grow is to quickly turn around top quality medicine in soil, trying to keep the autopots to water-only. In case I do need nutes, I have worm castings and compost and OG Biowar and DEM Roots Magic to make teas with, and MegaCrop as a last resort. The first day above soil for most of the plants was December 6, with the Spotless Mind x AvT being a few days behind. They’re in KIS Organics “Water Only” soil in 3 gallon fabric pots with AirPots installed, with about a 60/40 mix of perlite, along with dynomyco and OG Biowar beneficial microbes. This is under 2 MarsHydro SP-3000’s running 24/0 in a 4x4 tent.

I wasn’t sure if the supersoil would be too hot for the autoflower seedlings, so I wanted to wait a couple weeks before starting a journal. It looks like they’re off to a super solid start, at day 15, pictured below. They were just watered through with OG Biowar microbes (all 3) and DEM Roots, and I’m starting to bottom water the bigger plants.

Speaking of plants, this run I’m growing Mephisto’s Strawberry Nuggets, Dark Owl’s Star Spangled Banner, Night Owl’s/Gnome’s Purple Pope, and a cross I made, Spotless Mind x Alien v Triangle. I’m also running a Meph freebie in a solo cup - 3BOG x Mango Smile.

My plan is to turn on the autopots with water only and let them ride as long as possible in the “water only” soil/perlite/microbe mix. I anticipate making a compost/microbe tea with worm castings at the start of flower and top watering through, then turning back on the autopot reservoir with water for the rest of the grow. If anyone has advice on how to improve my crop or plan, I’m all ears! This is my first non-MegaCrop grow attempt, and I’m really looking to see if I can detect a difference in terps, quality of the buds, quantity, etc in the organic 3 gallon pot setup. And I’m hoping to avoid the lockout issues I’ve had in my past two unjournaled grows with the MegaCrop.

Thanks for reading this far and I’ll be sure to update this journal once every couple weeks.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Watch out for deficiencies around the end of stretch / preflower / early flower. There isn't a whole lot of soil in there!
GL

 

[CannabisMingus]

 

[PotDaddy]

Goodluck!
I just switched to autopots running soil also but I will use megacrop 2 part when nutes are needed.

Where did you get that AVT cross? I have been looking for AvT for awhile but always seemed to miss it.

I will be following along.

 

[Old Sage Seeds]

I anticipate making a compost/microbe tea with worm castings at the start of flower and top watering through, then turning back on the autopot reservoir with water for the rest of the grow. If anyone has advice on how to improve my crop or plan, I’m all ears!

Hey terp, I'm going to follow along as I have been curious about this myself.

Main advice I would give is to not top water. Because the autopot feeds from the bottom, anything that is unwanted by the plant/soil is moved to the top. When you top water it flushes all that bad stuff into the root zone. To get around this, turn off the res the night before you want to add the tea. Add the tea into the bottom of the autopot to the normal fill line. Do this a second time once the first go has been absorbed. Turn back on res.

*note: my experience is with autopots feeding salt based nutes. I'm not sure this would apply the same to organic soil.

 

[CannabisMingus]

To get around this, turn off the res the night before you want to add the tea. Add the tea into the bottom of the autopot to the normal fill line. Do this a second time once the first go has been absorbed. Turn back on res.

Man - this is interesting. Anyone else use this methodology? I'm going down the auotopot/living soil research rabbit hole and thinking about using this system. TIA.

 

[Old Sage Seeds]

Man - this is interesting. Anyone else use this methodology? I'm going down the auotopot/living soil research rabbit hole and thinking about using this system. TIA.

I did a little digging and with the new valve you can put organic nutes right in the res.

here ya go!

https://www.autopot-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/AutoPot_Growers_Guides_Nutrient_Information_US.pdf

 

[terp182]

Thanks for the replies so far! Old Sage from what I understand the top watering issue isn’t a problem with organics in soil mixes, since the nutes aren’t concentrating. That’s been my biggest issue with past grows (along with fungus gnats and root aphids), and I’m hoping I can top water some compost tea in at stretch.

I’m hoping to just feed the Biowar and DEM bugs and keep them happy as much as possible. But I can just start MegaCrop or possibly floraflex if I run into deficiencies, with my strong preference to baseline what an organic, small pot grow light look like. I understand the minimum for a true water only in soil is like 7 gallons, so this is as much a learning endeavor on what my parameters or as it is to make good medicine.

Where did you get that AVT cross? I have been looking for AvT for awhile but always seemed to miss it.

I hear that. I got a few from the one drop I saw them on this year. I reversed a Spotless Mind to make some more “F2s” of those, and saved some of that pollen, which I threw on a couple branches on an AvT I was growing. I’m hoping to see some phenos with a mix of dominance from each. This is the first tester of the batch.

 

[PotDaddy]

I hear that. I got a few from the one drop I saw them on this year. I reversed a Spotless Mind to make some more “F2s” of those, and saved some of that pollen, which I threw on a couple branches on an AvT I was growing. I’m hoping to see some phenos with a mix of dominance from each. This is the first tester of the batch.

I will be watching. Like I said I am new to autopots also.
looks great so far!

 

[CannabisMingus]

Because the autopot feeds from the bottom, anything that is unwanted by the plant/soil is moved to the top. When you top water it flushes all that bad stuff into the root zone.

Just thinking about this. What mechanism of action is involved? How does a plant "move" substances to the top of a soil column against gravity? I assume by "bad stuff" you means excess nutrients?