Grow Mediums Autopots or DWC?

[briefbriefs]

Hey all, so i've decided that for my next grow -- and as a way to get some time back with my eternally patient wife -- i'd like to implement a system with a little more "automation". Especially because once we're able to leave our homes again, i'd love to travel for a few days at a time. This took me to autopots vs DWC.
I grow in coco and am LOVING COCO (despite the slow start im seeing on my seedlings. is that a thing with coco vs amended soil?) because i have a lot more control over what the plant gets and also the minimization of pests.
Oh yes, pests. Bugs. Another reason i will likely never return to soil -- i FUCKING HATE bugs. So much. More than you are imagining. Thats another excellent selling point for coco and DWC.

Here's my question -- after a certain point (with the air domes, water pumps to drain your res for cleaning, pumps to oxygenate your res, etc...) Autopots begin to look a lot like DWC with extra steps. Has anyone here grown with both, and if so, what have your experiences been and what would you consider to be the better of the two (excluding Airpots with living soil/biotabs, thats not something i want to grow in).

 

[bushmasterar15]

I use the autopots 3.9gal with airdomes. I don't drain the res once I'm on it just keep it filled with nute solution. No air pump in the res either. I try to keep
things as simple as I can for what I'm able to do.

 

[briefbriefs]

I use the autopots 3.9gal with airdomes. I don't drain the res once I'm on it just keep it filled with nute solution. No air pump in the res either. I try to keep
things as simple as I can for what I'm able to do.
View attachment 1195604

Holy crow! you're supposed to be growing weed, not beasts! Okay i have a few questions for you:
1) whats your medium and how do you set it up?
2) what nutrients are you running?
3) have you noticed any pH fluctuations / clogging in your tubes? how do you deal with either/both?
4) in a 2x2 tent, would you recommend i grow only one pot? (i have almost 7ft of height clearance)
5) whats been the greatest drawback to this system?
6) i run coco and ive been told that if you're on autopots, its not a good idea to top feed once you start, because the salts from your nutes gather at the top and so you'd be washing them down into the roots. However, i use a soil drench for 5 days every two weeks to keep away bugs (kinda like a mosquito dunk tea)..could i still do this?

 

[bushmasterar15]

Holy crow! you're supposed to be growing weed, not beasts! Okay i have a few questions for you:
1) whats your medium and how do you set it up?
2) what nutrients are you running?
3) have you noticed any pH fluctuations / clogging in your tubes? how do you deal with either/both?
4) in a 2x2 tent, would you recommend i grow only one pot? (i have almost 7ft of height clearance)
5) whats been the greatest drawback to this system?
6) i run coco and ive been told that if you're on autopots, its not a good idea to top feed once you start, because the salts from your nutes gather at the top and so you'd be washing them down into the roots. However, i use a soil drench for 5 days every two weeks to keep away bugs (kinda like a mosquito dunk tea)..could i still do this?

1) plain coco
2) greenleaf megacrop
3) I add drip clean to my res and I also have shut off valves on each autopot tray so if they seem to get clogged I use a 30ml syringe to flush line but only had that happen a couple times when I forgot to add the drip clean to res.
4) I run (4) pots in a 4x4 so you should be good for atleast 2 in there to give you some variety but should be able to run 1 and blow up the tent.
5) for me I don't have a drawback as this was the simplest way for me to grow in my situation
6) your only top feeding for the first 20 days and then onto the res. You could probably add some mosquito dunk bits mixed in the res if you have a pest problem to combat it. But I've not had any pest issues during my grows.

Some producst aren't available now as they've changed a bit but the new stuff is similar when you break it all down.
This is the schedule I do use for the Megacrop on my grows when using just their product. I had little change up of nutes when I was testing the Greenlife Biotics MC & Bloom P/K 0-17-17.
Megacrop 9.7-5.5-14
Sweet Candy
Redline is 1-5-4
Mother Monarch is 0-52-32

I use Canna Coco bricks so my precharge to rehydrate is 2 grams Megacrop , 1 gram Sweet Candy, 8mls Earth Juice Oily Cann Calmag per gallon. It will take almost 4 gallons to make up their package of 40L brick. Then before I place germed seed into pot each pot get's 1.5L of the same nutes.
Day 5 from sprout they get 500mls same nutes
Day 10 750ml-1L same nutes
Day 15 1L same nutes and turn on airdomes if you have them
Day 20 mixed up 5 gallons of same nutes for the reservoir and turned on and final top water of about 1L each from the res to make sure the pots were evenly saturated and start drawing from the tray.
Day 30 filled reservoir with Megacrop 3 grams, 1.2 grams Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Day 40 @ 4g Megacrop and 1.2g Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag can start adding Redline 1.2 grams per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Day 50 @ 4g Megacrop and 1.2g Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag, 1.2 grams Redline, 0.5 grams Mother Monarch per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Same till the end of grow or can drop Megacrop to 3 grams per gallon final 2-3 weeks.

 

[briefbriefs]

1) plain coco
2) greenleaf megacrop
3) I add drip clean to my res and I also have shut off valves on each autopot tray so if they seem to get clogged I use a 30ml syringe to flush line but only had that happen a couple times when I forgot to add the drip clean to res.
4) I run (4) pots in a 4x4 so you should be good for atleast 2 in there to give you some variety but should be able to run 1 and blow up the tent.
5) for me I don't have a drawback as this was the simplest way for me to grow in my situation
6) your only top feeding for the first 20 days and then onto the res. You could probably add some mosquito dunk bits mixed in the res if you have a pest problem to combat it. But I've not had any pest issues during my grows.

Some producst aren't available now as they've changed a bit but the new stuff is similar when you break it all down.
This is the schedule I do use for the Megacrop on my grows when using just their product. I had little change up of nutes when I was testing the Greenlife Biotics MC & Bloom P/K 0-17-17.
Megacrop 9.7-5.5-14
Sweet Candy
Redline is 1-5-4
Mother Monarch is 0-52-32

I use Canna Coco bricks so my precharge to rehydrate is 2 grams Megacrop , 1 gram Sweet Candy, 8mls Earth Juice Oily Cann Calmag per gallon. It will take almost 4 gallons to make up their package of 40L brick. Then before I place germed seed into pot each pot get's 1.5L of the same nutes.
Day 5 from sprout they get 500mls same nutes
Day 10 750ml-1L same nutes
Day 15 1L same nutes and turn on airdomes if you have them
Day 20 mixed up 5 gallons of same nutes for the reservoir and turned on and final top water of about 1L each from the res to make sure the pots were evenly saturated and start drawing from the tray.
Day 30 filled reservoir with Megacrop 3 grams, 1.2 grams Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Day 40 @ 4g Megacrop and 1.2g Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag can start adding Redline 1.2 grams per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Day 50 @ 4g Megacrop and 1.2g Sweet Candy, 8mls OilyCann Calmag, 1.2 grams Redline, 0.5 grams Mother Monarch per gallon, 1ml DripClean per 10 Liters
Same till the end of grow or can drop Megacrop to 3 grams per gallon final 2-3 weeks.

Bookmarking this comment! I use Megacrop as well, but didnt know about the option to precharge my coco with anything aside from calmag -- which now im realizing may be the reason my seedlings are growing at a snail's pace. Thank you for such a detailed reply!