Grow Mediums Top Feeding only once before turning on the aqua valve?

[jokgga]

Hi all,

Setting up my autopot but I am going to be away for 2/3 days and so my plan, before, was to:

Set up my pot with 1.5 inches of hydroton and coco/perlite mix
Drain that with 6/7 PH balanced water (wait 15 mins to fully drain)
Then put my seedling (just popped a taproot) in the medium and turn on my aquavalve (with 1 gallon distilled water/hydroguard/great white)
Hang my HLG 135 light 20 inches up at 20% power and let it run for 18/6, while I am away.

My hope is that this would allow the seed to fully germinate autonomously without the need for me to top feed, in case I am out.

Would this work or should I just keep my aquavalve off as the water in my coco would keep the roots growing throughout the time, I am away.
Should I maybe add a humidity dome / white cup with a hole to keep the humidity above 70%? I can also keep my tent at that level.

Thanks,

 

[MANNIK]

Hi all,

Setting up my autopot but I am going to be away for 2/3 days and so my plan, before, was to:

Set up my pot with 1.5 inches of hydroton and coco/perlite mix
Drain that with 6/7 PH balanced water (wait 15 mins to fully drain)
Then put my seedling (just popped a taproot) in the medium and turn on my aquavalve (with 1 gallon distilled water/hydroguard/great white)
Hang my HLG 135 light 20 inches up at 20% power and let it run for 18/6, while I am away.

My hope is that this would allow the seed to fully germinate autonomously without the need for me to top feed, in case I am out.

Would this work or should I just keep my aquavalve off as the water in my coco would keep the roots growing throughout the time, I am away.
Should I maybe add a humidity dome / white cup with a hole to keep the humidity above 70%? I can also keep my tent at that level.

Thanks,

Not sure if this already passed but you can definitely just water the coco and leave it for a few days. Usually you wont water for the first 5ish days anyway.

 

[jokgga]

Thanks all. I have top fed it every three days (around 1 Liter each) and was going to do it again; however, noticed that there is some water still at the bottom of the pot. It is not much but is this an indicator that I have been top feeding too much?
My plants seem small for just under a week.

 

[Highway 61]

I think your plants look fine for one week. They should take off as your next sets of leaves peak out.

As far as water schedule.... I've been growing in soil for years but am on my first grow in coco so I'm still learning. FWIW I think you could feed more often with less water/nutes each time until they get a bit bigger at which time you can water until runoff every day. I would suggest that you vacuum out the runoff and not let your pots sit in it during that process. Pot risers (I use bucket insert grit traps as pot risers) and regular trays might make it easier to vacuum out until you are ready to use your res. After your plants' roots have time to get to the bottom of your pots, you can turn on your res.