Self-Watering hydro pots - good?

[JediPeaceFrog]

Greetings and peace to all. This is the first thread started by me, so please be gentle.

Ok, so i'm an old-school grower, which means that I used to grow 20+years ago. Pots with whatever soil we could fine, lights bought from kmart, and a closet. Nice, huh? So, i'm getting back into growing after a 15-year hiatus. I'll have sooooo many questions coming your way in the next few days/weeks/months, you'll all probably get sick of me lol. So, question #1: Has anybody used these hydro pots before: 9 Self-Watering Soil Pots |

I'm not advertising for hydroponics group, It was just where I came across the ad. I mean, it's basically just 'caveman hydroponics', right? I understand that these make getting back into growing a lot easier. Would a person put 100% coco in them? I'll leave it at that for now. Thanks in advance for all the help i'll be getting. Peace.

 

[TanR]

Re: Self-Watering hydro pots...good?

HI JediPeaceFrog,

Welcome to 420 Magazine and the community of like minded individuals that gathers here. I hope you will find the group to be as generous with their knowledge and supportive of others as I have!

Sorry, but no experience with those particular pots. I've read of folks using wick type self watering devices especially in situations of extended absence from the plants, so I can't see that these would be particularly different. Always kind of wondered if anyone experienced any negative effects to their plants from overwatering with those though and that would be honestly be a little concern with these if using soil. Perhap coco would work and eliminate that concern, but I've no experience on which to draw with coco.

If you haven't yet explored them, there are a number of exceptionally helpful resources on this site that you might wish to visit. Under the Grow Room tab at the top of the screen you will find a section titled "How to grow Marijuana". Within this section there are a number of topics covered rather extensively. I have also found the Search feature under the "Forums" tab to be invaluable as it allow one to search the entire site for key words and topics.

Sorry I can't provide an answer for you on those pots, but I just wanted to drop in and quickly welcome you to the community!

Be well and happy growing.

 

[JediPeaceFrog]

Re: Self-Watering hydro pots...good?

Thank you TanR, for the information and for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[josh223]

Hey there JediPeaceFrog. Most folks using coco coir will amend it with 25% or so perlite.

One thing you may want to consider is a Hempy Pot. It is "cave man hydro". Instead of having to pay all that money for those pots, you can grow in recycled 2 Liter soda bottles. The down side is that they all have to be hand watered unless you make/buy some kind of self water system.

There are many grows on this forum featuring Hempy Pots. Most of them showcase spectacular results. Just food for thought. And don't worry about asking too many questions. We're all here to help one another.

A pic of a Hempy gal I grew.

 

[bioman]

hey, jpf like yourself i originated from old school... fluoro's in a closet and eventually some lovely bud that even as airy buds were very welcome in those days.

i have used and currently have a scrog grow in autopots. i use the single 12" autopots with the valve set to the higher water level. i use a 50/50 mix of clay pellets (gro rocks) and coir with a 1/2" layer on top of white vermiculite to reflect back light and heat. this mix seems to work well for me.

i moved on to dwc for a while but the ease of the autopots appealed to me. have to say... you'd have to be a complete dribbling moron (bitch stewie?) to get it wrong with these pots. talk about easy ...when in flower and stretch is over i have gone a week at a time with no intervention from me other than to top up the nute tank. upkeep is absolutely minimal! i would suggest that an autopot grow isn't quite as fast growing as dwc mostly i think due to the ease of root zone temp control in dwc.

all in all mate i give autopots the thumbs up.

 

[JediPeaceFrog]

hey, jpf like yourself i originated from old school... fluoro's in a closet and eventually some lovely bud that even as airy buds were very welcome in those days.

i have used and currently have a scrog grow in autopots. i use the single 12" autopots with the valve set to the higher water level. i use a 50/50 mix of clay pellets (gro rocks) and coir with a 1/2" layer on top of white vermiculite to reflect back light and heat. this mix seems to work well for me.

i moved on to dwc for a while but the ease of the autopots appealed to me. have to say... you'd have to be a complete dribbling moron (bitch stewie?) to get it wrong with these pots. talk about easy ...when in flower and stretch is over i have gone a week at a time with no intervention from me other than to top up the nute tank. upkeep is absolutely minimal! i would suggest that an autopot grow isn't quite as fast growing as dwc mostly i think due to the ease of root zone temp control in dwc.

all in all mate i give autopots the thumbs up.

Thanks for the info, bioman. I take it you are talking about these: Easy 2 Grow Quad Autopot Kit - Futuregarden Products - Futuregarden.com ? I haven't heard of these particular pots, until now. What I was referring to was these: Eco Grow Pots from Growco Indoor Garden Supply But, it's the same thing, application wise. This appeals to me, because I will have to be away from my future growing op for maybe 2-4 days at a time, so I think that this setup just might be my thing. Do you have any pics of any past grows using these autopots? Please let me know, because they seem right up my alley. Thanks again, and peace.

 

[bioman]

hey jpf, i was referring to https://autopot.com.au/default.aspx?PageID=83e38d35-bdff-472c-b568-94a872187947 i'm reasonably sure they're distributed world wide.

sorry, i don't have a pic of any past grows but i do have an early stage scrog on the go so i'll post a pic or two when it's lights on time. i use these pots in conjunction with the 'gas lantern routine' followed by flowering under the 'diminishing light schedule' and it just couldn't be any easier or any cheaper to run except maybe with leds.

oddly enough jpf my first foray into hydro was with eco pots a long time ago. they have been around for yonks. autopots are a big improvement.

 

[bioman]

hey all, jpf this is an early days scrog using autopots. 3 plants fill the screen pretty quickly. this system works very well. this strain is el nino and this pheno. is wonderful for scrog because using gas lamp routine i experienced NO stretch at all with the last grow. this caught me a bit unaware with some empty spaces that would've normally have been filled by stretch. not this time though
thanks

 

[JediPeaceFrog]

Thanks for the info and the pic, bioman. I keep hearing good things about them....I guess for a simple, 'less-hassle' way of growing, they be the bomb. Thanks again.