Autopot and Coco - Wicking observation

[Dookie69]

One of my major concerns with my Autopot watering system is that the top layer of coco is always dry. You read all about how bad it is for coco to dry out, yet Autopot doesn’t recommend top watering in Autopots because they are a bottom-up wicking system, and salts that concentrate in the upper strata are best not flushed downwards towards the root zone.

Each 11 litre pot has an air dome to feed air to the root zone. The air dome gets partially buried in clay pebbles between 2.5 and 5cm deep. Then the rest is the medium, in my case Freedom farms F1 which is a craft “soil”, mostly coco perlite with some amendments.

Anyway after my last grow I carefully lifted the medium out of one of the pots for some analysis.

Here are some pics:

This is a side view. The pot had been out of the watering tray for a couple of days, so may have dried out a bit already. Nevertheless you can see three distinct zones, the dry top, the middle being moist coco, and then the bottom layer which is almost always permanently in feed water, this layer is dominated by wet clay pebbles and roots.

This is what happens inside the air dome. The roots are almost in a deep water culture here, almost always submerged in liquid with air bubbles from an air pump.

Here you see the bottom of the pot with the air dome still in place.

 

I have to say this system seems to work. There is a healthy root mass and surely that’s what matters most.

 

 

A last fun pic. See how the stem has grown out of the jiffy pellet.

[Marzcanna]

1 hour ago, Dookie69 said:

 

One of my major concerns with my Autopot watering system is that the top layer of coco is always dry. You read all about how bad it is for coco to dry out, yet Autopot doesn’t recommend top watering in Autopots because they are a bottom-up wicking system, and salts that concentrate in the upper strata are best not flushed downwards towards the root zone.

Each 11 litre pot has an air dome to feed air to the root zone. The air dome gets partially buried in clay pebbles between 2.5 and 5cm deep. Then the rest is the medium, in my case Freedom farms F1 which is a craft “soil”, mostly coco perlite with some amendments.

Anyway after my last grow I carefully lifted the medium out of one of the pots for some analysis.

Here are some pics:

This is a side view. The pot had been out of the watering tray for a couple of days, so may have dried out a bit already. Nevertheless you can see three distinct zones, the dry top, the middle being moist coco, and then the bottom layer which is almost always permanently in feed water, this layer is dominated by wet clay pebbles and roots.

This is what happens inside the air dome. The roots are almost in a deep water culture here, almost always submerged in liquid with air bubbles from an air pump.

Here you see the bottom of the pot with the air dome still in place.

 

I have to say this system seems to work. There is a healthy root mass and surely that’s what matters most.

 

 

A last fun pic. See how the stem has grown out of the jiffy pellet.

 

I add a layer of perlite on top of my pots in autopots. Seems to keep the top of the soil moist

[Dookie69]

@marzcanna what medium are you using? Soil or coco?

[Marzcanna]

4 hours ago, Dookie69 said:

@marzcanna what medium are you using? Soil or coco?

i use Coco, i dont recommend using soil with autopots (altho you can)

Edited July 31, 2021 by Marzcanna

[Dr. Green]

I'm on my first run with autopots. Only the surface of my soil is dry but 2cm in its moist. I don't use airdomes 

[Dookie69]

I'm on my first run with autopots. Only the surface of my soil is dry but 2cm in its moist. I don't use airdomes 

I was listening to a podcast the other day featuring the American Autopot rep and he said it’s recommended to keep the layer of clay pebbles to no more than an inch at the bottom of the pot. Any more and your wicking is affected adversely.

Mine current pots are all double that, which I will address in future grows.
The air domes are great, bring extra air to the root zone.