Soil vs Coco vs NFT / similar systems...which one?

[ohlordyeah_420]

Here's me throwing another set of keys in the fruit bowl:
I use coco and feed every other day (sometimes every 3) using hempy buckets. 2scoops uses something similar. Just so I can go out for the evening and not stress if I don't get a chance to go see the plants.

Platty Joobs party

You're a sick genius for coining that phrase.

[seymore_budz]

There are pros and cons to every growing style. It's all about finding what works for you. I've grown in most systems and store bought medium. Never done the full Organics soil ammendments thing but that doesn't really appeal to me as you need a family large prepping area etc. here are a couple of bullet points I can think of while nursing a hangover.

Soil pros:

• probably the cheapest route

• No PH adjustments required

• Simple to manage

Soil cons:

• Risk of bugs from the soil

• Disposal can be a bit of a pain if you're not reusing the media

• Less amount of control. Corrections take longer to perculate

Coco pros:

• Faster growth due to air/water ratio

• Most nutrients are chelated so immediately available to the plant

• Coco has excellent CEC properties.

Coco cons:

• Salt buildup can become an issue if you dont have adequate run-off

• Run-off and perodic flushing is required. This means you will need something in place to catch and dispose of run-off

Hydro pros:

• Plants have access to as much air, water and nutrients as they can handle.

• Corrections are immediate and plants reapond faster

• Low waste footprint. Water is normally recirculating and minimal media is required.

• Access to the roots. This allows you to inspect both sides of your plant if theres an issue.

Hydro cons:

• PH/EC meters are essential. People will tell your they're not but to be consistent you will need them at some point.

• High level of knowledge required to get thr best out of the system.

• Highest setup cost.

• Most points of failure. Lots of moving parts brings lots of things that can go wrong.

Thank you mate.

Seems like its soil vs coco atm. I just want something with the least daily fuss. Soil I could water every 3 to 4 days and then do checks daily or every other day to make sure they are okay..but nothing more. With NFT if was a check ph ec check and then adjustments etc which I can't afford to do now.

There's a few different systems on the market. Most seem to be top fed dripper systems or capillary systems that regulate the flow of water to the pots. You don't have to go with a system and can run it all from pots and run-off trays. I normally mix the coco with some pebbles or perlite if running a capillary fed system.

If you have your NFT trays still they make an excellent stand and catchment system. You can even pop a bit of pipe and a couple of drippers and turn the thing into a full recirculating system like a Wilma for a few quid.

Good luck with all this! The other good thing about coco is there are many coco lovers here so plenty of knowledge.

[wutang]

Hey

Thanks for your replies.

I'm leaning more towards the autopots to take the daily hassle of watering away. Anyone use them here? This is bottom fed, so would I need not worry about run off?

My other option is using some light mix I already have and my biobizz nutes and get this grow started in soil..
But coco keeps coming up and I want to move to it..but just dont have the time to do daily watering so hence a 4 pot autopot system would work but never grown in coco etc. On their site it says that you start hand watering for the first week or so then you let the autopots do their thing.

[Cave Hill Cole]

I'm leaning more towards the autopots to take the daily hassle of watering away. Anyone use them here? This is bottom fed, so would I need not worry about run off?

Hey bro, yeah I've ben growing using autopots for the past 4years now. I use a coco synganic style and they have been all gravy. They really are a huge time saver and plants love them, but there are tricks you need to learn, as with everything. Yes they are just a big bottom fed/SIP bucket, but no you don't worry about runoff, you just feed as per normal. Fill up the res, set the EC & PH, turn on the taps and let it do its thing. I usually always stick to straight water the last 2 weeks (the flush if you like this term).

The autopots got a lot less hassle once they switched from a 4mm line to 6mm line. The new 6mm are much better.

[wutang]

I'm leaning more towards the autopots to take the daily hassle of watering away. Anyone use them here? This is bottom fed, so would I need not worry about run off?

Hey bro, yeah I've ben growing using autopots for the past 4years now. I use a coco synganic style and they have been all gravy. They really are a huge time saver and plants love them, but there are tricks you need to learn, as with everything. Yes they are just a big bottom fed/SIP bucket, but no you don't worry about runoff, you just feed as per normal. Fill up the res, set the EC & PH, turn on the taps and let it do its thing. I usually always stick to straight water the last 2 weeks (the flush if you like this term).

The autopots got a lot less hassle once they switched from a 4mm line to 6mm line. The new 6mm are much better.

Hi Bro

Thank you. That's helped me a lot.

Are you in the UK? If so, what nutes do you use and the coco/clay pebble mix? It's all new to me so I'm just learning the basics in terms of what I need to get me started.

Peace

[Cave Hill Cole]

Are you in the UK? If so, what nutes do you use and the coco/clay pebble mix? It's all new to me so I'm just learning the basics in terms of what I need to get me started.

Haha nah bro, i'm on the other side of the world in New Zealand. Right on, well the autopot system is really cool once you get the hang of it.

If you are growing in coco, you use coco nutes and follow the instructions of the line (with a grain of salt). Keep the EC between 1.3 - 2.0 through out the first 7 weeks of flower. Flush for the last 2-3 with straight water.

You use clay balls for the first 5cm layer in the bottom of the pot. Then fill the rest with straight coco or coco perlite mix.

So I use:
- House & Garden A+B
- Canna PK
- Calmag
- Budswell
- Silica
- House & Garden Drip clean (this is a line celaner/wetting agent) this stops the salt build up in lines
- PH down

Then I actually top feed brewed compost teas with a few extras once a week for the first 5 weeks of flower.

Other tips:
- when first transplanting plants into them , you have to top feed for the first 10 days until their root system makes its way to nutes
- always keep your pots off the ground so they don't get cold. I use foam mats
- Keep your pots level, otherwise they can leak
- Get extra large drip trays to keep your pots in, this is a very important lesson I learned on my own. The pots can leak and if your top feeding they can easily overflow. That's the real worst case scenario you always have to remember. There is a possibility something goes wrong and the valve fails and you drain your entire reservoir. I have flooded my garage with 100liters of nutes more then once, which really sucks. So get extra large plastic trays to put the autopots in to catch overflow.
- keep the tank to only a small amount of nutes (a quater full), so any runoff is easily collected by the trays.

here is my autpot set up with the trays

[Skunkymonkey]

Hi @wutang duno if this is any help but I use coco and bottom feed by hand so basically the same method as auto pots but I'm just doing it manually. I start in veg by feeding from the top as normal until the roots hit the bottom but been as they are small plants at the start they only need a water every few days.
Then when I switch to feeding from the bottom I feed every other day. Roughly 3/4 liters that's In 22 ltr fabric pots. (Some will take more) then I just plain water for 2 weeks at the end and all is good. I use the vitalink range soft water and by the time I mix up wat it recommends on the chart the pH come in bang on 5.8 / 6.0. So could be different for you depending on where you are. Happy growing

[wutang]

Hey guys

Thank you for your responses..much love.

So I've been speaking to my local grow shop and this is what they've advised I go for

4 Autopot AV5 system

Samurai Coco A and B (1l of each)

Samurai Active Boost 1l

Shogun Sumo Active Boost 1l

Shogun PK warrior 9/18

Shogun Calmag 1l

Clay Pebbles 10l

Ecothrive 100% coco coir 50l

Now I'm always careful as I know most will try and sell you everything..so it would be great to get your advice on what I do and don't need for my first coco autopot grow? Am I right in thinking I don't need to mix coco coir?

I've got some cyco platinum series when I did NFT and canna pk13, orca mycorrhizae. Will any of these be any use in this coco grow or should I stick to the above?

Peace
Wu

[Cave Hill Cole]

I'd suggest a wetting agent like house & gardens dripclean. It prevent salt accumulation and line blockages.

The PK and mycrorrhizae you can use in the aupots just fine. Not sure what cyco nutes you've got. But if they are additives for coco you will be fine.

Don't mix coco coir? You just open the fresh bag and sling it on the pots once you have put down the clay ball bottom layer. You can use either straight coco or a coco perlite mix

[JJ]

Here's me throwing another set of keys in the fruit bowl:
I use coco and feed every other day (sometimes every 3) using hempy buckets. 2scoops uses something similar. Just so I can go out for the evening and not stress if I don't get a chance to go see the plants.

Platty Joobs party

You're a sick genius for coining that phrase.

I do hempy with straight perlite, I do hand feed tho,works good