Why did you choose to go with autopot over a drip system?
I have a balcony grow that I can sometimes not attend for 2-3 weeks at a time, so I needed a reliable fertigation system. The AutoPot certainly delivered on that front.
At this point I would not even try a drip system any more. The watering from below works fabulously, as far as I can see. The roots get plenty of oxygen, and the plant was growing really well so far.
I will also use this for my next indoor grow, with more pots but all going to the same reservoir.
The plant was an absolute mess when I transplanted it in the AutoPot; many weeks old, but there was a dire issue with mites, so about half the plant was removed (somebody else did that and gave me the plant). It fully recovered in about six weeks of veg (July and August), and grew into a beast. It's a stealth grow, so I could not give it free reign, but currently I'm hoping for 150g, fingers crossed. Still has a few weeks to go. The cultivar is "Orange Sherbert" by Barney's Farm (from seed).
Have you had any major salt problems in the media? Any workarounds?
I did not have any nutrition related issues at all. What I did do, was flush the pot with FlashClean (outside of the tray). I did that twice, more "for good measure" and when I was changing the nute schedule, rather than to resolve any problems.
Of course it's possible that I would have run into issues, had I not done that. Probably I would have done the same thing with a regular top-feed grow.
The plant is growing in a 50/50 mix of coco and clay pebbles. About an inch of clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot.
The good thing about the system is, that you can actually flush very easily, because if you remove the pot from the tray it's just a regular pot with holes in the bottom, and you can flush it in a bath tub (even easier for me because the plant is outside). I've also moved the pot a few times into direct sunlight, when I had the opportunity. It's just very convenient in that sense (no drip lines or carrots to remove, etc.).
The manufacturer of the AutoPot says that you can simply run FlashClean through the tank (reservoir); I have not tried that approach, but it would also clean the system itself.
Today I noticed that the pH in the reservoir had dropped precipitously (from 6 to below 5). This was probably because I let the nutrient solution go "stale" in there. It is GHE TriPart formula. I did not notice that before, but I guess 3 weeks is the limit for my nutrient mix to go in the tank... I have now drained the tank, flushed the plant, and tomorrow I'll reset.
I think if you don't let the reservoir stand that long that won't be an issue.
