Pros and cons for auto pots?

You could spend a lot less money on a drip system. Do a little research into crop steering and dryback and you could dial it in where there is only a small amount of runoff each day, where a "auto pot" wouldn't be necessary. Drip feed is far superior IMO and way, way cheaper. I didn't like autopots because there was never dryback like they advertise, my coco stayed sopping wet at all times and personally I noticed it hindered plant performance a lot in flower. SUre they will grow huge plants, but they will not grow as nice of plants as a properly tuned drip system would.

calvin.m16 said:

You could spend a lot less money on a drip system. Do a little research into crop steering and dryback and you could dial it in where there is only a small amount of runoff each day, where a "auto pot" wouldn't be necessary. Drip feed is far superior IMO and way, way cheaper. I didn't like autopots because there was never dryback like they advertise, my coco stayed sopping wet at all times and personally I noticed it hindered plant performance a lot in flower. SUre they will grow huge plants, but they will not grow as nice of plants as a properly tuned drip system would.

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One system versus another is something I've wondered about, I was assuming plant health is key for heavy yeilds but idk for sure?

I've 3x dtw and 2x autopot growing atm and I can't see a difference in plant health to justify the maintenance dtw requires.

Plant health is good without the work involved, I'll know better about yeilds after a few crops.

Star Dog said:

One system versus another is something I've wondered about, I was assuming plant health is key for heavy yeilds but idk for sure?
View attachment 5375641
I've 3x dtw and 2x autopot growing atm and I can't see a difference in plant health to justify the maintenance dtw requires.
View attachment 5375642
Plant health is good without the work involved, I'll know better about yeilds after a few crops.

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Those look great! Are you noticing any decrease in growth rate in the autopots versus DTW? I had issues with drybacks, so especially early plant establishment things would lag so hard. I ended up hand watering my setup a few years ago. I think the systems have changed a lot since then possibly. I like the idea of not pissing runoff into my drainage/property foundation. Something about that yesterday just made me think :hmmm good thing I only drink RO filtered well water.

I learned this year my well is literally 35 feet deep, so it's an insanely shallow well which is why the water quality is horrible and I wouldn't trust feeding my plants with it or even washing with it without it going through a couple heavy duty filtration systems.

Thank you @calvin.m16 up to the point on that picture above I couldn't tell any difference between the two, both looked great to me only no maintaince or wasted nutrient with the autopot.

I messed up with my timer, after realising i kinda lost interest in the grow, I was too far on not to proceed so I've had to suffer it and I've not monitored it as much as I normally would.

This is a more recent photo 10/12 days ago.

Back middle and right plants are the autopot the other 3 are dtw

Early establishment...On their website it recommends feeding by hand until the plants get establish then turn on the system.

Tbh i just potted them and put them and fed from below right away without any problems.
I don't know much about well water tbh, I'm lucky in regards to water quality.
From the tap it's less than 100 ppm.

Out of curiosity is your well intended for home use, i watch a thing on TV about living of grid "Homestead rescue"
The dude Marty Rainy knows a trick or two about sorting out well water, I didn't realise well water could be so toxic.

Cheers bud