Piper.180 Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with living soil in autopots. I'm confused because I've read people saying that you can't because it waters from the bottom so top dressing won't work. Buildasoil on YouTube has been running living soil in earthboxs and they are working fine with top dressing. Autopot and earthbox are slightly different but they both are bottom watering systems so I can't see why autopots wouldn't work. If anyone has had experience I'd appreciate tge help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbudz Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 The earth boxes are sub irrigated planters which uses a wicking action where only a small section of the medium comes into contact with the water. I'm pretty sure with autopots the whole bottom of the pot is sat in water constantly. I also don't think you would be able to run a full cycle in the autopots as the pots are too small and no amount of top dressing would allow for proper nutrient cycling unless running extremely small plants. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper.180 Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 @ukbudz autopot suggests using a layer of clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot so the soil is not sitting in the water. I was actually going to purchase the the air base which makes a lot more like earthbox, only small sections of soil sit in the water with the air base inserts. They sell the XL pots which are 25L for the plastic pots and 20L for the fabric. The earthbox junior is 28L I think. I was thinking this would be big enough as I've seen people like Mr canuck on YouTube using similar pot size with good results. My plants won't be that big as I grow 4 in a 1m×1m tent. I have never done a living soil grow before so sorry if I sound newbish. I'm just trying to get my head round everything before I start buying stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbudz Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 @Piper.180 I always thought he was using the original earthboxes which are 2cubic ft which is roughly 56litres though I've not watched there videos for a while since I ditched the no till. I'll be honest I find that Mr Canuck annoying as fuck so don't watch his vids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper.180 Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 @ukbudz sorry I should of explained better. I'm pretty sure buildasoil uses the large earthbox but I meant if they make a smaller one (28L) then you must be able to use living soil with that pot size. Why did you stop no till? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbudz Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 @Piper.180 you might just have to take the plunge and give it a bash, I'd be top dressing with a high quality compost aswell as dry amendments as they'll take a while to break down. It was down to yield really, I can pull the same quality in either no till or coco but the yield was right down on my no till runs compared to coco. That's not to say it can't be done as I've seen it but for me personally I get more from coco with no discernable drop in quality in my and a few mates opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper.180 Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 @ukbudz I might give a go and see what happens, it's a lot to pay out for though LOL. Damn, that's not good to hear. I'm going from soil to living soil so hopefully I don't see to much change. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbudz Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 @Piper.180 I chucked 400 litres onto my beds in the back garden then made some more so I know about the money point unfortunately . Go for it mate. What I said was just my experience but everyone's different, there's some lads on here doing some cracking grows with no till/living soil. Are you looking to make you're own mix or buy a premade one ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper.180 Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 @ukbudz I was going to use PM Soil as base, Dr forest 444 and 284 blends, worm castings and add a bit of perlite to the mix. As I said I've only ever done bottled feed before so this is all new to me so trying to keep it simple to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbudz Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 My first mix was biobizz all mix, ecothrive life cycle, wormcasts, biochar and clay pebbles ( don't use perlite it's shite and just floats to the top when watering) and done the job for a couple of cycles before I got my head round it and then mixed my own using mountain organics recipe. I've used Dr forest for a few things, I used his premium amendment mix and it was spot on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 I'm sure it could work although there may be a reason you don't see anyone doing it. If you want automated watering and no till/living soil I'd recommend the far more established method of using Blumat/Blusoak, shouldn't be much different in cost, possi even a bit cheaper and if you follow Rolling Green Acres YouTube tutorial you can't go far wrong. 20L is the recommended minimum, but it would be a lot easier to keep things working well and in balance with a larger volume, 2 plants in a 40L container will work better than 2 plants in 2 20L containers. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John'sMidnightGarden Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 On 20/06/2022 at 1:13 PM, MindSoup said: 20L is the recommended minimum, but it would be a lot easier to keep things working well and in balance with a larger volume, 2 plants in a 40L container will work better than 2 plants in 2 20L containers. Been missing this point till I saw a FrostyJak vid where he's pheno hunting. Never thought to double up in my pots, it'll save the electric on veg times. 60L pots now, guessing I can do more than 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted June 22, 2022 Share Posted June 22, 2022 I've done 4 in my 45L, but it all depends how big you want the plants to get. The main thing is that the container doesn't become fully rooted out. Also be mindful of what plants you out together in a pot, out of the 4 I had one super vigorous, super stretchy sativa dom that completely swamped the other girls, so its best to match like for like strains in the same container. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDF20 Posted August 24, 2022 Share Posted August 24, 2022 (edited) On 19/06/2022 at 10:46 PM, Piper.180 said: @ukbudz I might give a go and see what happens, it's a lot to pay out for though LOL. Damn, that's not good to hear. I'm going from soil to living soil so hopefully I don't see to much change. How is your grow going mate? If you still considering grow in living soil check IG 420organicbelfast . He is currently growing in autopots 25l with clay pebbles on the bottom using Dr organics living soil and water only. He top dress on week 3 and 5 (flowering) top watering then switch autopot back on. I have two one module autopots 15l with separate res for each module and thinking to give a test run with Living soil and Coco to compare Edited August 24, 2022 by CDF20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper.180 Posted August 24, 2022 Author Share Posted August 24, 2022 @CDF20 hi, I've started using living soil but only using it in normal pots at the moment. It's super easy. I'm only top dressing at week 4 of flower and during veg potting up with fresh living soil seems to worked. Plants look really healthy. I've got 4 auto pot XLs on stand by for some black cherry punch clones. Should be setting up the auto pots in the next week or 2. I was planning to turn the system off when I need to top dress so I can water from the top so hearing someone else is doing the same is good to hear. I also opted for the plastic pots rather than the fabric to help that top layer of soil stay moist so the amendments can break down, I feel in the fabric pots that top layer would be a lot dryer. I will update the thread to let people know how this all turns out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a really low maintenance growing style tho. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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