Living soil in autopots?

[CDF20]

44 minutes ago, Piper.180 said:

@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. 

 

All the best mate and YES PLEASE keep us updated. 

 

Sorry if I missed what living soil and dry amends you using atm?

[Piper.180]

@CDF20 I'm using Dr forest 4-4-4 & 2-8-4 also using their mycorrhiza for potting up, when I top dress in week 4 of flower I add orca liquid mycorrhiza. I will use orca in the auto pots the same way hand watering from the top. The only other thing I use is worm casting. 

[CDF20]

Just now, Piper.180 said:

@CDF20 I'm using Dr forest 4-4-4 & 2-8-4 also using their mycorrhiza for potting up, when I top dress in week 4 of flower I add orca liquid mycorrhiza. I will use orca in the auto pots the same way hand watering from the top. The only other thing I use is worm casting. 

Thanks 

[Piper.180]

OK I got an update. So I ran the autopots for the first time and hit a problem within the first two weeks, this was completely my fault as I jumped in too fast and didn't do enough research. My soil mix was 60% peat, 20% perlite and 20% worm castings which I've now learnt is no good as it holds way to much water for the autopot system. Autopot really needs 50% perlite when using peat. This is an epic facepalm on my part because it says it on autopots website but live and learn I suppose. The soil ended up going anaerobic so I turned the tap off to the system and let the pots dry out. Soil is doing a lot better now but I did lose 1 plant which I'd imagine is from root rot but all other plants are looking healthy. 

On the living soil side of things it's looking good, there is so much life in the pots and there's things I've never seen before living in there. Need to look up what these things are and make sure they're actually benifical to the plant or at least not detrimental to plant health. 

So far I've managed to identify springtails which I've read are harmless to plants. 

Also see some pot worms which can be harmful to plants because if there's no food sources they'll start eating the roots but since drying out the pots these have seemingly disappeared. 

There's white pear-shaped soil mites living in soil that I haven't identified yet so still not sure on them. 

There's also some spider looking things that are easily visible to the naked eye living in there but these things are shy so not managed to get a good look to identify them.

All these things are just in the soil and nothing on the actual plants. 

 

I'll just hand water for the rest of this grow so the soil doesn't go anaerobic again and next grow I'll use a soil mix with 50% perlite. I'll give another update at some point, I someone can learn from my mistakes then that's a win for them. 

 

[Piper.180]

Also I did all this to mimic what Jeremy from buildAsoil was doing with earthboxes and he's just started using the autopots. So If anyone is interested you'll be able to learn from him. 

[MindSoup]

Was just watching jez setup the autopots last night, should be interesting to see how they do. As for the creatures in the soil, springtails can actually be detrimental in high enough numbers, they will sometimes feed on roots from what I remember but I wouldn't panic unless they get to crazy numbers. Never heard of worms doing any damage, especially with a mulch layer going as they'll always have something to eat, but as you've found they will soon die out if the soil dries too far for them. The little white mites are beneficial, they're good decomposers but they won't predate on pests. 

[Piper.180]

6 minutes ago, MindSoup said:

Was just watching jez setup the autopots last night, should be interesting to see how they do. As for the creatures in the soil, springtails can actually be detrimental in high enough numbers, they will sometimes feed on roots from what I remember but I wouldn't panic unless they get to crazy numbers. Never heard of worms doing any damage, especially with a mulch layer going as they'll always have something to eat, but as you've found they will soon die out if the soil dries too far for them. The little white mites are beneficial, they're good decomposers but they won't predate on pests. 

Yeah if I'd of known Jeremy was going to try the autopots I would of held off for a bit and see how they compared to the earthbox, he literally announced it about a week after I set mine up. 

 

Just read about the springtails again and your right, they'll damage plant if numbers are high and no alternative food source. 

 

As always you're a great help with good info, it's much appreciated. 

[MindSoup]

Yeah how annoying , it will be interesting to see how the 2 compare, I'd be more inclined towards the Earthboxes myself but only because I like the idea of a wider, shallower container.

[Piper.180]

17 minutes ago, MindSoup said:

Yeah how annoying , it will be interesting to see how the 2 compare, I'd be more inclined towards the Earthboxes myself but only because I like the idea of a wider, shallower container.

Me too but its just getting them in the UK. It was a while ago but I think the cheapest I could find them was £180 per earthbox which is way out of my price range as I'd need a few. Hopefully I can get the autopots worked out. 

[MindSoup]

Yeah 180 for a planter with some mesh in the bottom is mental. I was thinking of making my own but I haven't had a close enough look at one to see the whole idea. 

Edited November 16, 2022 by MindSoup

[CDF20]

@Piper.180 

Thanks for an update mate! 

Will give living soil a go next  year. Seems like Dr Organics living soil has a good reviews and it's a peat free. Will veg in easy2grow fabric pots and then 19l fabric flower in one module. 

[darksecrets999]

On 19/06/2022 at 6:57 PM, ukbudz said:

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. 

Hi mate. Have you used SIPs before? If so, do you know how often you have to top the water up in the reservoir at the plants peak? I’m looking for a method with soil where I can leave it alone for up to a week if need be incase I need to go away on holiday 

[Speedtriplebbc]

Hi, was just looking into using autopots with living soil and came across this interesting thread. I hear people talking about a diy sip and thought I’d throw my experience in the conversation. I’ve basically used a living soil hempy bucket idea, first ones I made were 30l buckets with a 1/2” hole drilled 2” from the base, clay pebbles in the bottom to just above the hole and living soil on top. The clay pebbles wick enough to keep the soil moist and the roots will find it too. My newest version is a 56l fabric pot with a round saucer inside the pot, fill this with clay pebbles and living soil on top, works the same but no drainage hole required. Hope this helps

[MindSoup]

That sounds like quite a good idea, have you got any pictures of the build? 

[Speedtriplebbc]

On 24/01/2024 at 14:13, MindSoup said:

That sounds like quite a good idea, have you got any pictures of the build? 

Unfortunately I don’t, but I probably should as it worked great. The original version was basically an organic hempy bucket and there’s a lot of information on those. I think I have an unused 30l version I can dig out for pictures