thanks for update nuggs… we had a guy on the previous AFN, DP guy… he used to use this airdome… but in the comparison, we did, raised pot with wicks to let o2 in and the airdome… there was no difference, taking into account the plants where from the same bean batch… “Staryder”… in auto pots… the difference now is, a 60ltr/hour minimum air pump (Super silent haliea) Hailea ACO-9820 - Super Silent Air Pump… run 24/7 at 35w/Hr = 840w day x 90 days = about 30 quid inc standing charge… the new autopot with dome, it still has the 20 slots in the bottom… i poke the wicks through these slots… i would imagine the air pressure rather than rising up thought the wet media, would just return out the bottom, as 60ltr minute is a nice amount… but we found 705 just came out the bottom… i bar air pressure, is ample to allow air to penetrate the wicked damp growmore professional irish white peat… (Ph stable over 120 days and more 6.5)… besides, the vacuum valves in the air pumps dont last 90 days !!.. air flow was down to 40ltr minute when tested at 100 days 24/7 in the comparative test… your wasting 30 quid a grow, you could spend on biorizotonic ! for shit hot root growth… is use root auxins… it cheaper and less noisy !! but the system dose help the grower to feel he is doing a right thing… more of a phycological benfit than of any use to the plants… just lift the plant up on a tray so oxygen can get direct to the media, that aint anerobic by day 80, from sitting in water… that will bring down the ph of the soil, just when you need it on the alkaline side ph 6.8 to 7.1 for flowering… the flowers need a lot of calcium carbonate during final ripening nuggs… put micro taps inline just before each autovalve, shutting it off, untill the sump is dry, then top water every 2 weeks, and wait for run off in the sump, then take the PH of your run off… if below 6.1… see the chart below nute to PH uptake ranges..
as you can see the phos tapers off below 6.1… hence what most people assume is cal/mag (Buzzword). is actually phos def…
so how do we restore a low run off ph affecting nute uptake during the important flower period ??.. after 80 days of acidic nutes have been poured into a 15ltr medium… thats 2ltr day 180ltrs of nute water… will drop ph of the soil… so what we do is "re “Buffer” the medium, if the ph drops at end of grow… (tends not to happen with growmore pro compost white irish peat)… however cheap grow media will suffer ph drop at end of grow… so we buffer the soil (Re introduce alkaline cations into the soil. raise the alkalinity of the medium back up into the correct PH nute uptake zone, as chart above… so one level teaspoon of “Bicarbonate Of Soda” in a one litre of PH 6.5 nute water, half strength nute, at 23c… the Ph should be around 7.5 to 8.5… pour that in, and it will begin to soak up the acidic “Anions” of hydrogen… lowering the ph of the soil… when the run off comes out the bottom, 2 shots of 1 ltr of soil re buffering treatment..TAKE THE PH OF THE RUN OFF..!! it should come back up to 6.8,7.0… if you go above 7.0 to 7.1… use nitric acid PH down to adjust back down a tad… as trichome loading is best done at ph 6.8 to 7.1… preferably ph7… this is the benefit with coco husk at the end of a grow… high alkalinity remains… but in veg high ph is not good for growing a large frame to hold up the weight of buds… i allway have to use canes to hold up my heavy branches, to stop them flopping outward with the weight of flower trich loading… i many years i have never had an airpot autovalve fail and cause a flood, i still put the autopot set up in a 70cm square 7cm deep garden heavy plastic tray just in case and never fill the feed res with more than one tray can hold… but never had one fail and flood a tray… had em block and no water though !!.. but easy spotted even though i filter my feed res water to 5 microns… to prevent any shit getting into the yellow silicone seal area… and blocking full fill flow !!.. i can go away for 5 to 7 days with this set up… come back to em standing to attention for more dad !! so at the mo i got 5 fems on the go, on 12/12 now, after 35 day veg… full gas orange runts cake, the beast, blue dream and mighty grape… about 3wks into 12/12… none are dutch passion, as for a change i used up some of my free fems beans with good reports… i allways put 3 beans down for each plant i need so i can select the best phenotypical for the grow… so 5 best pheno selected out of 20 that hatched for selection… the rest killed off… only the best pheno selected as above names… for vigour, vitality, physical presence, stem thickness medium height. at 3wks old… then re potted from 6ltr to autopot 15ltrs, hatched in soil in the 6ltr pot covered with “Clingfilm”… fed and watered… hatched at 23c… under light from the grow ligh that will be used, from the get go nuggs… get a run off ph and see what your new soil is showing at the start of the grow… best ph for feed in veg is 6.3… a nitrogen uptake is higher… nice to know your soil ph at the start of the grow, will tell you if it is likely to sag near end of the grow… check it regular every 2 weeks, let the autopot sump dry out and top water, to run off to avoid low ph deficiency from developing… make sure the water is same temp as soil and is ph 6.5… then if run off 6.2… you know you got a 0.3 buffer deficit in the soil… AB
