automatic watering is a bit finnicky, so much goes into it and it's effect on the environment itself cant be discounted, so there are as many ways as there are growers i'm afraid! my best practical advice to you is to use the Autopot system which is a bottom feeding , gravity based thing that will "automatically" water your plants when the weight of the pot drops below a certain weight (dryness basically) . Otherways are different , like top down watering in coco , i prefer to use watering rings, just so simple, twice a day for anywhere between 3 to 15 minutes depending on the size of the pot. Does that make sense ? for soil, you do want to have flexibility, water retention is high, sometimes it's three days, sometimes it's four days , sometimes it's two days, and risk of overwatering is so high, i think that's why folks might want to hand water more in soil. also that's the good thing about autopots.