Should I allow my pots to dry out while using self watering bases?

bottom watering will inherent;y run into problems in the long-run. Without top-down runoff, buildup of nutrients where the moisture ebbs and flows at the top will eventually be a problem if given enough opportunity. that doesn't mean it'll happen every grow and there are things you can do to mitigate it, but also defeats the purpose of having an 'automated' irrigation setup. Each time it dryies back, it deposits solid nutes that will then re-dissolve as more fertilized water flows back in. now it's got the fertilizer of incoming water plus whatever deposited and re-dissolved.. this can happen repeatedly over time and is the concern with bottom-watering systems. Since we only grow for 3-4 months,might be low risk but still an unnecessary risk to add when there are so many better ways of doing it. proof is in the pudding.. if you have consistently healthy plants over time, who fuckign cares how the plant gets the water and minerals it needs, lol. But, if oyu run into issues and inconsistent results even 10% of the time, should probably move on to something else. it could take a few years to see these numbers play out. the constantly wet substrate will be more prone to pathogens, i'd assume, too. Maybe the flow from the wick is light enough not to be a problem?

They look fine, carry on as you are.

I use the AC Infinity self watering bases and I noticed that closer to harvest that they will start taking less water. They can also start taking less water if the wicks are covered in roots or clogged up by nutrients. Have you been also top watering? If you look at my Auto Tent #1 Diary, the roots grew down the wicks and into the bases because I wasn't supplementing with top watering enough. The water level in the bases was not going down and is how I found the issue. Bases only wet the lower 1/3 of the pot so without top watering the roots will grow to bottom where the water is and the top of the pot won't fill out like it should. Started experiencing root bound symptoms as well. Removal of the overgrown roots and top watering fixed the issue. Something to keep in mind when using these bases, hope this helps!

Durring flower plants use alot of water honestly you can get away with the soil always being wet. Personally after the plants have gone thru the strech and start chucking up their nugs I like to let them go thru periods of dryness where I let the soil get super dry and let the plant show signs of wilting. Then I watering them normally for 2 weeks or so and then give them a small drought again. I feel it helps the roots not rot . When your finished with your grow you will be able to check out what your roots look like in the end. If they are really soggy and not strong anymore then remember next time durring flower to water less often Some people when the plants go into flower they will mark what day they give water and then see how manybdays it takes for plant to show signs of wilting then they subtract 1 day from that amount of days and that is your flowering water schedule for that plant

If nothing happened till now, huge fluctuation can do damage 4sure. I see no signs of overwatering or huge nute imbalances, so would say all works well, would be stupid to risk to "improve" ;)))

They are looking good right now. I don't know if id change anything, seems to be doing good on its own. Was curious about these are they look nice. Just never knew what would happen with amending fertlizers and buildups. As long as the RH is not to high, and even if it is, turn up the extractor to help with off setting it.