Auto-pots yes or no

Also wanted to add, if you run auto pots, it says not to turn it on till the plant is big enough. Meaning you have to water from the top first till the leaves reach the edge of the pot, then switch on the autopot and let it do it's thing.

I am currently running a grow using self watering pot bases. I am in soil with dry fertilizers and it's going great. Probably some of the healthiest plants I've grown yet as correct watering practices is one of the hardest things to get right imo. That being said, like numbers said I only add water to the base and its fine for me. I've seen the same done with autopots and hempy buckets. As far as nutes, they will wick up too. The top layer stays dry and is where the salt build up will occur and that's normal. The whole purpose of autopots is to supply the constant but correct amount of watering/feeding. But like mouse said if you gotta flush it for some reason (over fed ect), it's gonna suck and take a lot of water to get rid of the salt build up. As fat as recharge goes, I use it too, but mainly as a ph buffer or in the hole I'm transplanting to. It's not very water soluble and will build up in your tank. People do use it in the res though, I don't. Just need to find what works best for you. There are some videos of people using them and a guy by the name of autopotamus is insane with it. He has everything in check though from environment to nutes pulling 1lb plants from autos in autopots. So if you can dial everything in correctly, you get great results. Just my thoughts based on my experiences. Best of luck! Happy Growing!

Numbers will be mad at me but such is life. Autopots work well. Bottom watering is is fine. Why would Night Owl seeds recommend them. On this subject he is full of himself. Sorry. I used to run a green house for a interior plant company like in offices and hospitals and the such. ALL plants were sub-irrigated once they moved from the greenhouse to an indoor location. Hundreds of plants. Some plants remained indoors for more than five years before they needed replacing and some of that was because they overgrew their location. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Autopots + Autoflowers = Huge plants. They work great but you do have to use them as directed or what’s the purpose. A lot of different nutrients lines will work well but I believe that they must be 100 percent water soluble or you can get some nasty unused stuff left behind. If look online there’s a lot of videos related to the subject and you will probably get better information about how to use them there anyway. Look up, Garden Talk with Mr. Grow it. The guy has done over 160 different videos and I know there’s a few that cover Autopots. One. Episode that comes to mind is the one he does with his guest who calls himself “Autopotomus “ you can find this guy on line instagram,X, YouTube, Reddit. If you want to see what the combination of Autopots and autoflowers can do look this guy up. You will be racing. To get own pronto. Seriously check it out.

The wicking of the medium. dry sucks up. Auto pot are ok, just annoying to flush em if they need it.

Auto pots are good.. regular feed from the same resi helps and they adapt to how fast or slow they are drinking. Good simple kit...the top is where all the build up of salts will be, its advised not to water from top down on Auto pots unless putting quiet a bit of water threw to prevent burn from salt build up. A good ratio would be coco 50 pebbles 40 perlite 10.... not living soil. You don't need run off if you feed correct amoubt and like I said build up is at the top when bottom fed...you will see the salt.... Hope this helps.

Bottom-up watering is bad for any soilless context and great for something like a living soil that you only have to add water to. Anything involving nutrients soaking in from bttom leads to build up that is completely avoidable, otherwise. Soil is a maybe, soilless is a hard no. Takes the primary benefit of soiless methods and cancels it (10% runoff maintains consistent nutrient concentration in substrate). doesn't matter if you grow autos or photoperiods. if in soiless, recharge does nothing useful for you. shouldn't have to reintroduce microbes throughout entire grow... once they colonize, should be self-propagating unless something is killing it off? the top may not stay moist, but that's nota a problem. you don't want roots in top 1-2" anyway. That's more often a sign of poor watering habits. As long as the water soaks in near the top, that's good enough. that will depend on your substrate's constitution too.