[watermelon]

ive been thinking about bottom feeding coco pots recently.

i could just flood a tray of pots, hold the water for a while and drain.


does anyone know how well coco performs when bottom fed in this manner?

[The Dopest]

like a coco ebb and flow...someone said that rolls off your tongue, i was waitin to try it. yup rolls nicely

good question watermelon and can we get some recomendations of pot sizes

[Dalton]

I was wondering the same thing. I see problems with it though. I think you would need to use those coco pots to allow the nutes in...and I don't know if the roots stay in those things or if they come busting out. Then I thought of trying the coco mat underneath too give the roots that come out somewhere to go...but then you lose mobility. If you are an experienced grower this shouldn't be a problem, but I have to pull pots off the table every once in a while. Then I thought about net pots but I think that would get pretty messy with coir. Though it might work with coco peat. I don't really know I haven't tried it or seen anyone else doing it. If someone is pulling it off or has some good Ideas I would love to hear it also.

[-VT-]

Soon...I will experiment with a coco pot "submersion techinique" I read about here:
(just substitute peat pots with coco pots)

The post that inspired me to apply with coco pots

Now...I have also considered this application for a flood/drain for veg....
I'm thinking I'd wanna line the top of the coco pots with heavy Lava rock to hold medium stabile during flood....

After roots bust through the coco pots...then, said pots can be easily transplanted in the earth outdoors and/or in bigger pots with my coco/perlite mix....

Good topic...great lead post....

peace

[Dalton]

Right on VT. I could see little coco pots floating around like toy boats. Good Idea with the rocks. So yeah I could definately see that working with vegging for a short time.
Do you think you could go all the way with bigger coco pots?

[-VT-]

The pots themselves would be stabile if the tray is packed full

[gaiusmarius]

it seems to me that it should be possible, it just needs to be thought through and tested.

[watermelon]

i wouldnt flood the tray over the pots, just fill it to an inch or so and let the plants sit in it for a little while before draining. capilary action should draw the water through the pot. big pots might need a dripper above to get the whole of the coco wet.

obviously the length of the flood will need to be adjusted to the volume of coco in th e pots. i like pots becuase i want to be able to move them and be able to get them out to look at

i dont think roots coming out the bottom of the pots would be a problem. this happens with normal soil grows without problems, and i dont think a small amount of root damage affects th eplant as long as theres a healthy root system going.

id actually like to build such a system without using a pump and have the nutriants delvered via a gravity feed and electronic sprinkler valve. draining would be through a second valve. i like the simplicity of this setup, but im still gonna need a pump to air into the res so which is a shame, ill see how else i can do it.

[bullseye]

watermelon if the pots are all sat in a tray like a garland tray there about 4inch deep and i think 4ft by 2ft you can use a smart valve from a auto pot system you can buy thease seperatelay about 12 pound uk this will fill your tray 15mm deep or 25mm not sure on the depth but its around that when the plants use it all up it floods again the plants are always sat in water(nutes) but in coco they seem to like it.its very simple and it works. i used 6 autopots and got 36 dry the pots were always heavy and the coco wicks up the nutes right to the top dont know if this helps dude

[bullseye]

oh and theres no pump!