The Advantages of The Autopot System - Even Outdoors in The United Kingdom.

The basic Autopot System consists of a plant pot on a membrane in a container.
This container has a SmartValve built into it which is fed from a nutrient tank.
As the plant in the pot uses nutrient the level of nutrient in the Autopot
container is maintained by the SmartValve. This means that the plant always has
the optimum level of nutrient at its disposal. As the plant grows and needs more
nourishment, the SmartValve opens more frequently to replenish the nutrient supply
from the tank. Because the plant pot is sat on a membrane, it will only take up
what it needs in the way of moisture.This system ensures that the plant does not
become too wet and drown or rot, neither can it dry out provided that the tank
is kept topped up.

In our climate in the United Kingdom, where rainfall is often quite high and
sunshine limited, I have found that the results obtained with the Autopot system
have far outstripped those of a coventional system of soil and a growbag.
These results have only been studied using tomatoes, however I have no doubt that
the same benefits would apply to virtually any type of plant.

I have grown a crop of tomatoes from seed this year and for the first time tried
the Autopot system against a growbag and against pots hand watered with nutrient
solution. The substrate used was washed coco. The seedlings were grown on to about
4″ in height using rockwool cubes and a small propagation tray. They were transplanted
into 8″ pots (3 plants per pot.) and the pots placed in either Autopot systems or into
containers about 2″ deep. Some were planted in soil in Growbags.

The Autopots were connected to a nutrient tank and the trayed pots were watered twice
daily using nutrient from the same tank. The plants in the Growbags were watered daily
and had plant food added to the water as directed on the container. It was found that
the Grobag plants did not grow as well as the others and fruited less abundantly.
The plants in pots and container trays fruited well, but during hot spells needed more
frequent watering as the coco does not retain moisture. By far the best results were
obtained from the Autopots. The plants grew quickly and were soon very well established.
The root balls soon became dense and well formed. Within a short time the plants became
sturdier than there less fortunate siblings and started to flower.

I had deliberately done no maintainance with any of the plants. they were planted, fed and
left to grow without interference. This meant that the crops would be smaller than if I had
pinched out the shoots, but there could be no discrepancy due to better maintainance. The
results were quite staggering. The trayed plants produced some 250% - 300% more fruit
than the Growbags and the Autopot had at least double the crop produced by the trayed plants.

The only drawback with the Autopot was that when it rained the water ran back into the nutrient
container causing it to overfill. This problem did not seem to be detrimental to the plant’s
growth or yield.

Copyright (C) 2004, 2005.
J R Haughton.
— All Rights Reserved —

A partner in a thriving retail hydroponics supply business,
Rickie Haughton is the owner of hydroponics-gardening-information.com which aims to cater for all levels of expertise in the field of
hydroponics gardening. The website is packed with good content about
all aspects off hydroponics gardening and offers a free hydroponics
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The History and Potential Uses of Hydroponics
Hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil. History shows us that this is by no means a new concept. In ancient times the hanging gardens of Babylon, the floating gardens of the Aztecs of Mexico and those of the Chinese were all early examples of ‘Hydroponic’ culture. Egyptian writings dating back to several hundred years before Christ have descriptions of the growing of plants in water.

During the 1930s, scientists experimenting with the growing of plants without soil, using nutrients dissolved in water, discovered that the soil was needed only as an anchor for the plant’s root system. Since that time more and more research has resulted in the development of commercial nutrients and purpose built systems of differing types. Hydroponics is now popular in Western Europe, Australia, Canada and many other areas of the world.

As technology advances more and more of the world’s food is produced using hydroponic methods. Although rooted in history, it is still a relatively young science, Hydroponics has progressed rapidly over the past half century, it has been adapted to suit many and varied situations from outdoor farming to greenhouse production and now also indoor home cultivation. The military use it for growing fresh vegetables in submarines and the space programmes are even experimenting with Hydroponics to feed the crews on board manned space stations

The potential use of Hydroponics for future cultivation is enormous. It is already being looked at for increasing the food production in underdeveloped countries where space can be a factor. Because it is feasible to grow in areas of poor and even barren soil, arid regions of the world such as deserts could be utilised to grow crops hydroponically. The desert sand could be used as an ideal growing media and the nutrients even mixed with sea water, once the salts have been removed.

Even in countries with a more temperate climate Hydroponics can be used for food production, the temperature being maintained with the use of modern grow lights.
In Holland and other European countries the production of vegetables, such as Lettuce and fruits, like Tomatoes is showing that Hydroponic methods can be very effective and cost efficient. A large proportion of this produce is now being grown that way.
Some 20 plus years ago racehorse stables in the U K were looking at production of highly nutritious barley and wheat ‘grass’ as a feed. It was then very expensive and in its infancy, however today a large number of horse owners feed there animals in this way. It is also not unheard of for farmers to use the same methods to feed their cattle during the winter periods when the fields are too wet to graze.

With the advent of more efficient methods of production the uses of soil-less culture will advance and multiply as more people experiment with the systems available.

A partner in a thriving retail hydroponics supply business, Rickie Haughton is the owner of http://www.hydroponics-gardening-information.com The Hydroponics-Gardening-Information website is packed with good content about all aspects of hydroponics gardening and offers a free Hydroponics Information Club membership to all subscribers.

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