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Any Give An Octopot A Try?


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Grass, are you going directly from transplanting to 12/12?  I transplanted the two I am testing 12 days ago and am planning on moving them into 12/12 in another 2.   It seemed to have taken about a week for several roots to reach the reservoir and for the last week now the plants have begun to grow again. 

 

I would add pics, but not much to see at this point. 

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I start with a rooted clone in a cup(24/0, then to a one gallon grow bag for a bit(24/0), and then put that into the flower room(12/12) when a slot opens in the room.

I was worried with the first one, but one watering over the top is all I did. I too found explosive growth beginning about a week after transplanting. ( I do not use the OP in veg btw)

I have put rooted clones directly into flower when I get a schedule jam in veg, not often, but it does happen. some strains suffer a little yield but no matter to me, I'm a variety chaser. I don't post pics......... because it pizz's off others. :gym::dodgyrun:

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I added more octo's in my flower room !. They're looking pretty sleek in there, and beats he view of buckets supporting 3x3 trays filled with one gallon grow bags, draining into a another slush bucket below.(ewwww!)

While I'm collecting enough octos to replace the show  I can ditch the trays(except my strawberry/herb/peppers/ tray). . .  I'm able to pull a finished plant from the octo and transplant another into the hole left behind.

I have one octo now on its second planting/same dirt, and plan on doing it over and over until plants suffer. I'm not seeing any difference between the octos with or without added air in the res. Both options continue to support the best finishing plants in my garden.  The expense stings a bit, but no more mess, watering, splashing, staking is my savings.

I know some of my advantages using the system are credited  to the use of a larger dirt pot, like stake supporting, watering frequency is less in a 5 pail than a one gal bag, easy floor level work, larger yields, dirt recycle. But the system allows for a perfect feeding with zero waste/no run off, gnats ignore the dry dirt(no top watering/no fungus), which affords a better finish, fert savings. In the end, one branch, from each first octo harvest, pays for the system so I'd say the cost is nill compared to the savings.

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did you sense spam in the thread? I am so sorry-fixed!

 

no

no spam at all

this is an excellent thread talking about and fully explaining your experience with this product.

Zap was referring to the person with one post.. Saginawtreessomethingorother it was that post that was the spam.

you are good Grass.

no clue why some people in our home tend to lean on you harshly...

(jim) ?  yes read it from page one before you say things like you did in here..

Posted 26 February 2015 - 11:36 AM

Do I want to read this from page one? :drinking-coffee:  :bong2:

 

 

grassmatch you have had your fair share of offerings to this clan of people..

we are all a coalition

a group that must remain focused to be against those who are against our medicine..

 

good form chap.

good form.

 

i now want to order 50 of these things and see what happens..

 

i LOVE organic.. but the plants in rotation use water at way different rates...

 

some use a ton and some use none at the same age...

 

this would solve that particular issue for me personally.

 

let them drink what they will from the bottom and it even includes a fill marker to know when to refill them...

 

how frikin awesome is that ? ? ?

 

i am ready to order them right now if only i could figure out how to pay for them....

 

it bites azz that we are so restricted in our endeavors..

 

i would love the opportunity to help every single person in America who wants to try cannabis.

 

no joke..

 

good clean all American cannabis could solve a whole ton of world issues...

 

take the Fluoride out of the H2O and replace it with RSO and see how the world would change overnight :)

Edited by mibrains
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I owe this experience to picbook. I didn't have a look  into this had I not seen this thread he started.

Brutally honest here, every system I ever bought, and that would be many(my flea market table is a hit!),

has performed in A(delivering water/nutrients to the substrate/root mass.

 

the differences between (my) success with these systems were considerations like looks, leaks, labor, failure rate, labor, leaks, and labor of course.

I took organic to the very end of its game with cannabis, fed exclusively with dirt/tea from worms, which were fed exclusively cannabis trim and roots. Watered

with the spring well spigot coming up the floor into the flower room. Once done I tossed all of my hydroponic thoughts to the rafters. I loved tinkering, but hated mopping, hated on salt ferts, and never did locate a bottled one that didn't funk up in hydro systems. I had to maintain redundant cellular alarms for failures, leaks, etc....what a pita!  the change to soil was not without the "dirty" factor for me, and I still grumble a bit, but the rest of the show was good, except the

 

1) daily watering

2) huge soil/worm/recycle/feed/drain/refill daily intensive tasks(a little over 100k worms in the end. I reduced that amount to about 10k and they live among my dirt pots/indoor 4x4 veggie/herb tray.

3)the freaking mess !

4) the freaking labor!

 

I wanted to NOT like these pricey gems, but could spare the 50 bucks for the review of an item I didn't know about. I followed directions, no desire to reinvent the wheel. The manu told me what to do, I did it, and it performed exactly as he said it would. I bought more, added air to some, and don't see the difference. The room is sealed and the atmos doesn't change too much in the summer vs winter, I see no issue in my octopot future garden.  They are cool looking, clean as heck, virtually maintenance free and save fertilizer use. (organicare crumbles for winter, fresh rabbit pooh all summer, same results in dirt interestingly) .

I don't remember a harvest of more intense aroma's and blame the unique dissolve and uptake in the unit. some days the cloth is cool/damp some 8 inches high from the bottom, other days its dry to the bottom strangely. If the plant doesn't need the water, yet I flood it anyways(normally), what good if any am I doing it, and how much fert waste is rinsed away?   who cares now......I got me some octopots that have solved every issue for my organic experience!

 

green dot money cards from walmart are nifty payment options.....

peace, and thanks for the kind words !

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no worries on the kind words me amigo..

 

it is as it is..

 

i just call it like i see it.

 

question.

 

Why no more stakes? 

did i miss something?

are the stems that much stronger that they support their own weight?

 

i am very interested in this.. i have spent countless hours maneuvering my plants stems into position..

 

i know curiosity killed the cat but might you answer this one out of the bag? :)

 

i have designed stands that incorporate the trellis idea.. i could easily incorporate these automatic watering systems into my system and actually as of now am planing on it.. but i am still curious about the no need to stake them thing...

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I dunno, really. I fight with my plants all the time, but recall I use 1 gallon bags, or 2 gallon square pots until the octopot. Constant tying, taping, tipping, spillin. These plants' stems are stronger, stiffer, stout, centered, growth pattern is predictable so far. I have a few trained, and a few untrained. I'm aiming for the untrained experience to lighten labor. I'm liking the lollipopped xmas tree of course, but the four cola lollipopped to the top turns me on too.   The five gal pails were a nice option but I thought at the time I tried them that five gallons of dirt was excessive. I  use the same dirt in the octo at least two times so far with no issues. The little extra dirt cost works into the other savings I get, so I don't worry about it now.

 

imo this device could be made easily with a five gallon felt grow bag, or even an air bag(?) with the plastic snap together pieces.

the bottom would need to be cut out in the center to allow a "net cup" to be pushed partially through it. the weight of the plant bag would rest directly on this net cup, which sits in water. I believe a hard side bucket would fail for the lack of air circulation, and the height of the water res would need to be calculated properly.

for 50 bucks, I did the whole thing, complete, in three days(to my door!). I looked everywhere and couldn't find a Rubbermaid logo, a bead of silicone, or even a dab of Plumbers Goop.  Instead nice tight lines, great fit, sturdy transporting, easy fill, excellent nest packaging/shipping 5 at a time from the octocom guy himself, whom I'll gladly support now.

I don't know how these work with salt ferts in the res, or anything but a mix of pro mix and happy frog dry organic ferts will perform, but I cannot think of a better way to flower plants. If I spark another ballast in the veg room I could replace those spots too......then just move light bags of dirt from room to room , res to res.  I might just do that......

 

peace

Edited by grassmatch
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I removed the bubbles from my rooms altogether. Each power vamp I disconnect from empowers me to spend more money on more octopots!

These aren't the first or last ones, the pics are yellow but show a couple different grow styles within the octopot.  One a single cola top heavy and another

a beautiful xmas ree left untrained/untrimmed

 

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Oh My Gosh

 

those are so beautiful.

 

Great work Grass.

 

so nice to see a couple pictures bud.

 

i leveraged everything i needed to to get all the octopots i had to have..

 

i tell you i have never seen such amazing explosive growth and such strong stems and vigor on the plants...

 

the mere fact that the plant has all the food and all the water it could want or need at all given times has totally changed the organic vrs weight and time conundrum.

 

finally a beautiful blend of hydroponic and pure organic...

 

i was concerned when i ordered the remainder of my units but i sincerely can say that with the explosion of growth and the happiness factor of my plants.. i am beyond happy i made the commitment...

 

of all the things i have tried over the years few make the cut.

 

KISS soil

Octopots.

 

+2 so far.

 

great pictures grass thanks for sharing them.

Edited by mibrains
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with rafters full of grow equipment rivaling the nearby hydro store I can say they all performed well, to varying degrees matching my grow habits. The octopots match my habits 100% and the bonus is as you said on demand feeding/watering just cannot get more efficient. I've never seen happier fuller stronger plants ever  with identical soil and ferts and even bottom watering and air pots.   Simple genius design, fool proof operation, reasonable price, a winner in my book.

 

I admit I am tempted to mix a res full of hydro, a bag full of rocks, and set it free. kind of dare it to suffer root rot, again. I believe it would allow us to see the full potential of hydroponic growing, as it did with soil. My undercurrent, then simple bubbling buckets, then top feed/flood/drain in that order......with the undercurrent..I thought was the full potential.(still settled on flood/drain for me, until soil take over) . Now, I might bet on this unit as perfection with large growth potential , hehe

 

glad my recommendation helped tip you over the fence, into my world :bbq:

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Then maybe network the pots together and install a pump on a timer to run the nute solution through a chiller. Evacuating the water from the res a few timer per day would also give the roots that would normally sit in water a chance to breathe....so kinduv a hybrid system between octopot, DWC, and flood and drain.

 

 

Scotty Real shows such just such a set-up on utube.

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This design would not work with a given media unless it wicks water. This design is what I have heard called a "media wick" which requires that the media itself be able to suck water out of the reservoir below. The net cup on the bottom is the wick and root rot is not an issue because the roots don't grow into this super-saturated area.

 

The Earth Box is an older design that uses this "media wick" principle.

Gotta google 'Earth Box' zap, happily you teach the history of grow system development to us lesser informeds.

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Ok, I went out and bought 2 octopots.   Put one hog and one pineapple express in them.   Each plant is approx 8 weeks into veg.   They were transplanted from 2 gallon pots with an initial mix 50/50 HP promix and Fox Farm Ocean Harvest.   They have been trimmed to obtain a bush shape.  Each is approx. 24" high measured from the soil surface. 
 
The octopot was filled with just filtered (particulate and carbon)  Detroit City Water.    Each fabric pot was filled with a 50/50 mix of Tupur and Fox Farm Ocean Harvest.   Tupur is a commercial mix of coco, humboldt forest humus, perlite, azomite and silica.  Great White was used for the transplant.
 
I plan to leave the two plants under one 600w mh bulb for two weeks, 18/6, then change the bulb to a 600w hps for 12/12.    Not sure what to do about nutes.   I am leaning towards using the nutes I currently use, Soul Synthetics.    Thinking about using them at 50% strength and just pouring them over the soil medium.  

 

great pics!

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Pic,

 

"nobody shows these run outdoors under sun, think that's the next frontier?"   

From what I can tell from the developer's online video's the pots were developed for patio flower pot gardens.  

 

"density is not the issue, but rather porosity sufficient to serve as a wick?" 

"why is air pruning effective here but not there?"

The fabric they are using is very different from a smart pot.  The smooth nylon does not seem to have the same wick characteristics of felt.  Also the fabric is more like the material you would use in an outdoor garden to prevent the growth of weeds, i.e. it acts as a barrier to root penetration.  

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Is wicking by the bag/pot important?

 

Following up on resto's claim that all the info is on youtube, I rewatched the Scotty ..

 

When you see the plants in the video they do not look like they are 2#'s/plant and I am incline to believe that Scotty is just promoting his own nutrient additive. 

you are right, they sure lack the look of two pound plants shown by shaggytodope and billy liar, as well as heath.

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great pics!

 

I should have more pics in about a week.  Plants are due to be harvested on 5/12.  Currently they are in a storage closet that is not amendable to stepping back and taking a pic.   When ready to harvest I will take them out and take pics.     At this point it looks like similar results to Grass.   I am guessing about 3 z per plant.

 

This test utilized two pots, inorganic nutes in the res., and a two year old 600w hps bulb.  Next up I plan to buy a new hps bulb and set 4 pots into a covered 3x3 reservoir with an auto fill and just organic nutes in the soil per Grass's posts.   Adding the nutes was a pia.   My goals pretty much parallel Grass, reduce the work.   

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