This is for AutoPot owners setting up a feed program, whether you run bottled minerals, liquid organics, or living soil. Nutrients sit in the tray around the clock in a bottom-fed system, so a strength that works for hand watering can burn here. Pick a feeding route below, mix to AutoPot's ceilings, and send anything thick or sticky through the tray instead of the lines.
The short answer
- New to AutoPot: stay at or under 1.4 EC in veg and 2.2 EC in flower.
- If your nutrient line publishes a hydro schedule, follow that one, not the drip or soil chart.
- Clean, fully dissolving products go in the reservoir. Thick, sticky, or settling products go in the tray.
- Once a plant is bottom feeding, keep feeding from the bottom. No pouring through the top.
How strong to mix
AutoPot USA's guidance for new users is 700 ppm or below in veg and 1100 ppm or below in flower, read on a 500-scale meter. The reason is availability: the tray keeps solution against the roots whenever the plant wants it, so there's no dry-back between feedings to dilute a strong mix.
| Stage | EC (mS/cm) | ppm, 500 scale | ppm, 700 scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veg | 1.4 or below | 700 or below | 980 or below |
| Flower | 2.2 or below | 1100 or below | 1540 or below |
The same solution reads 700 on a 500-scale meter and 980 on a 700-scale meter. Check which scale your meter uses before comparing it to any chart, or read EC and skip the conversion.
When a nutrient line offers a hydro schedule, AutoPot says to use it instead of a drip or drain-to-waste schedule, because plants in an AutoPot feed at rates closer to deep water culture. Set reservoir pH to 5.8 for soil or 5.5 to 5.6 for coco; why reservoir pH drifts covers keeping it there.
Three ways to feed
| Method | What goes where | Use it for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reservoir | Nutrients mixed into the tank, delivered through the lines and valve | Mineral nutrients, and liquid organics that pass the test below | Liquid organics only on AQUAvalve5 systems with 3/8" pipe and fittings, never older 1/4" systems |
| Pot | Organic soil, bacteria, or time-release tabs in the pot; plain water in the tank | Growers who want nothing but water in the lines | Soil-based nutrients may run out after 5 to 7 weeks, depending on plant and pot size |
| Tray | A supplement mixed separately and poured into a dried-down tray | Microbials, inoculants, and thick or residue-forming additives on top of either method above | A hands-on job each time, with the system shut off |
Running liquid organics through the reservoir
- Keep it moving. Run a water pump in the reservoir for 15 minutes every 2 hours.
- Clean at empty. When the reservoir empties, turn the tap off, disconnect, and clean the reservoir, the pump, and the inline filter.
- Flush the lines. Refill with plain water and open the taps at the pipe ends for 30 to 60 seconds, until they run clear.
- Water, then feed. Run plain water for 24 hours, then mix the organic feed in again.
Line cleaners during a run are optional when you flush with plain water regularly. The full teardown is in keeping your AutoPot clean between runs.
Reservoir or tray: testing any product
Organic ingredients alone don't decide it. AutoPot's pipework and valve inlet are wider than typical drip lines, so the deciding factors are solubility, viscosity, whether the product stays dispersed, and whether it leaves sediment.
- Mix a bucket. Make a small batch at your normal strength, exactly as it would go in the tank.
- Let it sit a few days. Check pH and look for sediment, film, or separation.
- Read the result. Clean and stable goes in the reservoir. Settling or drifting means tray feed it, or run the recirculating pump schedule above if it's an organic-leaning additive in a mineral line.
AutoPot USA's own examples: CX Horticulture Head Masta, Emerald Harvest Emerald Goddess, and Mills C4 contain organic ingredients but can generally run through the reservoir when properly mixed. Advanced Nutrients B-52, thick humic products, molasses-based additives, and anything viscous or residue-forming are better tray-feed candidates.
How to tray feed
- Mix separately. Prepare the product in its own container, per the label. Not in the reservoir.
- Shut off the supply. Close the tap feeding the system.
- Let the trays dry. About 12 hours to 1 day lets the plant use up the tray and the substrate dry back enough to absorb well.
- Pour beside the valve. Use a small jug or watering can and pour slowly into the tray next to the AQUAvalve5.
- Fill to the normal level. Stop at about where the supply tube enters the tray.
- Let the plant drink it. Expect roughly 5 to 60 minutes by plant size. AutoPot says 2 to 3 tray feedings may be appropriate for a supplemental application.
- Finish with plain water. A small amount beside the valve rinses the tray and valve area and confirms everything flows.
- Turn it back on. Once that water is gone, reopen the tap. No second 12-hour wait.
Never pour onto the AQUAvalve5. Solution poured on top of the valve can disrupt its cycling, and you may have to reset the tray.
Why not just top feed
In a bottom-fed pot, unused mineral salts wick up and collect in the dry top layer, away from the active roots. Pouring through the top dissolves that layer and carries it into the root zone, which can spike EC, soak substrate that normally stays drier, and cut root-zone oxygen. For the last weeks of a run, finishing without top watering covers the plain-water switch.
Parts that help
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AutoPot Easy2Flow Cleaner
AutoPot's own line and reservoir cleaner, for the between-refill flush on organic programs.
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Water pumps
A small submersible on a cycle timer handles the 15-minutes-every-2-hours recirculation.
-
pH and TDS meters
Pick one that shows EC, or confirm which ppm scale it reads before you trust a number.
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AutoPot 3/8" Shut Off Valve
Fitted before a single tray, it lets you tray feed one plant while the rest keep running.
Questions
Run plain water in the reservoir and let the soil carry the nutrition. If a liquid supplement is needed after the system is on, AutoPot says to tray feed it rather than switch to top watering. AutoPot treats dry amendments and top dressing as a separate method and hasn't published its guidance on them yet.
That's expected on longer runs, since AutoPot says soil-based nutrients may deplete after 5 to 7 weeks. Add a liquid feed through the tray, or move to reservoir feeding at a strength under the ceilings above. Either way, the feed goes in from below.
No. AutoPot lists line cleaners as optional when you flush regularly with plain water. Its list includes easy2flow, House & Garden Drip Clean, Crop Salt RunClean, SLF-100, Hygrozyme Hyclean, GH FloraKleen, and Athena Cleanse.
AutoPot frames them as guidance for new users. Start at or under them for your first run, watch leaf tips and growth, and only then decide whether your plants want more. Raise strength in small steps, one change at a time.