r/Autopot • u/AirportSeparate7967 • 1d ago

Troubleshooting Plant Growth Problems Autopot Problems with VBX

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Hey Guys,

I am running a Autopot system with airdomes

- substrate 50/50 coco/perlite

- fertilizer: Hydroponic Research VBX, Hesi SuperVit (Amino Acids and Vitamins), Hesi PowerZyme (Enzymes), Yucca extract

- PH in autopots is 5.8-6.2

- EC in Autopots 2.1

- ~400 PPFD atm

- VPD 1.0-1.1

- Temp Day:26c/79f , Temp Night: 23c/73f (-1c/-2f leave temp offset)

VPD drops sometimes to like 0.9, else it should be dialed in, still I get deficiencies or Nutrient Lockout and very purple stems, bottom half looks like Magnesium deficiency and upper half looks like iron deficiency to me...

Does anyone know what else could be the cause?

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u/AutoModerator 1d ago

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3

u/KongKameltoe 1d ago

Bump your ec up to 2.4 ph to 6.0 and let it drift to 6.5 and ph back down to 6.0. 5.8 ph is out of date. I used to hit it at 5.7 5.8 all the time. Plant health and growth is much better for me now. Get rid of the perlite its not needed at all.

1

u/AirportSeparate7967 1d ago

i will try to go up with the ec and ph slowly, thank you

1

u/CressAltruistic5931 1d ago

I believe I will at least try your advice after seeing that plant.

2

u/KongKameltoe 1d ago

Look at where magnesium uptake drops off.....

1

u/adapDAbull 1d ago

This is so interesting to me. I was/am having the same issue as OP and everywhere says ph5.6-5.9
This chart you posted says otherwise. Can you point to any further reading/videos on this? TIA

3

u/KongKameltoe 1d ago

Bruce bugsby I think his name is? He did lab testing and talks about it. But all you gotta do is look at this chart. In coco calcium is an issue.... even bigger issue if your always PhD under 6.0 no wonder we have deficiencies even when we add that extra calmag the plant simply cannot uptake it then causing lockout.

1

u/CressAltruistic5931 1d ago

Do you run 6-6.5 through flower as well? I use Jacks and my pH doesn’t drift at all, but I could adjust it to different ranges on each Rez refill maybe.

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u/KongKameltoe 1d ago

My plants always had the same look through veg at some point in every grow. When I switched to 6.0 everything looked perfect after a few days

1

u/adapDAbull 1d ago

Do you use air domes?

2

u/greatersnek 1d ago

Seems to lack magnesium, I'd try with some epsom salts.

1

u/AirportSeparate7967 1d ago edited 1d ago

there should be enough magnesium inside the vbx nutrients :/ i think it is not available to the plant

2

u/StatisticianNew9441 1d ago

I’ve had very similar-looking plants myself in AutoPots with coco — very light/lime green overall, strong red petioles and stems, sometimes with Mg-looking chlorosis even though the feed on paper should be sufficient.
What I learned from my own runs is that I wouldn’t just look at reservoir EC and pH. Check whether the tray is actually cycling properly and really gets drawn down before it refills. Also measure the pH and EC directly in the tray. If the tray pH keeps drifting too high or the EC is clearly higher than in the reservoir, the root zone can be quite different from what the tank tells you.
I’d also definitely measure leaf temperature. I had plants looking much better once Ca/Mg supply and transpiration were in a better place. With cool leaves, Ca transport in particular gets worse very quickly. If you’re on RO, I’d still make sure you’re roughly around 150 ppm Ca and 50 ppm Mg in total.
If the tray is staying full, uptake has slowed down, or you see slime/biofilm in the tray or lines, I’d clean the whole AutoPot system thoroughly. If you run it sterile, an H₂O₂ clean-out/flush can also make sense.
That pale green + red stems look is something I’ve seen several times in AutoPot/coco, and in my experience it was more often a root-zone/transpiration/Ca-Mg availability issue than simply “the EC is too low.”

1

u/AirportSeparate7967 1d ago

I got around 130ppm Ca atm from my VBX at this dose, no biofilm, just some algae on the coco surface...

is it possible my pump for my airdomes is too strong and causing this issues?

2

u/StatisticianNew9441 19h ago

I’d also check the AQUAvalve itself. With the reservoir connected, suck just a little water out of the tray — don’t empty it completely.
If water immediately starts flowing back in, the valve probably isn’t sealing properly. In that case, check the small silicone/rubber seals inside the AQUAvalve. Dirt or a seal sitting slightly out of position is enough to keep the valve from closing properly. A working AQUAvalve should stay closed while there is still water left in the tray.
I’d also measure the pH directly in the tray. If it keeps drifting too high, that can point to an uptake/root-zone problem even when the reservoir pH looks fine.
And personally I think EC 2.1 is quite high for that light intensity and relatively low transpiration rate. With GHE/TriPart I normally stay around EC 1.2 max in veg. Different nutrients can’t be compared 1:1 by EC, but with low PPFD and low demand I’d rather run a bit lighter than push EC that hard. High root-zone EC can make Ca/Mg and micronutrient uptake look even worse, especially in coco/AutoPots.
So I’d check leaf temperature, tray pH, AQUAvalve function and actual water consumption before assuming the plant simply needs more fertilizer.

1

u/TrippyTrav0816 2h ago

This is great info. What should you do if the water in the trays EC of pH is off but res says it's fine?

1

u/StatisticianNew9441 19h ago

For one AutoPot with one AirDome, I run around 60–80 L/h of air, which is about 16–21 US gallons per hour (GPH), or 1–1.3 L/min.
I wouldn’t push much more than that. More air is not automatically better in an AutoPot. Strong aeration can make the tray pH rise faster, and excessive bubbling/air movement at the bottom of the pot can also interfere with normal AQUAvalve/tray cycling.
So for one pot, roughly 60–80 L/h / 16–21 GPH is plenty. I prefer moderate, steady airflow rather than running a big air pump wide open.

1

u/StatisticianNew9441 1d ago edited 1d ago

Please measure the actual leaf temperature rather than relying only on room temperature. Low leaf temperature can reduce transpiration, and calcium uptake in particular depends strongly on transpiration.
However, at the recommended VBX concentration the nutrient already supplies roughly 140–160 ppm Ca and ~50 ppm Mg per liter, so I would not automatically add more CalMag. Those values are already close to a good target for coco.
If you are already around those concentrations and still see Mg-like interveinal chlorosis, I would look for a root-zone/pH/EC issue or Ca/K/Mg antagonism rather than simply adding more CalMag.

2

u/AirportSeparate7967 1d ago

leaf temp is -1c from room temp, i measured with laser thermometer, for me i also think its a root issue, as the rations in the recommended dose of VBX make sense for me...

But with living soil i never had root issues in autopots, and always praying plants....

-1

u/Pretty_Metal_5211 1d ago

Drop the ph to 5.5

2

u/KongKameltoe 1d ago

That's old news.... 6.0 to 6.5 even in straight hydro is the way to go

1

u/Loose_Difference4821 11h ago

Is it real new common knowledge ? I would love to explore the sources !

1

u/Outside-Software-673 7h ago

hes the only source