How to Reset Your Autoflower Grow - 5 Steps to Reset Your Autoflower Garden

Our gardens are sanctuaries. It's not only a place where we cultivate these magical plants that we love and admire so much. The grow is also where we find peace, where we go to get in touch with ourselves. Whether we use this space as a perpetual grow or flock to it during our grow seasons, its going to deal with a bit of inevitable wear and tear. While doing regular garden maintenance is highly recommended, often times we growers save the bulk of that work for either post-harvest, or pre-germination.  A sort of reset, as you will. This gap, however long it may be, is where many of the considerations need to be considered for standards of operation (SOP). In the following article, we will discuss our top 5 best practices for resetting your autoflower garden. We will cover equipment observations, deep cleaning, preparing and filling containers with substrate, as well as a few final considerations before you start those new seedlings for the next round.

Let’s get into it!

STEP 1: Equipment Check

Hardware is the lifeblood of any indoor garden. It is this equipment which facilitates the entire process of growing. When it comes to preventative maintenance, you’ll always want to go in and observe each element within your space between grow cycles, It is far easier to break down and tinker with grow equipment once the lights have been turned off and your plants have been taken out of the space. What equipment should you be checking in between runs? The answer is absolutely everything. Here is a checklist of equipment you should be checking between every single run

• Check to make sure each and every fan is working, can operate at every speed, & is that nothing is clogging or jamming the engine. Sometimes oscillating fans will snag up, or a fan blade will catch a hair or fabric. Its important to actually break your fan down to it’s individual components. Remember, fans that malfunction present a fire hazard. You have no idea when this may occur, so be proactive and check between every grow.

• Inline fans and carbon filters are equally as important. Make sure you check pre-filters for dust and debris clogging. Check your seal point as well as your ratchets as well. You don’t want to be that grower who let the seal fail on a can filter, only to have it fall down and crush one of your plants mid-cycle. 

• Make sure to check your lights and timers. Things to look out for are dead diodes, incorrectly set timers, or even failing or uneven ratchet straps. Make sure your lights have been readjusted from where they were in late flower to where you’ll want them to be for germination. 

• Automated watering systems need to be checked and maintained as well. Look for valves, seals, and tubing that have wear or is in need of replacement. Our next step is beautification, but for larger equipment systems, it's in your best interest to take this time to deep clean lines and reservoirs. 

• Environmental equipment such as humidifiers, dehumidifiers, heaters, and coolers must also be pulled out, broken down, and observed for areas of opportunity. 

• Lastly, check the tents themselves for broken zippers, torn seams, and light leaks. The time to replace these tents is during your gaps in gardening. Nobody wants to pull all of the plants and equipment out of a tent mid-cycle, only to have to break it down and replace it. 

STEP 2: Deep Clean & Beautification

Deep cleaning and beautification closely ties in with the equipment check. Often times you’ll have to incorporate some deep cleaning in when you check fans, filters, tents, lights, etc… Aside from checking for malfunction, this hardware oftentimes just needs a good solid scrub down with soap and/or a light bleach and water solution (5% works well). 

At the very least, make sure to fully scrub down and remove dust and hair from your fans and filters as well as your lights. Every tent floor & wall must also be scrubbed. The use of bleach helps to ensure that no mold or powdery mildew spores can proliferate in the nooks and crannies of your grow space. The better a job you do at deep cleaning between grows, the better your chance of mitigating an outbreak next round. This is the case even if you haven’t visibly seen contamination. The worst perpetrators of chaos in your garden cannot be seen by the naked eye. 

STEP 3: Prepare Substrate

Once you have a clean space, its time to lock in that substrate. This will inevitably mean different things for different growers. For example, those who are reusing their soil will utilize this time to break and collect substrate from all of your used containers as well as cull all of the undesired root balls in preparation for soil recharging and inoculation. Alternatively, if you are using fresh soil, this phase would be your opportunity to acquire that soil and get those bags opened and observed. Check for the presence of pests, and check for a homogenous mix free of larger obstructors like bark or sticks. You’ll want to sift through and remove that stuff to prevent your seedlings from hinderance. If you are using dry amendments, now would be the time to add in those in accordance with your germination schedule. 

STEP 4: Fill Containers 

The first step to filling containers is choosing them. If you are reusing old containers. make sure to properly clean them immediately prior to filling them. You can wash your fabric pots in a washing machine, or just run some warm water through them to clear all debris. For plastic pots, you can use a bit of bleach in your water, or even some soap. This is to make sure you don’t have any spores transfer down the road. If you are using saucers, make sure those have been washed and sanitized prior to use as well. 

When filling containers with substrate, you’ll want to make sure you sift through for larger chunks to break down as well as for rocks and sticks. Never overpack substrate into your containers as well. Think light and fluffy. This will help with root development as overpacked soil can become hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and/or anaerobic. All of which will be highly detrimental to root development. Remember when filling containers that top watering, even gently, will compact soil. If anything, overfill by a small margin to account for this. 

STEP 5: Final Considerations

With your garden beautified, your equipment in working order, and your containers filled with the right substrate, you are just about ready to plant new seeds and start your next round. At this phase of the reset, there are just a few final considerations left. First, make sure that your containers have been properly labelled. We at Mephisto Genetics absolutely adore our plant tags and highly recommend you use yours as well. These tags can be labelled by marker and washed with rubbing alcohol when finished.  Alternatively, you can also use blue painter's tape on your label for easy replacement in between rounds.

For my direct sow germinators: make sure you have dug out a half-inch to a one-inch hole at the center of your container for your seedling to be dropped in. Now would be the time for any last-minute addition of powdered microbial inoculates such as Recharge or any other mycorrhizal fungi. If you are going to pre-soak, make sure you have your RO or distilled water and your H202 ready and at room temperature before you drop those seeds in. (You’ll want to do this step 24-48 hours before you plan to germinate)

Lastly, check your equipment timers, get your water secured, make sure your nutrients have been purchased and are on hand when needed, and grab your grow journal. It's time to start a new round!

Cheers friends! Happy Growing!