Take a year off from growing in the name of love? Would you? Tough call. Think of it. The twiddling of green thumbs. Plants everywhere you look. Did that flower just wink at you? Fruits brazenly flaunting their curves. Your AutoPot Watering Systems empty, pots like mouths, agape at the betrayal. So, how was it for you Hot Dunstable (aka Michael O’Connell)?
‘Yes indeed, I had a fallow year for 2025 as I got married to my amazing wife. Don’t tell her but I really missed my other love that is growing chillies! I’ve been really looking forward to getting back into it this season.’ Fear not Michael. Your secret is safe with us (!) Delighted to hear of your ecstatic nuptials, congrats et-cetera. Now, what about ’26?
Back on the beat this year, Michael has reinstated his immaculate AutoPot-filled polytunnels. His 25L / 6.6 gal 1Pot XL modules are once again filled with high fidelity chillies. And there are signs that marriage may have mellowed Michael’s approach.
‘This year I decided to focus on the milder classic Mexican varieties which I will either use whole, dried, and/or smoked as I can’t get enough of smoked jalapeños (chipotle). It’s not that marriage has mellowed my approach.’ Oh. ‘It’s just that I’ve already got plenty of superhots in the freezer.’ Fair enough. ‘And I will be growing Scotch bonnets for the first time this year – so that’ll be something a bit different.’
It’s small wonder that Michael has snared himself a wonderful wife given the handsome condition of his AutoPot Watering System. It’s looking stunning as ever for ’26 notwithstanding a good few seasons in use. Call us fuddy-duddies but we do believe that cleanliness is genuinely important when it comes to growing success.
Dirt and residuals from the previous year are magnets for trouble in terms of pests and diseases. On top of that there’s just the mentality that goes with keeping things clean and orderly. With a pristine system you’ve a clear picture of what you’re doing. However, Michael does have a little confession to make.
‘If I were more organised, I’d clean the system at the end of each season ready for the next but by the end of September or October it’s dark, cold and damp and I lose all motivation. I gave everything a good clean at the start of this year. The trays got cleaned with the pressure washer, while the pots were washed by hand. I removed the silicones from all the AQUAvalves and gave the valves a run through the dishwasher. After that, it was a quick scrub with an old toothbrush before refitting the silicones.’
Set-up for the season continued throughout May. Keen to maximise usefulness and minimise waste, Michael reuses even some of the more ‘sundry’ items in the systems with no ill-effects.
‘For the root control discs, I scrubbed off any remaining roots and then put them through the washing machine. The detergent probably doesn’t do the copper layer any favours but so far I haven’t had any issues with roots making their way through the fabric and into the AQUAvalves.’ Commendably efficient, but when it comes to savings Michael’s biggest hack lies in his grow media.
If you’ve any experience of buying in grow media you’ll know that, a) you never order enough, and b) the cost thereof racks up quickly. So if you can reuse it you stand to save yourself a heap of substrate, and cash. How much of each exactly? Well, let’s break it down.
Example. Michael has fifty-eight 25L modules in his system. They’ll be needing 1450 L of grow media. That’s twenty-nine 50L bags. With a bag of decent media at £15-20 you’re looking at c £500. And that’s before we get onto the wastefulness of discarding something that’s still viable. With that in mind Michael kindly took us through his approach to reconditioning.
‘Given the size of the system I do actually reuse my coco coir each year. I remove the old plants along with as many of the roots as I can, then refill the pots. I use a flushing agent/conditioner and thoroughly flush each pot to remove any old nutrient salts from the coco and clay pebbles.’
‘If I’m worried about disease, I’ll use a little hydrogen peroxide, although I’ve generally never had any issues. I mix in a few bags of fresh coco coir and perlite each year to refresh the medium and I’ve had consistently good results doing it this way.’
Remember, this is a big setup, so don’t let the costs scare you. By contrast, a very effective greenhouse-scale 4Pot System might only take one or two bags. But still, why not reuse your media even then?
With a big setup such as Michael’s, the economic and ecological cost of grow media is drastically reduced by reconditioning. Furthermore, any cost is spread year-on-year as you top up a little here and there. The use of a decent grow media in the first place is a non-negotiable in Michael’s view, especially given his crop of choice.
‘Ever since switching to AutoPot, I’ve been using a coco coir and perlite mix. With chillies in the UK’s short growing season, the faster growth you get from such a blend is a bit of a no brainer.’
Using his plentiful supply of renewed coco the system was potted up by early June. Spring conditions in the U.K. had been somewhat erratic to this point but not exactly extreme. Early summer had other ideas however, which did not bode well for Michael’s young plants.
A week of 40°C + temperatures in his polytunnel were a genuine baptism of fire for Michael’s fledgling plants. Crucially, he had not had time to get the AQUAvalves fitted to the trays. This led to some frazzling, although the vast majority of the plants were nursed back to health. With the system fully operational things became way more relaxed.
‘I did lose a few plants due to that early heatwave but luckily I had plenty of spares. The beauty of AutoPot is that as long as I remember to keep the tank full, I don’t really run into many crises. Most issues are just a case of adjusting nutrient strength up or down depending on plant condition and weather or switching from grow to bloom at the right time.’ Michael’s nutrients are drawn from the Dutchpro range with which he has enjoyed considerable success.
‘I’ve had amazing results using Dutchpro so far. I run their full line up. My base nutrients are Coco Grow and Coco Bloom. I use Take Root during the seedling stage and early growth in the polytunnel. I also use Multi Total, which helps break down any remaining root matter in my reused coco coir.
Silica is used throughout the grow and I’ve found it really strengthens the plants and improves resistance to pests, with aphids being the main culprit. As the plants move into flowering, I switch over to Bloom and add Explode to really push pod growth and ripening. I’m also keen to try Animo Strength this year.’
In terms of physical plant management Michael generally favours a light-touch once things are underway. ‘I don’t generally prune too much. I mainly remove branches that aren’t needed, along with lower growth to improve airflow, especially once the chillies are in the ripening stage.
This year though, I’m planning to be a bit more aggressive with pruning to encourage more upward growth, give the pods more space to develop and stop the plants blocking the pathways in the polytunnel.’
We very much look forward to revisiting the poly later in the year to feast our (and your) eyes upon the results. It’s at this point where we customarily thank our contributor. And we heartily do. But Michael would like to put in a word himself. And in the interests of variety and our gratitude, why not give him the sign off?
‘Thanks for taking the time to read my blog, a big thanks to AutoPot for their amazing equipment, and for giving me the opportunity to write about something I enjoy.’