Fiddling on the Roof – At AutoPot HQ

Whenever we make structural changes to AutoPot HQ we want you to be the first to know about it. Who can forget the warehouse floor revamp of Christmas 2018? Whilst every stride across that cyan blue floor causes pride to brim in our hearts we do have some more horticulturally exciting building developments underway. Or should that be “over-way”? We can’t hold it in any longer, the AutoPot R&D Grow Room is getting a new roof!

Our new roof top garden will allow us to experiment far more freely with natural light when test growing at HQ. Commercial and household growers all over the world use AutoPots in natural light to great effect. A number of notable U.K. commercial and pro-grower operations do the same and assist us in our product testing. But we felt it was time to improve our light source here at home in order that Jason Ralph-Smith, our MD, could do some hands on, day-to-day work with a range of exciting new products. 

Additional shuttering and roof blinds will allow us to run better side-by-side tests when examining plant growth with natural versus artificial / supplemental lighting. We should also be able to gain insights as to the effectiveness of growing techniques under differing light sources in the same room. How shall we tease you with these incredible permutations? Where can you join us to get a look at cutting edge tech and receive tips to improve the effectiveness of your growing? Let’s just say we’ll be having rather a lot of lovely videos for social media, with Jason setting up a dedicated micro studio in the Grow Room. Exciting? Just a bit!

Why? Well the bottom line with AutoPot is keeping the system yields sensational whilst developing products and techniques that minimise overheads, no matter where plants are grown. The systems themselves are already power-free and waste no water or nutrient. Under natural light we’ll be looking at techniques we can combine with substrate or nutrient choices in order to further advance fruitful growing for outdoor / semi-outdoor growers. Furthermore we’ll continue looking at how plants restricted to artificial light might be grown to equal or better quality in order to aid indoor farmers. It’s important for us to take such research to new levels at a time when the rules of horticulture, worldwide growing conditions and growers priorities are changing markedly. 

Everywhere it seems that new horticultural possibilities are opening up. At the same time the conditions for growing have altered and the ecological requirements placed on growers are heavily scrutinised. For growers once confined to indoor cultivation, due to conditions or crop choice, artificial lighting was an expensive but essential overhead. Such growers may now find themselves with greater freedom to grow outdoors, thanks to climatic or regulatory changes, but may experience tighter constraints on their use of utilities. And vice-versa, as growers whose traditional plots were outdoor look to exploit high density indoor space. 

Aside from the scientific applications the roof is set to chop a huge bit off our own energy consumption, bringing as it does better insulation and a reduced reliance on lighting. For the roof geeks amongst you we’ll be adorning the building with a 35mm, 5 cavity polycarbonate crown from Advanced Roofing, chosen by our very own Fiddler on the Roof, Jason Ralph-Smith.

Follow our social media feeds for upcoming announcements on test growing in the AutoPot R&D Grow Room with the chance to win one of Jason’s frequent impromptu prize draws. On Facebook @AutoPotSystems and Insta @autopot_global.