{"id":70122,"date":"2023-05-02T12:27:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/?p=70122"},"modified":"2023-07-27T10:41:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T10:41:28","slug":"plotting-something-special-aquabox-at-autopot-rd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/2023\/05\/02\/plotting-something-special-aquabox-at-autopot-rd\/","title":{"rendered":"Plotting Something Special – AQUAbox At AutoPot R&D"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s allotment going on in the AutoPot R&D department<\/a>! All of a sudden our freshly reconditioned growing space is playing home to the kind of extensive showpiece setups more commonly associated with outdoor plots. Slap bang in the middle of our indoor arena are two in-earth irrigating classics of the AutoPot range that are currently enjoying a huge revival.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"AQUAboxes
Above: AQUAboxes ahoy! Two Straights in a narrow bed set up indoors at AutoPot R&D<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A seductive, sharply dressed, life expanding force of nature, capable of going anywhere in its sarcophagus, and always coming back for more, AQUAbox<\/a> is very much the Dracula of the AutoPot range. These little princes of darkness (black plastic\/you bury them) are the aforementioned devices stealing the show in the R&D at the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from drinking blood however, AQUAbox irrigates and feeds your raised beds, planters, or allotment plots responsively, power-free, and with no running water required – stick that in your pipe Bram Stoker<\/a>! We\u2019ve created indoor setups with both AQUAbox Straight and Spyder to demonstrate how anyone can enjoy the fruits and veg(s) of an allotment with no council waiting lists, back and forth, or in-earth cultivation required – how? Here\u2019s how!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The
Above: The AQUAbox Straight testbed is planted up with tomatoes grown from Tomato Revolution seeds<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

We\u2019ve made up a narrow bed for Straight and a square bed for Spyder using readily available poly panels. These have been filled with Biobizz Light Mix<\/a> and Mills Light Mix<\/a> respectively. A garden tray placed underneath is quite sufficient to catch any run off or loose soil. Into the planters we\u2019ve embedded the AQUAboxes. In the case of the AQUAbox Straight<\/a> a capillary matting strip buried just below the surface stretches out lengthways on a slight downward incline from the AQUAbox itself. When in use the strip will carry water and nutrient solution, attracting and irrigating the roots of the plants in the bed. The capillary strips on the Spyder<\/a> do likewise, only these radiate outwards in a 360 degree arc.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Basil
Above: Basil faulty? Not a bit of it with the eminently hospitable AQUAbox Spyder providing responsive watering and feeding, here to three basil varieties and some parsley<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

With the AQUAbox connected to your reservoir, the strips covered, the beds planted, and the grow media watered through, the setups are good to go. We recommend waiting a while for the plants to establish before switching on though. Given the inherent moisture in the grow media and the initial hand watering, it shouldn\u2019t be necessary to switch on for a couple of weeks yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re using pre-mixed growing media that includes feed then it will usually provide your plants with sufficient nutrition for up to 8 weeks. Simply start adding liquid feed to your reservoir after the 6-8th week, following the manufacturers directions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A
Above: A connection is made! AQUAbox can either be hooked up to your own drilled-out reservoir using a grommet, or can attach to a ratchet-type tap using the click-fit filter – both parts are included<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Six varieties of tomatoes, some herbs, and some spring onions are occupying the Straight bed. The tomatoes have been propagated from exquisite seeds given to us by Lance of Tomato Revolution<\/a> and we\u2019re very much looking forward to seeing the first of his plants in our care bear fruit (Care Bear fruit?!). Over in the Spyder bed we have three varieties of basil and a parsley continuing the AQUAbox renaissance. It\u2019s great to see the Spyder<\/a> and Straight<\/a> back in action at HQ, but it\u2019s not just us falling for its subterranean sorcery all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Hydrodaze
Above: Hydrodaze of Newquay enjoying tremendous success with Spyders in their allotment plot<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Several of our favourite stores and growers are also circling back to the AQUAbox. Recently we\u2019ve seen Hydrodaze<\/a> of Newquay, Jurassic Hydroponics<\/a> of Weymouth, and Medwyn\u2019s of Anglesey<\/a>, to name but a few, reach for Spyders and Straights to take command of their beds. They\u2019ve triumphed with lettuces, cabbages, greens, onions, roots of all varieties, and potatoes<\/a> – to RHS Gold Medal winning standard<\/a> in the case of Medwyn!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Above:
Above: Medwyn Williams OBE grew RHS Chelsea Gold Medal winning potatoes using his AQUAbox Spyders in indoor beds<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Aside from labour-saving and holiday-enabling, the automatic watering provided by the AQUAboxes offers significant advantages over manual irrigation in terms of responsiveness and sustainability. Each area of the bed is only supplied with water according to the demands of the plants attached to \u2018local\u2019 capillary strips. This eradicates the need for guesswork in terms of plant requirements and removes the possibility of over- or under-watering. By irrigating so efficiently the AQUAboxes also do their bit for sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Jurassic
Above: Jurassic Hydroponics of Weymouth knocking it out of the park\/allotment with AQUAboxes down their way<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Sub-surface irrigation can leave the top of the bed appearing dry (a frequent worry for first time AQUAbox users) but in fact helps contribute further to efficiency by reducing water loss through evaporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as being re-boxed in attractive, easy to grasp packaging<\/a>, AQUAboxes have now had their kit lists tweaked to include a click fit version of the 16-9mm \/ 1\/2-3\/8\u201d inline filter<\/a>. This little extra, together with bright and bouncy revamped instructions, makes connection to your water butt or reservoir easier than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for tips on all kinds of indoor growing? Fancy a surprise <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s allotment going on in the AutoPot R&D department! All of a sudden our freshly reconditioned growing space is playing home to the kind of extensive showpiece setups more commonly associated with outdoor plots. Slap bang in the middle of our indoor arena are two in-earth irrigating classics of the AutoPot range that are currently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[293,296],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/05\/Plotting_Main.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70130,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70122\/revisions\/70130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}