{"id":82891,"date":"2024-10-25T08:33:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T08:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/?p=82891"},"modified":"2024-10-25T08:33:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T08:33:40","slug":"medwyn-ambushed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/2024\/10\/25\/medwyn-ambushed\/","title":{"rendered":"Medwyn Ambushed!"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ambush? Well, sometimes extreme measures are called for! If someone won\u2019t come and see your grow room voluntarily you might have to take them there by force. So it was with Medwyn Williams MBE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

Whilst on the road to peruse someone else\u2019s vegetables, Medwyn and his good lady wife were waylaid by a mysterious, dandy highwayman. Disguised in his finest blue silk britches, eye mask, and \u2018kerchief, AutoPot MD Jason Ralph-Smith spirited the champion veg grower away to his lair.<\/p>

\"Medwyn
Above: Medwyn Williams MBE (right) takes his first tour of the AutoPot R&D room accompanied by AutoPot MD Jason Ralph-Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

That was atmospheric wasn\u2019t it?! If not entirely factually accurate. Anyway, cut to Medwyn at the AutoPot R&D facility<\/a> taking his very first tour. It was our absolute privilege to play host to the multiple RHS Chelsea Gold Medal Winner<\/a> at HQ this September. An energetic, enthusiastic, and dryly witty character, Medwyn never fails to bring cheer and inspiration wherever he goes. This time he also brought a little treasure, reunited with a tropical friend, and got on camera for some brand new videos from our place.<\/p>

\"Top
Above: Top Banana meets Red Banana, the latter thriving in an XXL50 module<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Bananarama\u00a0<\/h2>

It was Medwyn who gave us the Red Banana plant<\/a> which has rapidly come to dominate the entrance to the R&D facility. Just three months ago it arrived, a mere 18 inches tall. Now it stands at well over 8ft, its huge maroon-green leaves like vast sails, raised towards the top and reefed gracefully lower down. It\u2019s been on quite a growth journey.<\/p>

Starting out in a 15L \/ 3.9 gal 1Pot system module<\/a>, the plant had to be cut free within a month. It moved into larger lodgings in the shape of a XXL50 module<\/a>, this time with a 50L \/ 13 gal fabric pot. That held for five to six weeks but it\u2019s looking increasingly likely that it\u2019ll soon have to graduate to a 150L \/ 40 gal pot in an open garden tray. In order to automate watering and feeding Jason will place an easy2GO<\/a> in the tray and connect to the reservoir. Medwyn\u2019s verdict? \u2018Absolutely fantastic.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>

\"Medwyn
Above: Medwyn rifles through our payaya\u2019s dense foliage<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Blue Velvet\u00a0<\/h2>

Thrilled by the Red Banana, Medwyn was only to pleased to deliver a Blue Banana plant to Jason and see it primed for similarly stratospheric growth. This involved potting the new plant in Biobizz Lightmix<\/a> which has been one of the secrets to the Red banana\u2019s success.<\/p>

Much beloved at the R&D, Lightmix offers a really nice aerated, free draining structure<\/a>. As the name suggest there is just a gentle fertiliser content, which gives you lots of scope to define your own nutrient regime. Our choice of feed for the plants has been AutoPot All Purpose Plant Food<\/a> throughout. That\u2019s a single-part all-stage mineral fertiliser which is delivered via the reservoir and pipework.\u00a0<\/p>

Medwyn was most intrigued by the grit laid across the topsides of the banana leaves. As Jason pointed out, this is the carrier for lacewing larvae. Alongside parasitic wasps, the larvae make up the mainstay of our aphid-busting countermeasures, a great way of doing the job naturally.<\/p>

\"Tray2Grow
Above: Tray2Grow still ablaze with Sungold tomatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Where the Sungold meets the sky<\/h2>

Ah the venerable Sungold, \u2019tis but a year-old, behold! Medwyn was blown away by our Tray2Grow<\/a>-growbag-grown tomato plants. \u2018I can\u2019t believe these vines, they must be about twenty years old!\u2019 Not so maestro! The Sungold toms were planted up only thirteen months ago at time of writing.\u00a0<\/p>

Their scale is more astonishing still when you consider the depth of soil in which the plants have developed<\/a>. The common-or-garden grow bag that we\u2019ve used can only be three inches or so thick. And yet the plants have found ample media from which to sprout huge looping vines. This is a genuinely exciting prospect in terms of the sheer efficiency of the system with regard to grow media.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Looking
Above: Looking di-vine, Jason talks Medwyn through the progress of the Tray2Grow cultivated Sungold tomatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Not only has the Tray2Grow has kept the grow bag viable for a really long period, it has also produced an immense amount of fruit. Frankly, the only reason we\u2019re cutting down certain of the vines is hunger for new varieties to harvest. <\/p>

One of the plants will be preserved for a very special secret assignment (which Jason\u2019s sure to put on Insta before we formally announce it). Meanwhile the longest of the cut-down vines will take a starring role in a new competition coming soon @autopot_global<\/a>. Next up for the system itself is a multi-variety tomato array.<\/p>

\"Above:
Above: Despite the slippers and the stance Jason is quite awake, inspecting tomatoes in a 1Pot module<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Chilli to the bone<\/h2>

One thing Medwyn did not like the look of was our chillies. Not for reasons of diminished quality or yield, quite the opposite. It was their abundant strength and number that made him shudder. <\/p>

Daring not partake of the 7Pot, the champion was nonetheless appreciative of the Primo\u2019s shape and colour. Devilish long tails belie the heat within the reddening pods. Once they\u2019ve attained that screaming scarlet hue they\u2019re ready to bring you the entirety of their approx 1.5 million Scoville heat. These are another hit for the Biobizz Lightmix, this time used in a Tray2Grow in planter configuration<\/a>.<\/p>

\"No
Above: No messin\u2019! Medwyn adopts a hands-off approach to our Tray2Grow Planter-grown chillies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies, party!<\/h2>

Likewise grown in a Tray2Grow Planter are the carrots Medwyn came to admire. We\u2019d love to tell you the variety and Medwyn would love to grow some of these exquisite Chantenay-style carrots himself. But sadly Jason\u2019s lost the tag, so no-one\u2019s quite sure what they are!<\/p>

Still, the snub-nosed little morons (Welsh for \u2018carrots\u2019) were much admired for their show-worthy smooth skin and incredible progress over just 3-4 months.<\/p>

\"Zoom!
Above: Zoom! We take you closer to these beautiful Chantenay-style carrots in a Tray2Grow – produced using the Planter configuration<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

On your way!<\/h2>

Satisfied that he had fully appreciated the grow room Jason released Medwyn back into the wild \/ to judge veg at the NVS National Championships. Hosted at the South of England Agricultural Show<\/a> the event was a stunning success of which you can read more here<\/a>. We\u2019d like to offer our profuse thanks to Medwyn for his cooperation and look forward to welcoming him back in future times.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ambush? Well, sometimes extreme measures are called for! If someone won\u2019t come and see your grow room voluntarily you might have to take them there by force. So it was with Medwyn Williams MBE.\u00a0 Whilst on the road to peruse someone else\u2019s vegetables, Medwyn and his good lady wife were waylaid by a mysterious, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82903,"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":[318],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autopot-news-october-2024"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/10\/medwyn-ambushed-featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=82891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82902,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82891\/revisions\/82902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autopot.co.uk\/specialist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}