Medwyn Williams reflects on his most successful buy of 2018
My magnificent new machine has proved to be a real success in 2018!
My best buy for 2018 was my AutoPot growing system, which proved excellent for many plants and allowed me to go away without watering and feeding them.
I had to wait until my new polytunnel was ready in early July to set it up, so I started with tomato and cucumber plants. The tomatoes were in 1L pots, left over from a spring sowing, and leggy with yellowing leaves falling off, yet they went on to produce an outstanding heavy, clean crop with no blossom end rot. The original seed-raised cucumber plants were over 60cm (2ft) tall and looking sick, yet one of the fruits was certainly in the mix to win a card for heaviest cucumber at Malvern.
I also tried cauliflowers, chilies, chard, aubergines and even fennel with three plants per 25L pot, and used them on my Malvern display.
The system is brilliantly designed, based on hydroponics. The pots can be arranged in a line or in squares to suit your growing space and sit in trays that are connected by small pipes to a flexible growing tank containing water and fertilisers. An ingenious valve opens on the plants’ requirements, delivering a sufficient mix of water and feed into the tray and then closes.
You have to work at a pH of around 5.5, which is low compared with outdoor vegetable growing. Because my water comes from a limestone borehole, I used a chemical called PH Down, which worked wonders. I also had to add the correct level of liquid nutrients to the water – known as the EC reading. As the plants develop, mature and fruit, the EC increases accordingly. Meters are available to monitor pH and EC levels.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year. l Follow me on Twitter – @medwynsofangles.