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Photo: Cascading Petunias in AutoPot Hanging Baskets and Orchids beneath grown in Hydrotray Single 12"
modules.

AutoPot Systems Customer Gallery

Here's some customer photos of what our customers have achieved using AutoPot Systems. Thank you to all our customers for
sharing their gardens with us.
 Above: Cafe setup at Hervey Bay QLD

Above: A Hervey Bay school in Queensland

PawPaw Growing from a Hydrotray Single 12"
module.
A customer's first sweet potato harvest, 2.775
KG from one 10" pot.
A customer's cucumber grown from the same
hybrid seed we use in our
display. The customer grew his from a 6" pot
in a Window Box...it's a
whopper!

Ross' AutoPot System - Queensland

I am always
searching for ways to
improve what we do.
I believe we need
to take greater care
with our planet and
we need to become
more self I added a CapPlus table to my AutoPot garden - this will allow me to produce more of my
own seedling so I am absolutely rapt. Seedling and spare pots on the CapPlus Table. The new
sucent and move table fits in the middle and is hooked up to the same system

away from our

chemical
dependance.

Ross Cotton

Here is a couple of my yellow variety, several Cucumber growing in a Hydrotray Double 10"
other varieties under test as well. module.

Broccoli in Hydrotray Double 10" module is still producing multiple flowers even after I've
taken the main flower head.

Cabbage grown in Hydrotray Ddouble 10" Snow peas coming into flower - in Hydrotray
module Double 10" module
Sunflower in Hydrotray Single 12" module
Rainbow beet only 6 weeks old growing in
AutoPot Window Box
Mulberry fruiting in first year
It is a good
investment, even if
you add on a bit year
by year as we did.
The money you
spend is worth it, over
the years.
Kale growing in a Hydrotray Single 12" Dwarf Mulberry - These trees are in a Perlite
module. /Vermiculite 50/50 mix in Hydrotray Single 12"
modules.
Growing beetroot in a Window Box.
Savoy Cabbage in a Hydrotray Double 10" I had planted a peanut in an AutoPot 12" pot
module and it has been a most interesting plant to
watch grow. Now the time has come to
harvest and I am pleased to say we have
plenty of nuts!
Frank & Nellie's AutoPot System - Melbourne
In Dec. 1998, we walked into Gardenworld and stopped at Jims GardenSmart. We looked
and soon Jim told us how much pleasure we would have to see plants grow well. I must
admit we fell in love with the system. The rst time you start, you need a few things, but
you can add on over the years. Yes, it does cost you for your rst outlay of pots, nutrients,
pumps etc. What ever way you want to start, do it bit by bit and with advice from Jim. We
have had so much joy in seeing our plants grow - we have had tomatoes, spinach and
spectacular owers. What ever you grow is fantastic. You cannot go wrong and as you get
to understand the system better, it is not hard.
Jim told me to put some of my orchids in the pot. At rst I didn't believe you could grow
orchid in the pots. But I had a small plant which hadnt owered in 8 years it was one hard
to ower type. Just one and half years in the AutoPot System, we have 8 spikes of
owers. We can imagine how spectacular it would be when Jims 200 cascading
Cymbidum (Sarah Jean, Plush Canyon, Ms Moet etc) orchids in AutoPot hanging baskets
come into ower.
Our 40 AutoPot hanging baskets look fantastic. What ever you want to grow will work and
you can have colour in your garden with a minimum of fuss. Yes, Jims System has given us
lots of pleasure. We have been happy with the AutoPot System and I am sure a lot of
other people will like it too.
It is a good investment, even if you add on a bit year by year as we did. The money you
spend is worth it, over the years.
Regards,
Frank & Nellie Bosmans.
 George's AutoPot System - Melbourne

I was involved in farming and animal nutrition for 45 years. I moved to Ringwood, an outer
suburb of Melbourne in 1977 and became a hobby grower for tomatoes and vegies in a
glasshouse, enabling me to study plant nutrition. I heard about hydroponics, I managed to
get a book written by Dr Allen Cooper from UK on his NFT system, published in 1979. I
obtained nutrient mixes and some equipment from Wally Tresise in Burwood. After trying
the NFT system which I have found needing constant adjustment , I changed to the
recycling drip system followed by the ood and drain system.

When I read about a new hydroponic system called AutoPot by Jim Fah who in 1992 won
rst prize for best invention for a smart valve as an automatic watering and fertilizing
system, I decided to give it a go and I didn't regret it since. It proved to be the best system
Water conservation for my needs. Advantages are numerous: eliminating digging, weeding, manual watering,
feeding and fertilizing, a big help for me at my age (80 plus).
is vital in Australia.
Jim your AutoPot A greater choice of growing location, having a limit to poor soil area. An area of 10 sq.m. can
grow hydroponically enough tomatoes and vegies for a family of four, fast growing, better
system will do that. avored and pollution free. Garden soils could be contaminated from airborne and applied
chemicals. Convenient for us elderly or disabled. The system can be placed on a table or
Not only water but bench allowing easy access without bending and allowing wheelchair access.
costly nutrient. The AutoPot Systems is practical and is the only one enabling me to pick up their pots
(before they get too high) and move them outside. Having the plants outside will avoid
them the built-up number of pests. Your system applies a pot culture providing for food
supply on capillary action versus a patchy distribution by the drip system. It is a plant driven
watering and feeding system, no worry of under or overwatering.

Each container of your two pots could have dierent plants also of dierent ages to dictate
their water and nutrient according to their needs rather than tied to an automated cycle
without the use of electricity or pump by gravity tank fed or tap pressure fed system.
Larger operation of 25 or more containers warrants the use of a pump (12V 6amp DC) and a
battery. I am very happy with my pump set-up enabling me to use it also in the garden for
watering hanging pots.

The smart valve will respond to environmental changes such as temperature and wind,
avoiding me to set irrigation cycles. No longer of soil-borne diseases destroying the entire
crop as the nutrient solution is not cycling. The non-recycle drip to waste system will
pollute the ground. Drips in pots will not spread evenly in the media as capillary will. NFT
and recycling drip systems need constant adjustment. AutoPot supplies unaltered
nutrients. Water conservation is vital in Australia. Jim your AutoPot system will do that. Not
only water but costly nutrient.

For pollination for tomatoes, you recommend a battery operated toothbrush. I nd it

excellent. Hybrid varieties perform well in pots. they take a lot of abuse, erratic watering
and inconsistency in nutrient formulation. Here again I get the benet of the AutoPot
system. Transplanted at 4 to 5 weeks of age into your 10-inch pots on a bench in the
glasshouse fed by your system's 35 L container at cf 35. 0utside I have two tanks for cf 30
and cf 25. At the designated time the pots are transferred to the lower position and
connected to the larger tanks.

Jim I thank you for the opportunity of meeting you to enable me to learn and adapt to your
AutoPot system which I found the right system for my needs.
Thank you for your friendship over these years and I wish you well in the future with your
project world wide.

Kind Regards,
George Lucas
Hobbyist George, Melbourne - enjoying harvesting a crop of fancy lettuce. George has been practising hydroponics gardening for more than
30 years. He has now completely switched over to AutoPot Systems due to its simplicity. He has given up NFT and Drip recirculating systems
as there wase too much attention required to get it working properly. *Note the nutrient reservoir tanks in the background. These two 30-litre
tanks are feeding 8 tomato plants, 4 chillies and 4 Window Boxes.

Pat's AutoPot System - Tocumwal, NSW

Most of us have the opinion that greenhouses MUST be covered with glass or platic materials that can trap the heat in and keep the rain
out. Well, this story tells us how wrong we can be.

Pat's "greenhouse" is dierent. The "greenhouse" covering is plain shade cloth, white 30-50% mesh on top and beige 30-50% mesh shade
along the sides. As you can see in the pictures, it's a fairly large shadehouse. Just look at the amazing results he achieved with the crops
grown in the AutoPot Hydrotray Double 10" module fed by gravity from two 200 litre tanks. The broccoli heads are huge and all other
vegetables are just as healthy.

Pat's location is dry and hot. In Summer, with outdoor temperatures averaging 32 deg. C, you can expect it to be 40 to 50 deg. C inside a
normal greenhouse. Unless the greenhouse is equipped with a proper evaporative cooling system and with huge expense in power costs,
such high temperatures will certainly be very damaging to the crops. In the case of the shade house for Pat, it seldom goes more than 1 to
2 degree C above the ambient. All he did was to open both ends of the shade house and let natural air movement to prevent heat build up.
As a result, his vegetables thrive right through the year without adverse eects from the extreme heat in Summer and cold frosts in Winter.

Ken's AutoPot System - Melbourne

A note to Jim Fah to thank him for his AutoPot System and advice over two years.
I am an avid gardener and have grown vegetables for 50 years. I have enjoyed growing from seed to maturity and supplying the whole
family with vegetables of all kinds.

In the year of 2004, I had an excess water bill of $900. It would have been cheaper to buy the vegetables than grow my own but the avour
and quality of the homegrown variety is much superior. So in 2005, I installed rainwater tanks, four tanks equalling 36,000 litres to try to save
on water bills and reduce costs. In 2005, the weather temperature was not excessively hot, which meant water usage wasnt overly
excessive. Then in 2006, we had a very dry year with very low rainfall. We had a couple of severe storms enabling all tanks to be lled. We
then had a very hot summer and water usage grew to the point that over three months, that 32,000 litres of water was used and I had an
excess water bill again. (The rainwater tanks are used for garden and toilet use only). So I had to work out how to save water. I looked at a
ow and return system of Hydroponics, which would involve a lot of work for testing of nutrient tanks before recycling of water - a 7 day a
week job.

I went to see Jim Fah and found his AutoPot System looked to be the answer to all my problems of water usage. Then in 2007 I
purchased a start up system. I set this up and was really excited about it. I then bought a larger system of sixty pots. My water usage
dropped to 16,000 litres, which was fantastic, in half the area of in ground usage as before. I have grown a lot of new vegetables after
talking to Jim and taking his advice on types and growing requirements with his AutoPot System. It is great to talk to someone with a
wealth of knowledge. I have increased my system even more, still using less than 16,000 litres.
In 2008 I built an igloo hot house to grow plants through the cooler months of the year with great success.

Thank you Jim for all your help and advice. We are still good friends and I am still growing more varieties of Asian and Australian vegetables.
I have found Jims advice to be an invaluable asset as I increase my growing expertise in the hothouse environment.

Sincerely,

Ken Challinor.
 Dave's AutoPotSystem - Mt. Martha

What an amazing hydroponic system. So easy to work, not a problem to maintain and the produce is such a great benet to the family in
this day and age.

I rst met Jim Fah in 1998 after returning from Queensland and buying a house in Melbourne. What a wealth of knowledge Jim has and so
eager to share it with you. I visited his centre on Springvale Road in Braeside and spent an afternoon with Jim going through his actual
displays and working of his Smart Valve Hydroponic system and learning as much as possible.

I started with the small gravity fed system that had eight 10 inch pots and now have the Pump Feed System with 20 hanging pots, 8
window boxes, 30 hydrotray double modules and 4 single 12" units. As you can see from some of the photos supplied I have quite a few
plants, vegetables and owers growing in and around our house.
Hanging pots are in front of our lounge leading to the front door which contain owers. There are hanging pots and window boxes seen
from our kitchen window under a small pergola which contain herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, marigold owers and some lettuce.
This year I built a Hot House to house plants that I am going to grow, or try to grow, all year round. Some examples of these are tomato,
broccoli, capsicum, cucumbers, strawberries and chilli. I have purchased a heater to aid my project.

One of the main reasons I built the Hot House is that the family love broccoli and strawberries which grow really well in the Smart Valve
system, but unfortunately in the past the birds would eat all the ripe strawberries and the white buttery would always infest my broccoli.
There has been a big change this year with both being enclosed within the Hot House as the bird and white buttery problem has been
solved.
The Hot House is made of a steel frame that was the original frame of a gazebo that had a shade cloth roof. I completely stripped the
shade cloth and bought some lazer lite sheeting which I attached to the steel frame of the gazebo with treated pine. To facilitate air ow I
formed one roof vent which opens automatically when the temperature climbs above 29 degrees centigrade. There is also a sliding
window at one end and a ywire door directly opposite. I have also installed an electronic temperature guage, min/max. I have recently
bought from Jim a fan and misting system to bring the temperature down on really hot days, but so far this year Ive been lucky as there
havent been a lot of really hot days.
Due to the construction of the Hot house I have been able to try growing eggplants for the rst time. I just planted 2 plants and what a
success! In normal garden conditions it is said that you average about 6 7 fruit per plant. I have already harvested 18 fruit of exceptional
quality in both size and weight and the plants are still producing.

Later this year I hope to go Aquaponic. I have already purchased a 1000 litre tank, mounted and with pumps ready to go. I just need the
time to plumb it into my system.

I have always grown vegetables and herbs most of my life, starting when I was a young boy with 5 siblings.

Jim, your hydroponic system is really great, requires very little maintenance and work when compared to other similar systems, and it goes
without saying that the produce is exceptional. I cannot recommend it enough.

Many thanks Jim for your ingenuity in creating such a fantastic, user friendly hydroponic system.

Dave
 Mick's AutoPot System - South Australia

Growing Vegetables in Murray Bridge.

I rst met Jim while I was living in Berwick, not all that far from his Hydroponic retail outlet. His
method of growing hydroponics interested me as I had used a similar gravity feed system in
Mildura years ago, with which I had huge success.

The AutoPot System is the ultimate gravity feed system as far as I am concerned. The smart
valve eliminates the need to have all the containers at one level as with my old system where
nutrient was released as levels dropped by use of a ball oat on a secondary tank that was
fed by the larger primary tank.

I can assure you all, Since moving to Murray Bridge in South Australia, an area with poor limestone soils and an
that there is no better average annual rainfall of 250mm, I decided to install the AutoPot System using only
collected rainwater, with the intention to be self sucient with vegetables.
or more simpler a First I built a lean to roof covered with clear corrugated polycarbonate sheeting on the east
side of my house to create a hot house of 6 x 2.5 metres. I then paved the area to create a
system than the neat growing environment.
AutoPot System. I installed 5 x 200 litre plastic drums, connected inline. These collected all rain that fell on my
pergola and hothouse an area of about 75 square metres. I installed a cheap submersible
electric pump into the last drum to be able to pump water up into the 2 x 200 litre gravity feed
drums. These two drums were on a 1 metre high tank stand made from besser bricks. The
attached pictures tell the story well.

I opted for two rows of Hydrotray (double) modules. Each row had 12 modules giving me 44
pots to grow my vegetables in. Again the pictures tell the story. The hardest part was to
ensure the system was totally without leaks, as I was well aware of the cost of nutrient and
the value of my collected rainwater.

The two nutrient drums each have their own tap and allow nutrient feed from either tank via a
13mm plastic line with a quality lter installed inline. Tank No.1 has nutrient mixed to reach 22-
24 CF and the second tank only contains rainwater. After each tank full of nutrient has been
used, a half tank of pure rainwater is fed through the system. Replenishing the gravity feed
drums is simple using the submersible pump in the rainwater drums. Touch wood, I have not
run out of rainwater since installing the system in September 2008. However I do have
another 10,000 litres rainwater in other holding tanks just in case.

I have included a number of descriptive photos to show how very successful this system is,
and I can assure you all, that there is no better or more simpler a system than the AutoPot
System.

Thanks Jim

with Regards,
Mick Loeckenho

4 x 200 litre plastic drums connected inline D.I.Y hothouse area - 2.5 meters built on east Tomato and capsicum seedlings planted on
collect rainwater from pergola and hothouse side of house gets plenty of sunlight roof with 2nd September.
roof, polycarbonite fitted.

Plants well underday by end of September. This silverbeet has been cropping for about Eggplant crops vigorously.
two months.

A view of tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers Succulent lettuce leaves, radishes and (Me sitting and enjoying the successes of
and eggplant at the end of November. snowpeas ready to harvest. growing quality vegetables with limited water
and space.)
 Left Pic: Nutrients is supplied to pots by gravity feeding from 2 x 200 litre drums. Right Pic: The last drum on right has a
submersible pump to deliver rainwater into raised nutrient drums on the left

Matt's AutoPotSystem - Melbourne

Matt had a very successful crop in the growing season from September to March. All these and more from his
AutoPot Systems. He tried almost any variety he can get a hold of including some very interesting heirloom varieties.
"I'm a huge fan of the AutoPot. My chillies are thriving and there's no worrying about under or over watering. The autopot is
brilliant!"
Serge B, Sydney, NSW
Blogger at http://www.vermiponicsonline.com

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