ninjagaiden
Member
DUH! i cant believe i didnt think of just adding a valve or a second drain point.
thanks guys ^^
thanks guys ^^
Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
- Start date
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- Tags
- blumat drippers irrigation watering
M
mugenbao
Here's one place, and here's another place.
I just got the news that Santa is bringing me Blumats for Christmas, yay! I've been using Bluemat Jr. up till now, which are okay and will keep plants alive, but I'm really looking forward to getting the real thing
You'll be stunned with the results given my experience with the Tropf Blumat devices/system over the past 8 months or so.Here's one place, and here's another place.
I just got the news that Santa is bringing me Blumats for Christmas, yay! I've been using Bluemat Jr. up till now, which are okay and will keep plants alive, but I'm really looking forward to getting the real thing
YMMV
CC
sunnydog
After a bit of tweaking with placing 3 emitters in each #7 SmartPots and since I only grow 4 plants the kit was all I needed.
Next up was some kind reservoir and I finally went with a used 75-gallon aquarium which was scratched but still water-tight. I used an older air pump from earlier compost tea days (20-gallons of air per minute) so that part of the deal was covered.
It's pretty nice to be able to take off for a few days and head over to the Oregon Coast and not have to be concerned about how the garden is run.
Having a complete soil is also helpful, i.e. water-only soil mix.
Zip. Done. Deal.
LOL
CC
After a bit of tweaking with placing 3 emitters in each #7 SmartPots and since I only grow 4 plants the kit was all I needed.
Next up was some kind reservoir and I finally went with a used 75-gallon aquarium which was scratched but still water-tight. I used an older air pump from earlier compost tea days (20-gallons of air per minute) so that part of the deal was covered.
It's pretty nice to be able to take off for a few days and head over to the Oregon Coast and not have to be concerned about how the garden is run.
Having a complete soil is also helpful, i.e. water-only soil mix.
Zip. Done. Deal.
LOL
CC
Protea
Member
Yesterday they came!! hurrah
so since then i have installed them, on my flowering plants, and my bonsai mums, they seems super easy to use, but since i re potted them in the process it will take a few days for the soil to dry out but i will keep an eye on them for the next week.and adjust them as good as i can. then i will leave then on their own for 18 days. week five and six of flowering. abit long i know, but i have no other way.
I am using a 300 Ltr. plastic tank as a res.I use ph balanced tapwater, quite hard tap water.I aireate it whit a cheep fountain pump and a garden hose.
i plan to fill it up to 150-200 ltr. and give them nutes from a watering can before i leave.
fingers crosssed.
so since then i have installed them, on my flowering plants, and my bonsai mums, they seems super easy to use, but since i re potted them in the process it will take a few days for the soil to dry out but i will keep an eye on them for the next week.and adjust them as good as i can. then i will leave then on their own for 18 days. week five and six of flowering. abit long i know, but i have no other way.
I am using a 300 Ltr. plastic tank as a res.I use ph balanced tapwater, quite hard tap water.I aireate it whit a cheep fountain pump and a garden hose.
i plan to fill it up to 150-200 ltr. and give them nutes from a watering can before i leave.
fingers crosssed.
just put in an order over at sustainable village. i am so excited!
i got the patio kit to run my four 3L airpot scrog, and i might throw the extra ones into my lettuce cause i have a feeling they'd like the constant watering as well.
watering has been my biggest struggle so far. can't seem to get it perfect. hopefully these will do the hard part for me.
looking forward to big, healthy plants!
1000 thanks to all the great contributors to this thread. crazy good resource.
i got the patio kit to run my four 3L airpot scrog, and i might throw the extra ones into my lettuce cause i have a feeling they'd like the constant watering as well.
watering has been my biggest struggle so far. can't seem to get it perfect. hopefully these will do the hard part for me.
looking forward to big, healthy plants!
1000 thanks to all the great contributors to this thread. crazy good resource.
ancientmariner
Member
LOL! Gotta love the scientific method.
I haven't set mine up yet, but this sounds like great advice.
ancientmariner
Member
Hey fellow ICMag-ers, I just want to give props to a frequent poster to this (and other) valuable thread(s) for help that went above and beyond the call of duty.
Several months ago, inspired by Sunnydog's posts, I impulsively bought a Blumat patio kit. Unfortunately, the kit did not contain a fraction of the length of hose needed to properly connect the Blumats to a decent feeder line; the ceramic carrot drippers looked fine but since I bought the kit off the rack where it had been collecting dust at a hydro store in the South Bay, I'm not sure that all the pieces that were supposed to be inside were actually there. Nor did I have a clue what size hose I needed to connect the Ts that came attached to the Blumats. Like a kid who gets a Christmas toy that was packaged with batteries not included, I quickly lost interest.
My local hydro store seemed to have a pretty broad selection of hoses and fittings in a wide array of widths and lengths, so a few weeks later I took in one of my Blumats to see if they could hook me up with the proper accessories.
Of course not. They'd never heard of Blumats and had nothing in stock that even approximated the 3 mm hose. Strike two.
A few more weeks passed. In late November, Lazyman mentioned something in one of his posts about Elite Hydro in Cotati, where an employee familiar with Blumats could help customers find the elusive 3mm hose. I've read Lazy's posts on another thread and found them to be smart, funny, and really informative, so the simple fact that he had become a Blumat booster encouraged me to give the ingenious little devices another shot.
But even after reading Sunny's and Lazy's phenomenal contributions to this thread, I was still a little hazy on how the damn things worked. (Chalk it up to old age and nearly a decade of experience with rockwool and old-school F&D tables.) But I was on my way to visit a friend up in Healdsburg and was passing by Elite Hydro, so I figured what the hell. I took a spur-of-the-moment detour.
Unfortunately, the store employee Lazyman named as the one most knowledgable about Blumats was not working when I arrived, and the employees who were on duty knew about as much as I did about what I needed to order and how to connect everything.
As I was about to leave in disappointment -- Strike 3! -- a customer who had just walked into the store piped up. "Were you asking about Blumats?" he asked. When I answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to graciously give me a 15-to-30-minute tutorial, complete with hand-drawn diagrams and instructions to the clerk behind the counter on exactly what I needed to order.
At some point during the conversation, feeling emboldened by my fellow customer's willingness to share his time and knowledge, I let it slip that I had "read about this stuff on ICMag."
My new Blumat buddy smiled.
And right then I knew. He had to be one of two people. And considering who had mentioned that hydro store in the first place, I asked, "Lazyman?"
He nodded. What I thought was about to become a called third strike had turned into a grand slam. We shook hands and I thanked him for his time and his help.
I can't even begin to guess at the odds against running into the dude in the flesh; much less the odds of his overhearing my Blumat questions and being so free with his advice and generous with his time.
Sunnydog, thank you for starting this thread. You have almost single-handedly created a new growing craze.
But Lazyman, you rock.
Several months ago, inspired by Sunnydog's posts, I impulsively bought a Blumat patio kit. Unfortunately, the kit did not contain a fraction of the length of hose needed to properly connect the Blumats to a decent feeder line; the ceramic carrot drippers looked fine but since I bought the kit off the rack where it had been collecting dust at a hydro store in the South Bay, I'm not sure that all the pieces that were supposed to be inside were actually there. Nor did I have a clue what size hose I needed to connect the Ts that came attached to the Blumats. Like a kid who gets a Christmas toy that was packaged with batteries not included, I quickly lost interest.
My local hydro store seemed to have a pretty broad selection of hoses and fittings in a wide array of widths and lengths, so a few weeks later I took in one of my Blumats to see if they could hook me up with the proper accessories.
Of course not. They'd never heard of Blumats and had nothing in stock that even approximated the 3 mm hose. Strike two.
A few more weeks passed. In late November, Lazyman mentioned something in one of his posts about Elite Hydro in Cotati, where an employee familiar with Blumats could help customers find the elusive 3mm hose. I've read Lazy's posts on another thread and found them to be smart, funny, and really informative, so the simple fact that he had become a Blumat booster encouraged me to give the ingenious little devices another shot.
But even after reading Sunny's and Lazy's phenomenal contributions to this thread, I was still a little hazy on how the damn things worked. (Chalk it up to old age and nearly a decade of experience with rockwool and old-school F&D tables.) But I was on my way to visit a friend up in Healdsburg and was passing by Elite Hydro, so I figured what the hell. I took a spur-of-the-moment detour.
Unfortunately, the store employee Lazyman named as the one most knowledgable about Blumats was not working when I arrived, and the employees who were on duty knew about as much as I did about what I needed to order and how to connect everything.
As I was about to leave in disappointment -- Strike 3! -- a customer who had just walked into the store piped up. "Were you asking about Blumats?" he asked. When I answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to graciously give me a 15-to-30-minute tutorial, complete with hand-drawn diagrams and instructions to the clerk behind the counter on exactly what I needed to order.
At some point during the conversation, feeling emboldened by my fellow customer's willingness to share his time and knowledge, I let it slip that I had "read about this stuff on ICMag."
My new Blumat buddy smiled.
And right then I knew. He had to be one of two people. And considering who had mentioned that hydro store in the first place, I asked, "Lazyman?"
He nodded. What I thought was about to become a called third strike had turned into a grand slam. We shook hands and I thanked him for his time and his help.
I can't even begin to guess at the odds against running into the dude in the flesh; much less the odds of his overhearing my Blumat questions and being so free with his advice and generous with his time.
Sunnydog, thank you for starting this thread. You have almost single-handedly created a new growing craze.
But Lazyman, you rock.
Hah! Great story! What a small world.
1
1quixotix
Again, this thread is a great read!
Thank you for the answers I've been searching for.
Thank you for the answers I've been searching for.
M
mugenbao
Got mine today, yay! It took about an hour to get it all installed, and I'm thankful for all of the info in this thread about how to set them up, check for kinks/pinches in the drip lines, make a loop to prevent vaporlock, etc.
I'm really excited now, and I hope CC is right about me being pleased with the results!
.
Q1: Are these in Canada anywhere?
and
Q2: If for instance 2 trop blumats are ordered for a 2 plant scrog that the res would be no more than 4-5 ft away would additional 3mm tubing be ordered?
Q3: Is Sustainable Village currently the best price and shop to get the blumats and that also ships to Canada?
Thanks in advance
and
Q2: If for instance 2 trop blumats are ordered for a 2 plant scrog that the res would be no more than 4-5 ft away would additional 3mm tubing be ordered?
Q3: Is Sustainable Village currently the best price and shop to get the blumats and that also ships to Canada?
Thanks in advance
M
mugenbao
If I understand correctly, the 3mm tubing goes from the main supply line to the individual Blumats, and making those longer simply allows more movement of the individual plants within the tent/cabinet/area while still connected to the supply line (say for routine maintenance and such). The 3mm is not otherwise used for long runs.
The main supply line from the rez to the blumats is the thicker tubing. If you get the patio and deck kit, it comes with seven meters of this line, which is more than adequate for a five-foot run.
.
Finally got my mothers setup on the Blumats today. This is my fist try at the Blumats. Any advice/feedback is welcome.
Picture 1 shows my 30 gal reservoir, the bulkhead fitting, valve, and 1/2 inch tubing running to my mother tent. My mother area is about 15 feet away.
Picture 2 shows the line into my mother tent, into a valve, and then into the circle of tubing it ends into.
Picture 3 shows the Blumat setup. I bought those 3/32 nylon things recommended earlier in the thread, punched holes in my 1/2 inch tubing, put the nylon thing in, and connected the 3mm hose to those. Also, you might notice that I cut a little plastic to hold the drip tubes up off the coco. Instead of buying those blumat stakes, I just used those plastic things you use to label your plants.
I fully watered my plants before putting the blumats in. About 15% runnoff. I installed them and then packed the coco nice and tight around them. Then I watered a bit more around the blumats. I turned the knob until it dripped, then I back off 2 arrows. Hopefully that's a good start!
Thanks for all the suggestions, advice, and detailed posts in this thread. I am really excited to see how this is going to work.
Picture 1 shows my 30 gal reservoir, the bulkhead fitting, valve, and 1/2 inch tubing running to my mother tent. My mother area is about 15 feet away.
Picture 2 shows the line into my mother tent, into a valve, and then into the circle of tubing it ends into.
Picture 3 shows the Blumat setup. I bought those 3/32 nylon things recommended earlier in the thread, punched holes in my 1/2 inch tubing, put the nylon thing in, and connected the 3mm hose to those. Also, you might notice that I cut a little plastic to hold the drip tubes up off the coco. Instead of buying those blumat stakes, I just used those plastic things you use to label your plants.
I fully watered my plants before putting the blumats in. About 15% runnoff. I installed them and then packed the coco nice and tight around them. Then I watered a bit more around the blumats. I turned the knob until it dripped, then I back off 2 arrows. Hopefully that's a good start!
Thanks for all the suggestions, advice, and detailed posts in this thread. I am really excited to see how this is going to work.
Attachments
Pompey_Monkey
Member
Yep. The 3mm tubing is only actually required to be at the pinch point on top of the sensor. The hydrostatic pressure at the diaphragm is quite small and the silicon tubing has to be easily deformable.
Having said that, it's got to be much easier having a continuous length straight off the main feed, through the sensor and away to the drip point than having loads of joins everywhere!
