Blumat auto watering

[rives]

i'm not being a dick. someone PLEASE explain how the entire soil stays wet if you only drip water onto one spot?

i just dont see how such minute amounts of water (drops) can wick through the entire container.

it seems impossible to avoid crusty edges and overal uneven water distribution.

If you have a large pot with a single blumat, there can be some variation in the moisture throughout the media. I think that the media composition plays a huge part in how well it wicks out, of course. I wasn't real happy with the moisture plume on my 3 gallon pots, so I tried the remote drippers, which worked fine for me after I went to straight water rather than having nutes in it. Then I simply went to two blumats per pot to get the same effect and have redundancy in case one screwed up. Works great!

 

[Herborizer]

.............

 

[sunnydog]

mentioned earlier in the thread, but I never read an answer; does the water "drag" a lot on the 3mm line making lower pressure at the blumat?

smaller dia. always = more friction.

 

[sunnydog]

Faith or, shitloads of people might be right!

Faith or, shitloads of people might be right!

i'm not being a dick. someone PLEASE explain how the entire soil stays wet if you only drip water onto one spot?

i just dont see how such minute amounts of water (drops) can wick through the entire container.

it seems impossible to avoid crusty edges and overal uneven water distribution.

It works. Really,really well.
Have faith.
Crusty edges don't matter.

 

[Sean Price]

i'm not being a dick. someone PLEASE explain how the entire soil stays wet if you only drip water onto one spot?

i just dont see how such minute amounts of water (drops) can wick through the entire container.

it seems impossible to avoid crusty edges and overal uneven water distribution.

Not a dickish question actually..This is what I've been wondering about constantly since I've been using these thing for a couple weeks now in my veg room. I mean the plants are happy but the soil is drier in areas not right by the blumat. Earlier in the thread someone said mulch or 'panda mulch' (not sure what that is) or 'panda plastic' covering the soil surface solves the crustiness..I want to try that with the black\white poly. Cut a slit for the stalk basically like the covers for big rockwool cubes. Then slide plastic over soil (black side up??).. Then cut a hole for the blumat and where it drips.. Then no more crustiness, and water saved? Less res topoffs..

sunnydog-smaller dia. always = more friction.

That's what she said, ok so my hub idea sucks ill just run it the normal way
. Thanks again

 

[rrog]

There's no need to cover the soil and introduce a nice mold. 3 gallon pails can use a single small carrot. A 5 gallon pail might benefit from a larger max carrot. I have 7 gallon pails and use a max carrot and two distributors per pail. Two drip sites. Worked perfectly.

 

[sunnydog]

Not a dickish question actually..This is what I've been wondering about constantly since I've been using these thing for a couple weeks now in my veg room. I mean the plants are happy but the soil is drier in areas not right by the blumat. Earlier in the thread someone said mulch or 'panda mulch' (not sure what that is) or 'panda plastic' covering the soil surface solves the crustiness..I want to try that with the black\white poly. Cut a slit for the stalk basically like the covers for big rockwool cubes. Then slide plastic over soil (black side up??).. Then cut a hole for the blumat and where it drips.. Then no more crustiness, and water saved? Less res topoffs..

That's what she said, ok so my hub idea sucks ill just run it the normal way
. Thanks again

panda, white -side up, don't cut out holes for B/M put it on top.
Works real well.

 

[Sean Price]

There's no need to cover the soil and introduce a nice mold. 3 gallon pails can use a single small carrot. A 5 gallon pail might benefit from a larger max carrot. I have 7 gallon pails and use a max carrot and two distributors per pail. Two drip sites. Worked perfectly.

Hmm maybe, but I think it'll just add a couple more stories to the microbial apartment building I'm the slum lord of ... I live in a dry climate and have 6 big girls in 7 gallon smart pots under a 1kW hps. .. Ill do what SD said and cover up the blumats with the poly\panda whatever white side up. Spread that drop out a bit. I'm going to use 2 maxis per 7gal pot

 

[rrog]

I'll have to disagree and wish you well. I watered 7 gallon pails to perfection. The plastic is a distinct and unnecessary risk IMHO.

 

[Sean Price]

I'll have to disagree and wish you well. I watered 7 gallon pails to perfection. The plastic is a distinct and unnecessary risk IMHO.

Hey rrog I appreciate that and I respect anyone who's about organics on this site . I'm just going off of what I know (Colorado = DRY!!I), In my environment. I know a dude who runs 4 regular blumats per 7 gal smartpot and he has truobles. I'd like to run just 2 maxis per 7 gal pot..

 

[sunnydog]

Panda.....

Panda.....

AFOM does the piece of panda on top of the pot, I do sometimes also.
Works really well. I use tomato cages, so it's a pita for me.
Just cut the slot for the stem and your good.
Leave it loose for gas exchange.

 

[Sean Price]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but I've found that having the bottom edge of the adjustment knob at the same elevation as the top of the pointer comes remarkably close to being the correct setting for all of my plants, as in the attached picture. I'd be interested in hearing if this is true for other users.

Yup! My 6 blumats in my veg room seem to be working great, and they're all basically right there. Maybe thats the spot for most situations.

 

[+Vibes]

hey blumat team, year+ user, first time caller.
has anyone come to a real conclusion to what causes sediment buildup in the res? i aerate with an air-lift trickle, my res smells like GH fertilized water (not the fungus algae smell) and is pretty well clear except for the layer on the bottom. i have read of people ditching the airstone all together and getting rid of the sediment too.
could also be temp related, res is out of the room but near the exhaust, not sure.
any ideas?

 

[moutaingrown]

ok i am on page 55 man this thread is longgggggggggg i just ordered me a patio and deck kit and 30 meters of 3mm hose...........wish me luck

 

[Protea]

hey blumat team, year+ user, first time caller.
has anyone come to a real conclusion to what causes sediment buildup in the res? i aerate with an air-lift trickle, my res smells like GH fertilized water (not the fungus algae smell) and is pretty well clear except for the layer on the bottom. i have read of people ditching the airstone all together and getting rid of the sediment too.
could also be temp related, res is out of the room but near the exhaust, not sure.
any ideas?

I have observed from my own res. that after around two months, of topping up, the bottom ten-fifteen cm. of the res goes cloudy and sligthly brownish in colur. I think it is just the botto
mfall of the nutes. and i have
tryed to put a connection about the same hight, so the plants get solution from above the cloudy layer, but that leavs the bottom un used even befor it goes cloudy.
or I guess you could put a valve in the very bottom of the tank, and drain it from there.
only other thing i can think of is to wash out the res. and then fill it up again.

 

[Sean Price]

ok i am on page 55 man this thread is longgggggggggg i just ordered me a patio and deck kit and 30 meters of 3mm hose...........wish me luck

If you skim the thread and skip the ph and "what nute to put in the res." questions it's not too long of a read.

 

[+Vibes]

thanks for the input protea-
if it's just nutes i'm ok with that, i think the weekly line flush will get me through this cycle as i really don't wan't to empty&clean the res mid cycle. would silica grit up if left in a solution too long? i use(ed) silica blast, but now only on my hand-watering koolbloom days.

also i have found that with some flexible, narrow tubing you can sorta siphon-vacuum the bottom layer and usually only have to dump <gallon of grit water.

what about an aquarium filter in your res? would the little carbon filter pad suck anything good out?

 

[felderosa]

When making dial adjustments, go past where you want to be, and then tighten.
This will remove "slack" from the system.
Hope this makes sense.

SD

hey, im gonna be using blumats with canna cogr slabs. what do you mean by this? I thought I found a post detailing the dial adjustment a while ago but I can't find it anymore.

Something about using a different length distributor hose than recommended and different top cap tighnesses as well... was that you?

 

[inreplyavalon]

Anyone use Pure Blend Pro through their blumats? I am going to try, along with some drip clean to combat the sediment. Thoughts?

 

[moutaingrown]

Anyone use Pure Blend Pro through their blumats? I am going to try, along with some drip clean to combat the sediment. Thoughts?

in reading this thread i found quite a few people using pbp