Blumats and Living Soil (my split from main thread)

[mugenbao]

Bump this. Good thread. I have been thinking about blumats for a long time. I may get some soon. Not sure yet though.

I strongly recommend using Blumats, especially with living soil. They have dramatically reduced the amount of work I need to do, so much so that most of the time I spend with my plants is just admiring them and watching them grow, and I feel that my results have been significantly better than back when I was hand-watering.


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[rrog]

I have mine pretty well dialed in. Kind of a relief.

 

[rrog]

Little update. The distributors are a mixed blessing, I think. All of them seem to drip OK, but some insist on dripping down the stake that holds it in the soil. Annoying because you can't see the drip in action.

Soil seems nicely moist, no drainage. I test the emergency shut off system and it works well. 1 drop of water and the system is shut down. Like in the movies.

This turned out to be good to use in a scrog, which with two rows of plants in a micro-grow environment, is welcomed. It's hard to get a watering can, etc back there, but the BMats keep things nice.

 

[mrheadie]

love this thread. been planning on going to a super soil and the blumats. thanks for all the info guys.

 

[rrog]

Another boring update: Still working perfectly. Yaaaawwwwnnn.

 

[mrheadie]

Another boring update: Still working perfectly. Yaaaawwwwnnn.

i'll take that as another reason for me to hurry up and get things done!

 

[rrog]

I'm unimpressed with the distributors, though. Some visibly drip, and others drizzle down the plastic stake that holds them. The supply water, but you can't see a drop hanging.

 

[razor ridge]

Will someone pm me a online retailer in the US for these? please?I have a small room that I run 30 to 40 3 gallon pots in, very crowded. I like the possibility of being able to go away for more than 2 days w/o having to return from vacation and such to water my girls. I hand water now with a pump to hose taped to a stick so I can reach all the pots.

 

[dansbuds]

http://homeharvest.com/dripirrigationtropfblumat.htm

& for some extra supplies .....http://waytogrow.net/store/product/3761/Tropf-Drip-Line-30m-Roll/



gotta buy another patio kit myself to set up my veg cabinet & possibly my mom cabinet also .love these things

 

[Bueno Time]

http://www.planetearthhydro.com/products/Tropf-Blumat-Self%252dWatering-System.html

Cheapest I have found online is $80 shipped from there and on eBay. 12 blumat deck and patio kit

 

[tuinman]

http://www.planetearthhydro.com/products/Tropf-Blumat-Self%252dWatering-System.html

Cheapest I have found online is $80 shipped from there and on eBay. 12 blumat deck and patio kit

These guys are pretty good and keep up to date on the latest & greatest. Good customer service too.

 

[prowler]

Tagging this for later.

 

[bigmak]

So how many maxi's would you guys recommend for a 65 gallon no till smart pot with 3 to 4 plants. Was thinking two maxi sensors for each plant so 8 total in the 36"x18" pot.

Sound like it would keep the entire bed evenly watered?

I think I would rather go with some extra sensors rather than the distributors to more accurately maintain even moisture. or should I do both sensors and distributors?

Really no need for a patio kit with a bed of this large size right? just order 8mm tube,sensors, and shutoff

then kent systems 3/32, n get the rest at hd or hydro store????

Sorry for multiple ??????'s

 

[sunnydog]

I agree, yet there are still floods. Seems the manufacturer would have some insight here. So it seems the only solid clue so far is the constant higher pressure. I wonder if Sunny has had flooding since going to the constant pressure hose.

Pressure reducer is the best thing yet. This last grow I have only checked them~4 times. Really. They are verticle with tomato cages.
I check couple days after set up, couple days after that to see how any adjustments are working out, 2 more times since then, just for some basic gardening-positioning. Looking to pull 'em down in about 14days. I'll check one time before that, in a day or so.
Three gallon pots, all organic, no minimal till, add the organic nutes once and forget about it. Best ,happiest plants in over 30yrs.!
Strains; DG-LUI13 and Res double Strawberry Diesel.

 

[sunnydog]

My mix

My mix

This is what I do ...........
My soil is old, the bulk being about 7 years or so old.
This started as promix based with 40% or more homemade (in giant Rubbermaid tubs) compost. This % has gone up as time goes on.
The compost consists of; Aspen shavings, all herb scrap;root balls, stem, leaf. diatomacious earth "pebbles"(not powdered), lots of charcoal, rock dust, All kitchen waste, shitload of coffee grinds from local cafe.
Also, in different batches, powdered milk, fish meal, pumpkins, horse manure. This cooks for a couple weeks, ultimately flushing shitloads of mushrooms! I now generate more compost than I can possibly use.


What I have been doing now,with each cycle in three gal. pots.
Pull out old root-ball(stem), this is usually soft and rotted, as I leave the blumats on even after harvest.
Pull out about a third of the soil; put a couple of cups of the spent soil aside.
With the rest, I add one cup of "mix". This consists of very VERY approximately (depends on what I got around), 8-10 parts neem seed meal, five parts fish and crab meal, three or four parts each of "Veg" guano and "flower" guano, 3-4parts fish bone meal, 2-3parts alfalfa meal, 3-4 parts kelp meal, 2 parts blood meal 2 parts rock dust. 1-2 parts soft rock phosphate, 1 part greensand.
I do not use any lime, they do not seem to need it ( growth is fabulous) and I been fucked by lime in the past. If it ain't broke, don't fuck with it.
I also have essentially given up on concepts like N-P-K. This worked GREAT! Any Ph nonsense is LONG GONE. Don't even THINK about that shit.



Mix 1 cup mix per three gallon pot with the extracted soil.
Dump this back in the pot.
With your hands, scoop a hole in the middle. Fill this hole with spent soil. Again, push this aside a bit to plant your plant, The idea being the plant does not have immediate contact with the hot soil. Soak in all in with a good drenching.
Take the remaining spent soil and back fill the pot.
By having a layer of spent soil on top, i have found the gnat population is almost ZERO, as they have no food to eat. When I top dressed, I used to be PLAGUED by the little bastards! They were gross, I hate them.
I run my blumats as MOIST AS POSSIBLE, with out running over. BTW, AFOM does essentially the same thing, only EVEN LAZIER! He scoops out 3-4 inches of soil, dumps the amendment mix in( he does not mix it in as I do), back fills the spent soil. This way is less work. He achieves excellent results also, so I might have to give it a try.


This is all MUCH EASIER than it sounds. As I've said, I only visit them every 2 weeks or so.
I do the mixing work in a plastic tub to contain the mess.

With a 1-2 week veg time(depends on strain,some way less veg), this sustains my plants for the whole run! In 35 yrs. of growing, I've grown all ways, it's NEVER been EASIER, or more productive.
. This is best!

This gives ~575grams per 600w vertical lamp. I think it will do better, Still got some dialing to do.
BTW, it is a crawlspace Hands and knees all the way, that's why I am so happy I don't have to fuck with 'em hardly at all.

I posted most of this in the B/M thread, but thought it bears repeating.

 

[rrog]

I'm thinking the watering in of the carrots to seat them is a bigger deal than I previously thought. With the medium in very intimate contact with the carrot, the reaction time is faster and more accurate. If there's a big air cavity next to the carrot, we have a chance for the carrot to dry out, and then take far too long to get re-hydrated. The system has flooded by then. My opinion...

 

[greenmatter]

how did i miss this thread?

BUMP!!!!!

 

[Blueberry78]

Hey guys, got 25 blumats ill be setting up in a 4x4 no till bed. I was wondering if anyone has experience using fulvic acid or potassium silicate in their resevuar? I would like to run aloe & enzyme tea in the res as well, but I believe those need to be used right away.

Thanks guys,
Peace

 

[greenmatter]

fulvic acid and potassium silicate wont give you any problems through the blumats.

"i would like to run aloe and enzyme tea as well" ..... but i have not tried it yet.

organics rocks but it clogs lines. better IMHO to go organic and just let the blumats keep things wet than it is to try running organics through a 3mm line

 

[Blueberry78]

Thanks Greenmatter. Yeah, now that I think about it, the aloe gel looks like it would clog, even after I put it in the blender.

Tell me, do you aerate your res? I'm thinking of getting an air pump.

This thread was a great idea, I'm glad I stumbled onto it!

Thanks again all!