A
ak-51
Which line was it? I ran Pure Blend Pro for a while with few problems. It was dirtier than any chemical line I've run though. CNS17 was cleaner. Canna was very clean. Jack's is the cleanest.
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Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
- Start date
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- Tags
- blumat drippers irrigation watering
wiesser
Member
It's actually a local brand, made by a local garden shop in my area, Blu Moon.
OGShush
Member
Wiesser it adds a little bit of cost to the project but using the 1/2" and the extra drip hose makes it much easier to run lines. I'm pretty sure krunchbubble uses 3/4" and the same tube unions, he was the inspiration for my design. I think your clog problem might be helped by putting your bulkhead fitting a few inches up on the side as opposed to the bottom. Seems to work for me, i get a bit of sediment on bottom and dog hair floating up top, but nothing in my feed line
wiesser
Member
Yeah I know what you mean, that was my thought when I first drilled my holes in the barrel, elevate them from the bottom away from the sediment. I've got air stones in there so the solution is always moving. I like to keep my res level fairly low, probably only got 15 - 20 gal in there at the most. I'm adding 5 gal every day so I feel like that keeps the nutrients/water fresh. Nothing staying in the res for too long. Don't like having organic based nutes sitting in a barrel for two weeks in a 85* room. It's all good though, this is my last run using concentrated nutrient additives, all organic soil from here on out. I'll only be running plain water through the blumats at that point, no clogs! Yeah!
Kit Kat
Member
This is an xpost from my grow thread, but I thought it might be helpful here too.
So this post by Señor Chang talked about some .224 ID silicone hose that made a good alternative to the stiff black 8mm tubing the patio kit comes with. I seriously hate working with that shit and didn't have enough anyways, so I ordered a 100' roll for $75 with shipping from Mocap.
Took about a week to arrive, and I already love it. Way easier to work with. It's like a larger version of the 3mm line. Haven't had a quicker blumat set up yet.
32g trashcan with an on/off valve right at the base
Runs along the bottom of the door with RG6 cable holders, fits perfect and doesn't pinch the line - it can still be pulled through if needed.
Each 4 set will have its own on/off valve so it can be easily hooked up to a straight water res for the last two weeks.
Extra 3mm along with the flexibility of the red hose will make moving plants around if needed very easy and no pinching.
Once all the lines were run I left the blumats completely open and filled the res up with about 4g of water - and waited until all of the 3mm hoses were steadily pouring water out. Let the res drain itself mostly down before dialing back so there was just a cling hanging off the end.
So this post by Señor Chang talked about some .224 ID silicone hose that made a good alternative to the stiff black 8mm tubing the patio kit comes with. I seriously hate working with that shit and didn't have enough anyways, so I ordered a 100' roll for $75 with shipping from Mocap.
Took about a week to arrive, and I already love it. Way easier to work with. It's like a larger version of the 3mm line. Haven't had a quicker blumat set up yet.
32g trashcan with an on/off valve right at the base
Runs along the bottom of the door with RG6 cable holders, fits perfect and doesn't pinch the line - it can still be pulled through if needed.
Each 4 set will have its own on/off valve so it can be easily hooked up to a straight water res for the last two weeks.
Extra 3mm along with the flexibility of the red hose will make moving plants around if needed very easy and no pinching.
Once all the lines were run I left the blumats completely open and filled the res up with about 4g of water - and waited until all of the 3mm hoses were steadily pouring water out. Let the res drain itself mostly down before dialing back so there was just a cling hanging off the end.
How about kink resistance?
Kit Kat
Member
The hose seems more inclined to flop than kink, and once water fills it I can't seem to kink it. I just went and messed around with it twisting it about and trying to get an undesired state to hold and wasn't able to.
Personally had more problems with the 3mm line kinking because the black tubing was pulling/twisting against it, especially at the tee.
Edit: I can step on it, however, and put heavy things down on it that'll pinch the line out.
wiesser
Member
Looks good Kit Kat, maybe sunnydog can chime in here also, but I've noticed you guys using coco really extending the 3mm lines from the blumat sensor. I only leave maybe 2"-2.5" past the sensor, stopping at about the main stem or just past it. My friend who turned me on to the blumats explained to me that what you are doing is just feeding the tap-root, a drop at a time. The rest of the root-ball is left fairly dry. I've seen you coco guys putting the sensor on one side of the pot, and running the 3mm line all the way to the other side of the pot. In my mind I would think that this would really saturate that whole pot. Does it really matter how far that 3mm line extends past the sensor? Is it just how you do it in coco? I'd like to hear some of your guys' experiences. What about my tap-root theory?
Kit Kat
Member
When I used blumats in organic soil I did what you're suggesting with a 2-2.5" length dripping right near the stem.
Once switching to coco with airpots and the air exchange necessary for a bare bulb vert when I did that the pots, in general, were mostly dry and root development was not as dense as would be capable under other circumstances.
Putting the sensor at one edge, and running the length to the opposite ensures that most of the medium stays moist (when unwinding the air pot there will still be an angled gradient that shows an obvious dry/moist difference) and root growth is much denser.
tl;dr - shit dries out real real fast, especially once the root ball is thick.
One Blumat should be enough for a 25-30cm diameter pot, which means the sensor could be placed next to the wall of the pot and the 3mm line should be extended right to the center. But this watering system has a slow response (from the moment the Blumat sensor opens until the soil/medium is wet enough) so the water is absorbed by the soil in every direction. The roots however will grow searching for water , which means they will be more developed on the wet zone of the pot. With a medium with good drainage/absorption the plant will never suffer from lack of water.
wiesser
Member
Yeah I'm starting to get little "mounds" forming where my blumats are dripping. Little bumps of roots coming up to the top of the soil. Looks really healthy. Can't say I've ever seen anything like it before.One Blumat should be enough for a 25-30cm diameter pot, which means the sensor could be placed next to the wall of the pot and the 3mm line should be extended right to the center. But this watering system has a slow response (from the moment the Blumat sensor opens until the soil/medium is wet enough) so the water is absorbed by the soil in every direction. The roots however will grow searching for water , which means they will be more developed on the wet zone of the pot. With a medium with good drainage/absorption the plant will never suffer from lack of water.
Kit Kat
Member
Here's an example of my post above. This is the first time I used coco and airpots and I ran the line about 2-2.5" just like I used to in soil.
This picture was taken right after pull and chop, it was receiving water right up until about 15 minutes before. You can see the obvious moist spot from where the dripper was back to the sensor. When I broke this root ball open there was a very obvious gradient cutting through with a noticeable difference in root development between the moist area and dry.
Here is a bit of a closer shot, unfortunately I was going for the decent roots and not the dry ones but you can see on the edge where it starts petering out pretty obviously and shows much sparser development. Again the gradient is pretty obvious.
This one was regularly hand watered, and you can see quite the difference in the amount of roots and the evenness of them compared to the pics above.
This picture was taken right after pull and chop, it was receiving water right up until about 15 minutes before. You can see the obvious moist spot from where the dripper was back to the sensor. When I broke this root ball open there was a very obvious gradient cutting through with a noticeable difference in root development between the moist area and dry.
Here is a bit of a closer shot, unfortunately I was going for the decent roots and not the dry ones but you can see on the edge where it starts petering out pretty obviously and shows much sparser development. Again the gradient is pretty obvious.
This one was regularly hand watered, and you can see quite the difference in the amount of roots and the evenness of them compared to the pics above.
Thought I'd share this funny blumat story.
I've had two Nightmare Diesel cuts vegging for quite a few weeks now. Didn't need 'em any time soon, super busy with life, and they received minimal attention for a good long while. (Minimal attention = "Oh, they're not dead? Cool!")
Anyway, both cuts taken at the same time, same plant, etc. One has grown considerably more than the other. I finally decide to do some investigating..
I lifted up the container of the slower-growing one, and it felt okay. So, just to sort of recalibrate, I opened up the blumat wide open, shooting for a steady stream, at which point I'd dial it back down..
..except, no stream! ..I lifted the drip line out from the surface of the dirt, and I felt (and heard) this riiiiiip!
ROOTS! ..had grown into the feed line!
I couldn't pinch 'em out with my finger, so I cut off a good few inches of drip line, figuring I'd probably cut out behind where the root had reached, and I'd be set.
Only I wasn't!
So here, below, is the length of drip line I cut off iniitally, and above that is the rest of the root I was able to pull out once I cut the first chunk off:
I've had two Nightmare Diesel cuts vegging for quite a few weeks now. Didn't need 'em any time soon, super busy with life, and they received minimal attention for a good long while. (Minimal attention = "Oh, they're not dead? Cool!")
Anyway, both cuts taken at the same time, same plant, etc. One has grown considerably more than the other. I finally decide to do some investigating..
I lifted up the container of the slower-growing one, and it felt okay. So, just to sort of recalibrate, I opened up the blumat wide open, shooting for a steady stream, at which point I'd dial it back down..
..except, no stream! ..I lifted the drip line out from the surface of the dirt, and I felt (and heard) this riiiiiip!
ROOTS! ..had grown into the feed line!
I couldn't pinch 'em out with my finger, so I cut off a good few inches of drip line, figuring I'd probably cut out behind where the root had reached, and I'd be set.
Only I wasn't!
So here, below, is the length of drip line I cut off iniitally, and above that is the rest of the root I was able to pull out once I cut the first chunk off:
There should be no dry ares in the pot. I run my dripper lines at "spec" 8cm or slightly less. I run as moist as possible with no water accumulation. in the tray.
Yuppers... that is why ya need to do the ol' fork trick. Never allow the 3mm line to lay on your media or you'll experience the chaos you describe..usually not catching it until the plant goes limp.
Yes!
Homeslice, you were the exact dude who turned me on to the fork trick, .. And somewhere along the way, I've kind of abandoned it (oddly, all the broads in flower have the fork deal).
Initially, it seemed to be just sensible and neat and tidy. NOW, .. I get it.
Sure thing..
I can't take the credit though. Saw someone else on here doing it when I 1st was getting into blumats.
Works great though..
I can't take the credit though. Saw someone else on here doing it when I 1st was getting into blumats.
Works great though..
skyview
Member
I talk (email) fairly regularly with Roland Weninger, the Blumat inventor.
Recently I've been having a discussion with him about how to get the costs down for larger growing operations. For up to 50 plants, it doesn't seem to be a problem. For up to 500 plants or so, it's expensive but affordable. Lately though, people with over 3000 plants are talking with me about converting to Blumats.
This morning, Roland suggested using the Maxi horizontal by cutting a hole on the side near the bottom of the pot and running the 3 mm up the side. I'm planning to start experimenting with this method today but thought I would pass it on right away. Seems like it could be helpful for smaller systems as well, especially for plants in big pots. I just uploaded Roland's diagram showing how to do this and a picture of a plant set up this way in my gallery https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=46671.
Recently I've been having a discussion with him about how to get the costs down for larger growing operations. For up to 50 plants, it doesn't seem to be a problem. For up to 500 plants or so, it's expensive but affordable. Lately though, people with over 3000 plants are talking with me about converting to Blumats.
This morning, Roland suggested using the Maxi horizontal by cutting a hole on the side near the bottom of the pot and running the 3 mm up the side. I'm planning to start experimenting with this method today but thought I would pass it on right away. Seems like it could be helpful for smaller systems as well, especially for plants in big pots. I just uploaded Roland's diagram showing how to do this and a picture of a plant set up this way in my gallery https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=46671.
