Blumat auto watering

[wiesser]

I amend the soil, and pour over top as a drench. No prob. I also keep a little well dug under the drippers. I add stuff there as well. Let it drip in over time.

I like your "well" idea rrog, do you re-use your soil mix? I'm thinking of using Biochar, what has been your experience?

 

[rrog]

I use Biochar for all sorts of good reasons, but also small aeration. I then move up to under 1" pumice. Then slightly larger lava rock. In a 15 gallon Geopots.

The soil is ROLS, and is recycled for generations.

Also the "well idea" i got from some smart person on this thread waaay back.

 

[pocpiz]

Hello again

So a 160 mbar the maxi blumat go on an watering.....

One hour after :

My tensiometer indicate 20 mbar .... and the blumat continue to water so i tight 1 arrow more ( 3 in total) for the moment and wait

I dont understand why !

I used normal tropf blumat for 3 years without problem ( in 6 liter pot) and now for my first setup in 11 liter and maxi blumat it is not good and i don t know why

If someone with 11 liter pot and maxi blumat can give me his setup its good !

Thanks

 

[rives]

I can't help you with Maxi problems, but I can tell you that 11-liter pots will work fine with standard Blumats. I've been using the 3+ gallon air pots with the regular Blumats for the last several years and it has worked very well for me.

 

[pocpiz]

Yes i m agree that standart work in 11 liter but :

Yesterday i haved the standart blumat in my 11 liters pot and they work very well but i think only half of the soils was correctly watered, after 15 cm the standart blumat seem do not water the soil !

In the middle of the pot any problemes but after it is not good !

So i dont know if i let the maxi or if i setup again and back to the standart....

It s strange because it is the same setup and not the same results

if anyone have an idea....

Thanks

ps : you use just one standart in 11 liter ?

 

[rives]

Yes, I use one standard Blumat. In the past, I've run two per pot and also used a single spike with three of the distribution drippers in a loop around the base of the plant. I think that the drippers actually gave me the most evenly-moist media, but it didn't make an appreciable difference in the plant's size or health.

 

[rrog]

How much aeration material do you have in the soil mix? I'm not sure how accurate the BM tensiometers are, but I have a few from Irrometer, and when my soil is wet and BMs shut off, I'm at 5 - 12 kPa.

20 millibars = 2 kPa, so that would be pretty wet soil... about to drain out the bottom of the pot.

Did you try "seating" the maxi-carrot as described on this thread yesterday? I use the maxi's for the transplanted flowering plants in 7 gallon Geopots. I use 1 carrot and three drippers.

I use the standard BMs for the little 2 gallon Geopots (with velco sides for super easy transplanting).

 

[pocpiz]

My substrat is biobizz allmix

I passed from 160 milibar to 20 milibar in 2 hours and the blumat continue to water...

And no water under the pot ( no drain).

My soils was correctly hanwatering ( and compact) before and i make the same adujstement like before but i have not the same results

Maybe i ll go back to the standart blumat

Maybe i put the maxi too deep ?

I put all the maxi blumat entirely, and on the same for the tensiometer to the opposite side.

Yesterday in the same condition i have standart blumat and the same tensiometer but just in the middle deep ( the same deep as the standart blumat) and blumat turn on at 90/100 milibar and turn off at 60 milibar ! it was perfect but only for the fisrt 15 cm ....

 

[rrog]

The Maxi is the same as the regular BM, obviously. So any problems you are having cannot be attributed to the size of the carrot. Have you tried "watering in" the carrot as previously described? If not, sounds like air in the line. I would dis-assemble the carrot under water and see if any bubbles come out. I would also take a syringe and blow out the carrot down in the ceramic area, as well as under the top where the rubber diaphragm is. Lots of potential for little air bubbles to join up and create big ones.

Also, the little plastic adjustment screw can easily be mis-threaded. You might check that also

 

[pocpiz]

i let all the maxi under water for 24 hours and after i screw the top and the carott under water too .

So i dont think any air bublle inside but i ll check tommorow.

Maybe the deep can change the number of arrow turning (not the same "pression" in the tube) ?

before with normal i turn 2,5 arrow and it was perfect now i just turn all the maxi to 3 arrows and for the moment i was at 40 millibar (but blumat is off)....

i ll hope that the blumat do not turn on before 100 millibar and stop before 60...

This morning it turn on at 160 milbar and go to 20 milibar ....

It is the first time i have probleme with blumat...but it is the first time i try the maxi too...

An other thing very strange is the volume of my tank has dropped to only half a liter to change to 160 to 20 milibar , i do not understand anything.......

Thanks you very much for your help !

 

[rrog]

Even when assembled underwater, there can be a great deal of hidden bubbles.

 

[pocpiz]

seriously I really do not think, I'm doing very careful not to leave air bubbles .

But it is impossible to go from 160 to 20 milibar with just half a liter in 11 liters pot too....

I will wait tommorrow and if it is the same i ll remove all the blumat and do the setup again ( 3 times in 2 days....) but maybe with the "standart" blumat, what do you think ?

 

[rrog]

I think the air bubbles are sneakier than you might think, and they definitely cause issues. Just like the improper threading of that top adjustment nut. Very easy to get that mis-threaded

 

[rives]

If you aren't using Rrog's technique (a syringe to force water into the holes in the underside of the cap, performed while holding the components underwater), then you aren't getting all of the air bubbles out.

 

[Lapides]

I turn the caps upside down (knob down) underwater and tap it against the carrot before I screw it on. I've never had any bubbles doing this.

 

[rrog]

Lapides- Take a real close look right up near the diaphram. Around the brown plastic. The plastic can sorta hide the edges of a bubble. I read early on to tap for air bubbles. Maybe it shows that on their video. I think tapping can leave bubbles. Not saying you are, but it's a lot easier to miss bubbles than I thought, anyways.

 

[Lapides]

I thought I came up with it on my own, maybe not. I've seen bubbles come out while tapping. Before I commit the carrot to my garden, I always tip it both ways to look for a bubble. Whatever works

 

[wiesser]

Some plants drooping?

Some plants drooping?

I've noticed that some of my plants have really been drooping down when the lights are off, just started first week of flower, they start right before lights go out, and slowly work their way back up till the lights come on, then they are all standing at attention, looking perfect.

My suspicion is that the plants that are doing this the most aren't getting enough water, the pots are lighter than the others and the wet patch on the soil where the blumat is dripping is about 1/2 the size as the others that don't droop real hard at night. Just increased flow to said plants by about 4 ticks each.

Anyone have any experiences similar to this?

 

[rives]

I thought I came up with it on my own, maybe not. I've seen bubbles come out while tapping. Before I commit the carrot to my garden, I always tip it both ways to look for a bubble. Whatever works

I used to use the tap method, but it always seemed like playing with those kid's toys where you try and get the BB's to drop into the holes - even if you could see the damn bubble, it was difficult to maneuver it over and get it to come out of one of the holes. After I read Rrog's suggestion about the syringe, I found that I was getting air out that I didn't know existed. It doesn't really matter how you manipulate the Blumat after assembly, unless you are lucky enough to get the bubble to line up with one of the holes the air is going to remain trapped in the cap. The spikes will still function, but the response is sluggish compared to a spike that has had all of the air purged out. Try it and see what you think.

 

[skyview]

i let all the maxi under water for 24 hours and after i screw the top and the carott under water too .

So i dont think any air bublle inside but i ll check tommorow.

Maybe the deep can change the number of arrow turning (not the same "pression" in the tube) ?

before with normal i turn 2,5 arrow and it was perfect now i just turn all the maxi to 3 arrows and for the moment i was at 40 millibar (but blumat is off)....

i ll hope that the blumat do not turn on before 100 millibar and stop before 60...

This morning it turn on at 160 milbar and go to 20 milibar ....

It is the first time i have probleme with blumat...but it is the first time i try the maxi too...

An other thing very strange is the volume of my tank has dropped to only half a liter to change to 160 to 20 milibar , i do not understand anything.......

Thanks you very much for your help !

pocpiz, I'm not sure why but for the standard Blumat the instructions say to turn down 1-2 arrows but on the instructions that come with the Maxi it says after the drop of water just hangs, "Leave in this position, do not turn further."