The perfect drip irrigation pump

Chronicbs · Jan 29, 2017

Old Toker said:
That would be extremely helpful. Appreciate the effort and time. My needs are really modest. I have 8 plants in a 60"x60" tent. Will flower in 2 gal fabric pots. DTW - vertical grow - Just need to figure out how to automate the watering.
Thanks again!

Here's 8 plants in 3 gallon fabric pots on a 4 x 8 table under 300 watts of led. I get these eight 1/4" port manifolds from home depot or Lowe's for $8 and just screw them into the PVC manifold I make. I'll make a more detailed itemized post later tonight.

stoned40yrs · Jan 29, 2017

Chronicbs said:
I've run blumats before and found they were more hastle than I hoped as well.

They all drip the same for me when the pumps on and I'm not even currently using pressure compensating drippers even across tables. I don't like how some keep dripping longer than others after it turns off though so I'm getting some "no leak" drippers that close under 5 psi that are also pressure compensating. They r cheaper online than the basic ones at local homedepot/lowes anyways. $.27 (currently at least)

http://https://www.dripdepot.com/item/pressure-compensating-dripper-with-barbed-outlet-flow-rate-one-gph

your link doesn't work

Chronicbs · Jan 29, 2017

stoned40yrs said:
your link doesn't work

I checked the link this time it works. I haven't tried these exact drippers yet mind u but they seem perfect to me.

https://www.dripdepot.com/item/pressure-compensating-dripper-with-barbed-outlet-flow-rate-half-gph

And here's a link to the spec sheet *PDF* for the drippers from the manufacturer website.

https://www.jainsusa.com/_literature_149036/Button_Emitter_Brochure

newguy41410 · Jan 29, 2017

stoned40yrs said:
Hey mate do all the pots get equal water with your setup? I run blumats now but got to fuck with them all the time and some get underwatered. I'm very interested to see your thread

Chronicbs said:
I've run blumats before and found they were more hastle than I hoped as well.

hey guys, ive done months of research planning my first grow and I decided on running coco in 2 gallon pots under 1000 watts of LED in a 32 sq. ft. space. I was pretty much set on using blumats as i've read so much good things about them. And stoned40yrs ive read some of your comments regarding your grow and i believe you have praised the blumats before in the past. Now, after reading this thread, I'm beginning to wonder if i should build my own timed drip system or if i should just use blumats??

To me, the idea of blumats is awesome in the fact that you set a specific moisture dryness threshold and the blumats keeps it at that specific moisture level. But after reading this thread i am starting to wonder if i may regret going with blumats?

To me, the idea of timed drip systems is awesome because I could set it to start dripping and stop dripping when I want to. And I am assuming building a DIY drip system is a lot cheaper than buying blumats. I read some grow journals where people suggest multi feeding coco maybe up to 6 times a day (but low dosage of nutes) and this sounds like its right up drip systems alley.

What do you guys think? Will i love blumats and the results it gives me or the drip system and the results it gives me? Assuming that price were equal would you choose DIY drip system over blumats again chronicbs??

Old Toker · Jan 29, 2017

newguy41410 said:
What do you guys think? Will i love blumats and the results it gives me or the drip system and the results it gives me? Assuming that price were equal would you choose DIY drip system over blumats again chronicbs??

Excellent question. I'm still in the planning stage but would love to hear some experienced users weigh in on this.

stoned40yrs · Jan 29, 2017

I've run blumats for 3-4 years. I probably said lot of good things and some bad in that blumat thread :biggrin:

Here is the thing: blumats are only great when compared to handwatering. Handwatering sucks real bad, anything is better. Also the less plants you have the better blumats are. Never had 1 week go by when them fuckers never did a runaway flood. They also like to underwater the plant and it's not as easy as turning the dial to fix this. I've been wanting to switch to a dripper system like this for years, too lazy but now is the time. Fuck blumats, save yourself the misery and hook this dripper system up in your grow. Most of the people that know what they are doing run these systems. :tiphat:

Old Toker · Jan 29, 2017

stoned40yrs said:
Fuck blumats, save yourself the misery and hook this dripper system up in your grow.

So this would be a "vote" for drippers?

Thanks for the advice!

stoned40yrs · Jan 29, 2017

I do see drawbacks to this system. I's great for monocropping, same size plants and 1 or strains. I run a perpetual with like a dozen different strains at a time. Each one has different amount of water needs. That will mean some get too much water and some not enough since they have different needs. Have to think about this some more I guess. :biggrin:

stoned40yrs · Jan 29, 2017

Old Toker said:
So this would be a "vote" for drippers?
Thanks for the advice!

You only have 8 plants. blumats make more sense with low plant count. You could go either way. :biggrin:

Old Toker · Jan 29, 2017

stoned40yrs said:
Fuck blumats, save yourself the misery and hook this dripper system up in your grow.

stoned40yrs said:
You could go either way.

Nahhhh.....I'd rather learn from the experience of others. I don't need to intentionally add anything else in my life that I already know will cause me misery. Those type of things find me without my cooperation.
If I can get the drippers to water evenly, AND they are simpler and less expensive than Blumats....that would equal a win for me.
Thanks again for sharing your experience! :tiphat:

stoned40yrs · Jan 29, 2017

Old Toker said:
Nahhhh.....I'd rather learn from the experience of others. I don't need to intentionally add anything else in my life that I already know will cause me misery. Those type of things find me without my cooperation.
If I can get the drippers to water evenly, AND they are simpler and less expensive than Blumats....that would equal a win for me.
Thanks again for sharing your experience!

Yes you will have less problems with this dripper system compared to blumats. :tiphat:

newguy41410 · Jan 30, 2017

hmm... decisions decisions.. i feel like if i build my own automated drip system i would be using a lot more nutes than i would with blumats, especially in a multi-strain garden? but i feel like i might be missing out on a little growth if i go with blumats due to the occasional underwatering of some plants?

Also, as far as drip systems go, if i feel like one plant wants a lot more nutes than others is it okay to cater to that plant via reservoir even if the others will be getting "extra" nutes or is there no such thing as nute burn in this situation?

ThaMagnificent · Jan 30, 2017

Anyone have a drip tutorial? Would def be interested!

Buddler · Jan 31, 2017

Look up Pico s thread for a simple water manifold open ends or basket stakes little pump garbage can simple to make ..Not knocking this system just easier to make for small grows.

AWDTERROR · Jan 31, 2017

Been using octobubblers, for me they seem to work better than anything else 22 octobubblers per lane and it works perfectly. I have a really nice pump running it though. It's the DAB E.SYBOX

newguy41410 · Jan 31, 2017

Buddler said:
Look up Pico s thread for a simple water manifold open ends or basket stakes little pump garbage can simple to make ..Not knocking this system just easier to make for small grows.

Just discovered Pico's irrigation system yesterday. Very simple which I like but the thing that worries me is that it doesn't appear to cater to multi strain gardens. Thinking of maybe going with Pico's but adding a ball valve for each manifold or something. Any suggestions?

chris harris · Jan 31, 2017

Just wondering how long you have run this pump, cause I went thru 4 cheap submersible pumps from the same company. The vegetable oil is an attempt to keep the seal from drying out, that's what happened to all mine. Shaft either seized up, due to water leakage causing rust( pump shaft is mild steel, not stainless , or water leakage into the body of the electric motor, shorting it out. Built with bushings, no bearings, on motor shaft, so when bushing wears, shaft wobbles, pounds out seal, causing leaks.
A reliable pump is priceless, this is not one. You know it's gonna crap out at the worst time, so if you are totally in love with this thing, do yourself a favor and buy at least one spare.
Little Giant has been one of the most dependable pumps I ever had. Years and years of service.
Just my experience. You usually get what you pay for.

MedicinalLifer · Feb 2, 2017

stoned40yrs said:
I do see drawbacks to this system. I's great for monocropping, same size plants and 1 or strains. I run a perpetual with like a dozen different strains at a time. Each one has different amount of water needs. That will mean some get too much water and some not enough since they have different needs. Have to think about this some more I guess.

Exactly what I was going to add, I have 6 diff strains and they all have diff needs and I add as they get big and flowering finishes, added a rocksrtar and big bud after cloning them so they dont get fed as much and the big bubba is drinking 5 times a day wheras, shorter bubba pheno is 3 a day and all in 1 gallon, heights range from 2 foot to 5 foot...in 1 gallon...coco rocks and hand watering a dozen plants is no big deal...disabled anyway so may as well do something productive...you notice more too as you get closer to the plants more often, spot trouble before it gets bad
:tiphat:

newguy41410 · Feb 2, 2017

MedicinalLifer said:
Exactly what I was going to add, I have 6 diff strains and they all have diff needs and I add as they get big and flowering finishes, added a rocksrtar and big bud after cloning them so they dont get fed as much and the big bubba is drinking 5 times a day wheras, shorter bubba pheno is 3 a day and all in 1 gallon, heights range from 2 foot to 5 foot...in 1 gallon...coco rocks and hand watering a dozen plants is no big deal...disabled anyway so may as well do something productive...you notice more too as you get closer to the plants more often, spot trouble before it gets bad

so no plans to switch to a type of automatic watering system like blumats or drippers?

Catatafish · Feb 2, 2017

MedicinalLifer said:
Exactly what I was going to add, I have 6 diff strains and they all have diff needs and I add as they get big and flowering finishes, added a rocksrtar and big bud after cloning them so they dont get fed as much and the big bubba is drinking 5 times a day wheras, shorter bubba pheno is 3 a day and all in 1 gallon, heights range from 2 foot to 5 foot...in 1 gallon...coco rocks and hand watering a dozen plants is no big deal...disabled anyway so may as well do something productive...you notice more too as you get closer to the plants more often, spot trouble before it gets bad

Cant you just use different flow rate emitters for the different plants?

If you know one needs 2gph and one needs 6gph, just use a different emitter on those two?

The perfect drip irrigation pump

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