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Blumats vs Drip DTW

RamCTD1027

Member
I've been away from the growing scene for a couple years now but I'm getting back into it again and about to set up a new 7k grow. I will be flowering in 3gal airports in straight coco and I'm looking for a little advice as far as watering goes. I have had previous success using PVC drip manifolds (Pico style) and planned to go that route but I recently read the entire 173 page Blumat threat and other grow threads of people who used them. Some people swear by the blumats and some start out using them and switch back to drip halfway through the grow. What's the general consensus here in the Coco forum about blumats? I will have limited time at the new grow site so ease of maintence and automation are important to me. I understand that there is a period of time needed to dial in the blumats but there is also dial in time necessary with drippers. I'm not leaning one way or the other just yet but I'm hoping ill get the okay to use the blumats because I like the idea of minimal runoff and the fact that I can use them on my mothers as well.

So what do you think coco growers? I'd love to hear some opinions from people who have tried both!

Thanks for the help!!
 
I've run drippers and blumats and the blumats win by far. The hardest part of the blumat learning curve is properly dialing the drip rate. Although some adjust to no run off, I let each pot run off a wee bit onto the floor and have a dehumidifier rocking to keep the moisture down. You could also saucer each plant but I really hate emptying saucers. Also blumats have allowed me to cut down on the nonsense additives that were wasting time and money. I run h&g cocos a+b, drip clean in the res and water in kelp/caps packs once a week. They're so simple and easy to use, 'once you mat you won't go back!' Peace,
Jon
 

rives

Inveterate Tinkerer
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Once you get the moisture level of the coco set where you want, the blumats will dynamically adjust to hold that level as the plant grows and the environment changes. It's been years since I used drippers, but between the above and the difficulty of trying to balance the whole system with drippers, I think blumats have a substantial edge.
 

MIway

Registered User
Veteran
Lol... Yeah, digging into a deep thread takes some time...


I have no experience in using blumats and only used open lines when pumping, but...

It's really a great thing when ya hit the ground running with no Fuck ups that cost you thousands of dollars in the end... I've been there and it sucks... Makes ya want to cry. With that in mind... Start back up with what u have direct experience in and will more likely turn out well for you... And it will give u a new baseline to compare anything in the future. Stick with what works.

If ya wanted to Fuck around with a project... Throw six at your sure the Fuck going to work system... And the odd one out for trying new shit. Just the safest thing, ya know?
 
D

DHF

Lol... Yeah, digging into a deep thread takes some time...


I have no experience in using blumats and only used open lines when pumping, but...

It's really a great thing when ya hit the ground running with no Fuck ups that cost you thousands of dollars in the end... I've been there and it sucks... Makes ya want to cry. With that in mind... Start back up with what u have direct experience in and will more likely turn out well for you... And it will give u a new baseline to compare anything in the future. Stick with what works.

If ya wanted to Fuck around with a project... Throw six at your sure the Fuck going to work system... And the odd one out for trying new shit. Just the safest thing, ya know?
I`ve got many MANY growbro`s on the left coast in medville that do this shit for a living that KILL it with Blumats , but they live with their plants and or go to their op daily........and.....

It`s come to light lately that the difference in environment with sealed rooms versus major air exchange rooms the cones react differently and need more adjustments to dial em.....but.....

DTW dialed with 1 ml per gal dripclean and very minimal runoff rocks for just as many of my old head stubborn ass growbro`s that wouldn`t get on the blumat bandwagon 5 yrs back when they came to the forefront on weedsites......so....

It`s all in watchas can wrap your head around and get used to for production and performance giving dialed results " consistently"........

Peace....DHF.....:ying:.....
 
T

TribalSeeds

Ive been wondering what the reason could be that this is on the drip clean faq?

http://www.house-garden.us/faq/

Can you add too much Drip Clean? I might have accidentally doubled the drip clean in my last reservoir fill up.
At more than twice the recommended dose, I would start over with your reservoir.


Could there be anything harmful by using more than twice as much?
 

MIway

Registered User
Veteran
I hear ya Freds... Wasn't meaning to knock the blumats at all, just how my brain evaluates things anymore. I've kind of come full circle from trying to run a hi-tech sterile aero with a shit ton of plants, then vertical... All the way back around to flat d2w...As simple and fool proof as is possible. Try to eliminate or reduce the likelihood of anything that can be catastrophic.. And I still screw the pooch here and there! Lol. I'm getting old man... It's all about risk mitigation anymore... And simple... And preferably easy on the back... Lol.

Peace bro
 
D

DHF

Ive been wondering what the reason could be that this is on the drip clean faq?

http://www.house-garden.us/faq/

Can you add too much Drip Clean? I might have accidentally doubled the drip clean in my last reservoir fill up.
At more than twice the recommended dose, I would start over with your reservoir.


Could there be anything harmful by using more than twice as much?
Tribal........H & G`s recommendation of . 4 ml per gal for dripper setups to prevent clogging of the emitters has no bearing on what`s been discovered and realized on the behind the closed doors weedsites over the last several yrs about Dripclean`s "Ionic properties" that.......

Latch onto residual/excess ppm`s and prevent salt buildup in the rootzones of predominantly coco setups that hold so many variables if not pre- charged with cal-mag through end of stretch ,and then in the middle of full swellage where the CEC latches onto potassium and causes problems........anyways....

1 ml per gal is your friend to prevent residual salt buildup in your rootzone as well as keepin driptubing and emitters clean in a DTW setup FTW.........guaranteed...

Peace....DHF....:ying:.....
 

Incognegro

Member
Ran coco for years dtw, recirc and hand water... am considering Blumats as well maybe next run...but if set up correctly, I'd put my $$ on a dripper system vs Blumats...(but take that with a grain of salt considering I've never used them)..

But then again the guys who dial the Blus in love them..so.... experiment... i know i will when I've got the chance... as I'm gonna be looking at roughly 100 plants to water soon! ....
 

TNewell753

New member
yea man I just switched to blumats last month and everything is going extremely well and setting them up isnt that hard at all.
 

kronk

Member
Guys

what is that the Blumats offer that any other automated drip system doesn't, I'm not doubting the claims that growers are making I just need to understand why they are better.

Cheers

K
 
T

TribalSeeds

Guys

what is that the Blumats offer that any other automated drip system doesn't, I'm not doubting the claims that growers are making I just need to understand why they are better.

Cheers

K

Put it to you like this... The blumats make love to your girls exactly how they want it, exactly when and where they want it! Its like a continuous multiple orgasm.
Timed drippers are not as forced on them as a huge water to runoff everyday is, and they dont get all dried out like an old lady with cobweebs in between waterings when getting it rough like that. But, its just not the same thing as the good long and slow lovin the blumats have to offer. It keeps your girls wet at a continuous rhythm. The girls dont deal with change well.
You know the old time proverb... Once your girls go Blumat, they never go back!
 
Last edited:

rives

Inveterate Tinkerer
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
To put it a little less eloquently than TS and repeat what I said above, Blumats will keep the ideal moisture level over a wide variety of changing circumstances - once they are set, you don't have to compensate for increasing plant size, environmental changes, or whatever. I always had a problem with balancing drippers at the extreme ends of the system - water, like electricity, is going to flow to the path of least resistance. Having Blumats installed is like having an individual pressure regulator on each line.
 

DrFever

Active member
Veteran
Even tho they will keep moisture and from my understanding they can be gravity fed
so you need to not bother as much just keep water tank filled But here is my question on these blumats costs are pretty expensive for them seems ok for the few plant grow what about the few hundred plant grows ????
how long will they last do they somehow malfunction meaning calcium build up in internal parts ???
will not having a tank full of nutrients go stagnent and ph issues might happen after a few days bringing some more issues to your grow ???
Blumats probably will be a perfect addition to just water feeding your organic soils , lets hope you don't have high copper / iron and calcium in your water
as for chemical nutrients crystalization on internal parts may occur and blockage starts or by passes and it floods your plants . or does not give any volume of water drying them out
you start chasing and working more rather then just little labor on self watering
 

kronk

Member
Thanks for the replies guys , I'm going to try out the Blumat 12 pack that they do and see how this goes!

Soon my plants will be receiving some blumat lovin !
 

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