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Blumat auto watering

Whoops - I'm late to the party here...

I used a Blumat kit last year to great effect when I had no access to my grow for a week. (family staying over!). Took about a week to get them dialled in, after that the system worked fine for the remaining six weeks of flowering. I'm growing in my loft with no water supply, so I use a large plastic packing crate (approx 80 litres) as a reservoir. It's mounted on a platform about 2 feet above the pots and I fill it with a hose whenever it gets low.

Just as an extra piece of information, the plastic tubing that comes with the kit is exactly the same outside diameter as the small-bore gas piping used in the UK for feeding household fires, so I use a compression fitting ball gas valve as an on-off switch for the system. Works fine with not a drop of water spilt in over a year!

http://www.icmag.com/ic/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=655391&size=big&cat=&ppuser=34198

Just about to set it up again this year for the same reason as last year. I hope It doesn't flood as it's directly above my bedroom...:yoinks:
 
Does anyone have a picture of the cones in person? I'm wondering how long they actually are.

Would they work for a shallow soil bed, only like 4-5"?
 

Lazyman

Overkill is under-rated.
Veteran
smurf,

You can feed nutrient - as long as its mixed up in a reservoir ...at a higher ground level then the blumat itself.

Not sure about organics, but I imagine anything thick enough to clog a normal dripper has the ability to clog one of these things as well.


peace
pm

Hmm, that gives me an idea, feed hydro nutes through a siphon mixer or fert injector, and you could run HUNDREDS of these with no reservoir:

Hose Water > RO Water filter> Fertlizer Injector> Particle Filter > Pressure reducer> Manifold of feed lines> blumats to dripper lines

Once you got it dialed in, you just have to remember to check on your bottles of nutes/concentrate once a month or so. MUAHAHAHA AUTOMATION.

Use something like this critter:
107718a.jpg
damn thats a small pic:

Anyway not bad for $85 for 3 gallons of straight nutes! Use several of these inline and you can run an adjustable multi part nute mix for just a couple hundred bucks.http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;;pg107718_107720.html
 
I want something that will keep about 10 plants in 5 gallon containers watered for 10 days.
Would the Blumat Deck and Planter Box kit suffice, or would I need to customize it? I would run it off a reservoir, probably a garbage can full of water. I'm assuming SustainableVillage is my only real option in the U.S...
 

satyr

Member
I have been running these for 3 grow by now. Very happy costumer, indeed.

Contrary to another fellow earlier in the thread, I can highly recommend using the small satelite outlets as you only need one blumat and then use 4 or 5 outlets around the stem for perfect distribution of water.

Also, I use the blumat maxi for all pots over 10 liters, or 2½ gal. Blumats recommends you use them for larger pots and plants with more than 25-30 centimeter of depth. I use a drip splitter on 11 liter pots so that there are 2 dripoutlets, not one.

The reason I would personally recommend you use the maxi, is that it allows more of the medium to dry out, easing the oxygen to the roots, as watering becomes less frequent as with the short ones "blumat tropf". Thats is as stated in pots with a depth of 25-30 at least.

I find them fantastic as you can have one blumat water big square container like 100x40x40 centimeters if you are short on cash. I you have like a couple of weeks to supervise them initially and you have the benefit of letting your plants get the optimum water supply.

When I handwatered, I never had the 30 minutes or more to do a perfect watering of my plants. They were usually more or less flooded, with a lot of the medium not really watered and other parts waterlocked. With blumat I can keep them on the almost mimimum thereby suppling the roots maximum oxygen. Also avoiding dry zones with dead roots because of the slow dripping.

The reservoir and nute thing is by far the simplest and most straightforward. Use a bucket any size. Place it at least 50 cm above the blumats outlets for every 5 meters. I have like 15 meter of total hose length so my reservoir is placed 2 meters above ground, as my pots are app. 50 cm above ground level. Some times I use 2 or 3 reservoirs when having different strains in different stadiums of their development. You can by connection to make any container into a reservoir for 2 bucks. Have a hook in the cieling and you got the perfect reservoir.

I mix my normal ferts into the water and add an airstone. Depending on reservoir size it keeps working better than ever. I have never had so healthy looking plants as I do now.

Most people tend to forget that perfect or even good handwatering of cannibis aint a walk in the park for most people. That actually a major reason for a lot of loss of quality and quantity.

I would also highly recommend these to people who grows in cocomedium.

Blumats = more freedom, better watering, better yields and smoke.
 

Dhude

Member
Can one of you Blumat users answer the question asked several times in this thread?

Do you need a pressure reducer if you're not running off a garden hose/home water supply but instead using a 20-50 gal res a meter above your plants?

EDIT:
Found the answer at Blumat site. NO reducer req'd if using a barrel or res.

"PRESSURE REDUCER: Use to connect your system to your spigot. You do not need this if using a rain barrel or other nonpressurized water source"
 
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P

Peat

Got mine. :joint:

picture.php



I threw something together real fast. Just to get a feel.
I wanted to know how bad that res fitting would leak.
24 hrs later = no leak.

I really want to now if this will work in coco, with Head's formula.
I see no reason why it shouldn't.
But where there's a will, ... :abduct:

picture.php


This particular example of my handiwork is a little embarassing. :redface:

But, maybe somebody will see something...;)

:listen2: First to guess correctly, wins!
 

Lapides

Rosin Junky and Certified Worm Wrangler
Veteran
picture.php


This particular example of my handiwork is a little embarassing. :redface:

But, maybe somebody will see something...;)

:listen2: First to guess correctly, wins!


The top of that milk jug looks kinda funny...I don't know what it is, but did I win?
 
P

Peat

Hehe Lap. :D
...maybe...


Thanks one Q.
...maybe...

:listen2: I do have to figure out how to tame the "unruly black hose".
(When is that NOT a problem?) :confused:


===============
EDIT:

I'm gonna wait for a few responses before I say yea, or nay. ;)
 
Last edited:

Lapides

Rosin Junky and Certified Worm Wrangler
Veteran
Hehe Lap. :D
...maybe...


Thanks one Q.
...maybe...

:listen2: I do have to figure out how to tame the "unruly black hose".
(When is that NOT a problem?) :confused:


===============
EDIT:

I'm gonna wait for a few responses before I say yea, or nay. ;)

Is the dripper tube actually dripping? It looks like it may be a really tight angle and could be kinked, that's the only other oddity I could find in your pic.

Yeah man, that black hose sucks, doesn't it? I found no easy way to get it straight to the point where it stays straight. As you're linking up all of your containers with the drippers, try just having one hose curve one way, then the next hose curve the other way, on down the line. Kinda like ~~~~~. You feel me?
 
P

Peat

That's great to hear bens lab. :smoker:
I'll check out your pics.
Do you have a thread?


Thanks Lapi. That's a good tip. :yes:
I really like the visual aid ~~~~~ LOL

It was dripping too much at first.
Then I turned it down.
:chin: (Too much. maybe?)

During all that fidgeting, the kink came into play.
The pale little limp hose is at the mercy of the large rigid black hose. :yoinks:

I'm wanting to find a drip rate that equates "daily hand watering with little runoff".

Thanks for the help! :respect:
 
P

Peat

Well, duh....

Well, duh....

I'm missing a plant in the pot, of course. :nanana: :moon:

(She's a bit bent up from tonight's training session. But, she'll still ham it up for the camera.)

picture.php



:pointlaug
LOL
Don't be mad! :noway:

I appreciate the tips. :respect:
I worked that hose angle too.

I've got some work to go before I fill the cab.
So, there may be more fun to come.
Consider yourselves warned...:abduct:
 
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