Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
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- blumat drippers irrigation watering
Sometimes I have trouble adjusting my Blumats lol. I hand water(feed), then follow the instructions for proper use. Thing is, after a couple days and the coco drying out-it does nnot trigger the dripper. Im going to try to mess with them again tonight. Happy toKin! Have a good one! 
northernkush
Member
Re: Blumat auto watering
I still have not been able to find a distributor in canada or us that sells the 50 packs. Can anyone help please?
I still have not been able to find a distributor in canada or us that sells the 50 packs. Can anyone help please?
A
ak-51
Whenever I find a carrot that has dried out I pull it out, put a handful of coco in the hole, water and then reinsert another carrot.
I have the most trouble with carrots in small containers, usually where the distance between the carrot and the outside of the container is short. In my larger containers where I can put the carrots further in I have less problems.
Also, I have thought about putting some kind of floating object inside the carrots to make it easier to discern whether or not they're drying up. That would be a lot easier with a maxi, where I could leave a good portion of the light green translucent plastic above the medium.
I have the most trouble with carrots in small containers, usually where the distance between the carrot and the outside of the container is short. In my larger containers where I can put the carrots further in I have less problems.
Also, I have thought about putting some kind of floating object inside the carrots to make it easier to discern whether or not they're drying up. That would be a lot easier with a maxi, where I could leave a good portion of the light green translucent plastic above the medium.
Sometimes I have trouble adjusting my Blumats lol. I hand water(feed), then follow the instructions for proper use. Thing is, after a couple days and the coco drying out-it does nnot trigger the dripper. Im going to try to mess with them again tonight. Happy toKin! Have a good one!
If I'm understanding this correctly, the blumats never start dripping? It doesn't sound as though you are doing the final adjustment. When the coco gets to the moisture content that you want to hold, you need to back the adjustment off to the point that it just starts to drip and then back down slightly to where the drop clings onto the end of the tube. I like to pre-moisten the coco in a large tote to the moisture level that I want before filling the pots with it, and adjust the blumats at that point rather than trying to "catch" the right moment.
skyview
Member
I saw the 50 packs on Amazon.
skyview
Member
I've been experimenting with those adapters and so far, so good. I used one to go from the 3mm Blumat line to 1/8" spaghetti tube and from that with a transfer barb into 1/2" drip tube.
skyview
Member
Another problem with using nutrients and then a filter is that the nutrients tend to quickly grow algae. A black storage tank will help prevent that - the more light the faster algae can grow. If your water is too dirty and you need a filter, probably better to apply the nutrients by hand.
Tropf Blumat Sensor - box of 50
http://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_68&product_id=58
Good luck. I hope you have floor drains or pond liner and a small reservoir.
http://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_68&product_id=58
Good luck. I hope you have floor drains or pond liner and a small reservoir.
I think bobble is hinting at "run aways" and something I posted in this thread before I think may help resolve this and it is just my theory but I have not had a run away yet. When I first got my blumats I was checking them out and I unscrewed the green adjuster knob a bit and pulled the dripper line forward and I noticed the hose was pinched shut from being closed for so long. If you massage the hose you will get it to pop back open and then I run the hose so the adjuster hits it at a different spot. I think what happens is the pinch effects the flow when you initially adjust it and eventually the pinch opens and then the run away happens.
The best tip I can give to avoid runaways is to NOT MUCK WITH THE DAMNED DIAL ONCE IT'S BEEN SET.
If you're in the garden one day and notice a pot is a little dry, and think, "Hey, it needs a little more water, let me just open the dial a little bit.." .. DON'T!
It's elementary w these things, but can't be stressed enough - ANY time you want to re-calibrate them (because that's really what it is), HAND WATER the pot to the desired moisture level, and THEN open the dial a smidgen, to a cling, and then tighten it back a little (as you do with the initial setup).
In other words, there's no shortcut to re-calibrating them - it's the same process as when you took 'em out of the box..
If you're in the garden one day and notice a pot is a little dry, and think, "Hey, it needs a little more water, let me just open the dial a little bit.." .. DON'T!
It's elementary w these things, but can't be stressed enough - ANY time you want to re-calibrate them (because that's really what it is), HAND WATER the pot to the desired moisture level, and THEN open the dial a smidgen, to a cling, and then tighten it back a little (as you do with the initial setup).
In other words, there's no shortcut to re-calibrating them - it's the same process as when you took 'em out of the box..
My issues were environmental... Oh, and not being around the first 2 weeks to get them dialed in. I need plug-and-play for my remote grow that I only tend to 1x a week. Blumats work fine in my basement at home... All the same, I have floor drains so I'm more comfortable using them there.
skyview
Member
The Blumats sense the moisture where the cone is in the soil. If you use the regular ones, they turn the water off when the top few inches are moist. If you only use the maxis, it will stop watering when the soil that deep is wet even if the top is dry and needing water. In many situations, I think it's better to use one of each or in larger containers, two regular and one maxi.
Ok,..... How do you guy's handle changing #'s of heads on your line? I've got one main feeder line wrapped around my room that I want to feed all my pots off of. Can't do more than 12 canabis plants, tho I may add in some peppers/tomatoes and other garden veggies.
At the moment, I'm ready to up pot one of my seedling MJ plants into her new home and add her to the blumat watering line.
And I also have a rather large bushy sativa Blueberry that I'm getting hard pressed to believe I can keep in Vege for much longer, so she will need to be moved to flowering side. Once she's over there, I will need to splice her head into the middle of the line,..... How can I do that?
I am thinking I can get a pen cap or something similar and plug the beginning of the line inside my top reservoir so I don't have much water spraying all over the place while I change fittings out,.......
What say the Guru's?
At the moment, I'm ready to up pot one of my seedling MJ plants into her new home and add her to the blumat watering line.
And I also have a rather large bushy sativa Blueberry that I'm getting hard pressed to believe I can keep in Vege for much longer, so she will need to be moved to flowering side. Once she's over there, I will need to splice her head into the middle of the line,..... How can I do that?
I am thinking I can get a pen cap or something similar and plug the beginning of the line inside my top reservoir so I don't have much water spraying all over the place while I change fittings out,.......
What say the Guru's?
A
ak-51
I just drain my upper reservoir whenever I have to work on the lines.
This usually means that I have to flush the feed line and then flush every individual drip line as well after everything is put back together. It's not a huge deal, just open them up all the way for a couple seconds and then tighten them back up.
You might be able to build the add-on part first, open up the existing line and jam the add-on in quick enough to not lose much water. Sometimes I wonder if the flow can be strong enough coming out of the feed line that it actually sucks air backwards into the drip lines.
On another note:
I have decided to only fill my reservoirs up with plain water for the first 2-3 days after initial setup. The chances of a rogue blumat runaway are so elevated there that I don't think it's worth the risk of losing gallons of mixed solution. It shouldn't hurt the plants to just get plain water for 3 days anyway. It seems like after they have run for 2-3 days, the chances of malfunctions are greatly reduced.
This usually means that I have to flush the feed line and then flush every individual drip line as well after everything is put back together. It's not a huge deal, just open them up all the way for a couple seconds and then tighten them back up.
You might be able to build the add-on part first, open up the existing line and jam the add-on in quick enough to not lose much water. Sometimes I wonder if the flow can be strong enough coming out of the feed line that it actually sucks air backwards into the drip lines.
On another note:
I have decided to only fill my reservoirs up with plain water for the first 2-3 days after initial setup. The chances of a rogue blumat runaway are so elevated there that I don't think it's worth the risk of losing gallons of mixed solution. It shouldn't hurt the plants to just get plain water for 3 days anyway. It seems like after they have run for 2-3 days, the chances of malfunctions are greatly reduced.
