Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
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- blumat drippers irrigation watering
skyview
Member
If you order from Amazon, you will receive the Sustainable Village price list with the order - Amazon buys from them. SV will always at least match any of the Amazon prices if they are lower, just include "match Amazon" (or eBay, etc.) and they will refund the difference.
bikhomes
Member
I love my Amazon Prime but I though I'd mention I've put in a couple orders directly with SV and I've been very happy. I just ordered a bunch of 3mm quick connects and they emailed me right after saying they'd chopped the price in half and they were refunding my card the difference. Was promptly shipped too.
I don't really know how evenly they water within the pot, but I do know that the combination works great so it must be ok!
I've used blumats, airpots, and coco (Botanicare Readygro Aeration Mix) for the last several years and it's the best combination that I've found. No contest.
I've been hand watering in air/smart pots for some time, mostly in promix. I also did 1 blumat run with promix.This run, I switched to rives' method(5l smart pots/ readygro aeration/blumats), and my plants have never grown better.
@rives: Do you know how big of a sample HR will send? I saw someone post that they got a 5lb tub as a sample. If that's so, I could probably run for 2-3 months on just the sample.
Sounded too good to be true. I still want to try the HD, but I've got a runs worth of botanicare products in my cupboard. Now that I've got a better handle on feed levels, the PBP should be fine. It's what BOG himself uses after all. FYI: he hand feeds it(PBP bloom) pretty strong daily and uses FF growbig in veg, not the PBP grow.
I'm going to order a sample of HD, and start using it to veg out the cuttings I've taken. I'm just about out of the PBP grow, but I want to burn up the bloom phase nutes before switching completely. 150g should be enough to keep small cuts/plants going for awhile. Long enough to see if they like it at any rate. I'll probably be leaning on you for help with feed rates once the hd arrives.
M
maestroman22
Blumats and airpots go together like peanut butter and jelly! Especially if using living soil in the bad boys!
As long as your drippers are dialed in correctly, no worries.
I want to address several points, so sorry if the [post gets long/convoluted.
1) I have a thread about my latest grow(https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=297263)
2) This may be a noob question, but I'm a noob to blumats, so... I've had warm/dry conditions for the last few weeks, and I've had what I would consider to be "high" water consumption ~1/3gal/plant/day (no runoff). The weather turned to rain and humidity, and the water usage has cut in half. I was worried, but the pots are all wet. Is this normal/nothing to worry about? I thought maybe the lines were clogged, but they weren't.
3) One "problem" I'm having is the big "root knot" that forms under the dripper end. After several weeks, the roots form a dome, that grow up to the hose end. This makes it hard to see if the blumat is dripping or not. Solutions anyone?
4) @ rives: Was at the store today. Lo and behold, they had a bunch v+b on an obscure bottom shelf. Asked "what's the deal ?" They gave me 1lb of ro/soft. "Nobody buys this shit, take one" they told me. Allegedly I can get 25# of ro/soft for $320 OTD, when the shop has it's quarterly 30% off sale. I'm going to use the v+b for my cuts...what strength would you start at? I'm in 1.5" RW cubes with fairly small cuts. Using 0ppm RO water. Gonna veg with the v+b, while I burn off the PBP bloom. Should I add epsoms or just v+b? You don't use the +life or +size...correct?
1) I have a thread about my latest grow(https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=297263)
2) This may be a noob question, but I'm a noob to blumats, so... I've had warm/dry conditions for the last few weeks, and I've had what I would consider to be "high" water consumption ~1/3gal/plant/day (no runoff). The weather turned to rain and humidity, and the water usage has cut in half. I was worried, but the pots are all wet. Is this normal/nothing to worry about? I thought maybe the lines were clogged, but they weren't.
3) One "problem" I'm having is the big "root knot" that forms under the dripper end. After several weeks, the roots form a dome, that grow up to the hose end. This makes it hard to see if the blumat is dripping or not. Solutions anyone?
4) @ rives: Was at the store today. Lo and behold, they had a bunch v+b on an obscure bottom shelf. Asked "what's the deal ?" They gave me 1lb of ro/soft. "Nobody buys this shit, take one" they told me. Allegedly I can get 25# of ro/soft for $320 OTD, when the shop has it's quarterly 30% off sale. I'm going to use the v+b for my cuts...what strength would you start at? I'm in 1.5" RW cubes with fairly small cuts. Using 0ppm RO water. Gonna veg with the v+b, while I burn off the PBP bloom. Should I add epsoms or just v+b? You don't use the +life or +size...correct?
2) In my experience, consumption will vary considerably depending on temperature and humidity. If the pots are staying close to the same weight, I wouldn't worry about it.
3) I prop up the end of the dripper hose with some plastic gadgets that were meant to hold the blumat distribution drippers. There have been people on here that were using plastic forks with the handles shoved into the media with the drip line supported between the fork tines. Pretty much anything that props up the line works.
4) Good find! I don't use anything other than the rooting solution until the cuts are fully rooted and well established. Once they are big enough to go into beer cups, I start out around 500ppm (.5 scale) and watch them closely. This is usually too light of feed and within a couple of days it gets bumped up to the normal vegging strength of around 650ppm. Regarding the epsom, I foliar feed with epsom until I see what they are looking like as they recover from the rooting process. Most of my strains continue to show a need for more Mg, so at that point I will bring it up to 60ppm according to the nutrient calculator (1.3 grams per gallon with my water).
3) I prop up the end of the dripper hose with some plastic gadgets that were meant to hold the blumat distribution drippers. There have been people on here that were using plastic forks with the handles shoved into the media with the drip line supported between the fork tines. Pretty much anything that props up the line works.
4) Good find! I don't use anything other than the rooting solution until the cuts are fully rooted and well established. Once they are big enough to go into beer cups, I start out around 500ppm (.5 scale) and watch them closely. This is usually too light of feed and within a couple of days it gets bumped up to the normal vegging strength of around 650ppm. Regarding the epsom, I foliar feed with epsom until I see what they are looking like as they recover from the rooting process. Most of my strains continue to show a need for more Mg, so at that point I will bring it up to 60ppm according to the nutrient calculator (1.3 grams per gallon with my water).
Thanks for the info. My ro is Oppm, so I'll roll with your suggestions for now. I'll probably need to water the cubes this weekend.
I've got to order a few things from SV, I'll get some extra support stakes(for 8mm) , and use those to prop up the feed lines.
Atmospheric conditions really make a difference! @ 30-40%rh I was going through 4-6gals/day. At the moment it's rainy and damp, rh is ~80%, and the palnts are using <2gal/day. I loaned my dehumidifier to a friend...I may need to get it back if this weather doesn't let up.
The solution that I use is just a witch's brew of stuff that I've seen on here. I think that it mostly stems from Snype's posts, the aspirin comes from RetroGrow, and probably some help from anyone and everyone else.
If you're interested in the makeup, it is: 1 gallon of tap water (very close to RO); 15 ml/gln DynaGro K-L-N; 0.3 ml/gln Super Thrive; (1) drop bleach; (1) 325gr aspirin; pH to 6.0.
I then use straight, rinsed coco (not the Aeromix), saturated it with the above mix and then squeezed out the excess and packed it tightly into clear plastic drink glasses with some drain holes melted in the bottom with a soldering iron.
If you're interested in the makeup, it is: 1 gallon of tap water (very close to RO); 15 ml/gln DynaGro K-L-N; 0.3 ml/gln Super Thrive; (1) drop bleach; (1) 325gr aspirin; pH to 6.0.
I then use straight, rinsed coco (not the Aeromix), saturated it with the above mix and then squeezed out the excess and packed it tightly into clear plastic drink glasses with some drain holes melted in the bottom with a soldering iron.
Former Guest
Active member
I would really like to incorporate blumats into my setup but after reading through this thread, it seems most people like them when they're dialed in. To get them dialed though sounds a bit complicated with people getting flooded grow rooms. While getting flooded is no biggie, I really don't want extra work. I will be using peat instead of coco so I was curious if the peat is more likely to have runoff using these?
I will be installing these into 2'x2'x8" beds that will have four plants each going into bloom around 7-8" as well as two 10 gallon smarties. How many should I order?
Lastly, everyone is using the tropf style but it sound like kinda a hassle while the junior seems pretty easy and you can still adjust the flow rate. I'm gathering the tropf style waters much deeper than the junior? Is this why everyone likes them? I want simple.
I am putting this on my Christmas list so is there anything else I should order that wouldn't come with the starter kit?
I will be installing these into 2'x2'x8" beds that will have four plants each going into bloom around 7-8" as well as two 10 gallon smarties. How many should I order?
Lastly, everyone is using the tropf style but it sound like kinda a hassle while the junior seems pretty easy and you can still adjust the flow rate. I'm gathering the tropf style waters much deeper than the junior? Is this why everyone likes them? I want simple.
I am putting this on my Christmas list so is there anything else I should order that wouldn't come with the starter kit?
