Blumat auto watering

[Bwanabud]

Depending on the elements in your water, a "puff up" will occur in the PH as it bonds to the elements in your water,,,but that "puff" won't incrementally increase with more volume of water, whatever it puffs in a gallon it will do in the res.

If you're running organic nutes that are fairly thick in consistency, I'd expect you to have problems with clogging drippers...I'd consider an alternative nute base.

 

[blowingupjake]

Depending on the elements in your water, a "puff up" will occur in the PH as it bonds to the elements in your water,,,but that "puff" won't incrementally increase with more volume of water, whatever it puffs in a gallon it will do in the res.

If you're running organic nutes that are fairly thick in consistency, I'd expect you to have problems with clogging drippers...I'd consider an alternative nute base.

So with that information I will definitely be looking into amending my soil to take care of itself. I don't like RO systems, my tap is full of good minerals that my girls seem to like... so I guess that contributes to my pH "puff" as you called it. Good to know, thank you.

As far as feeding, I will be doing that part only by hand. I have plants in different stages of flower that always require different nutrient values so I was planning only run water through the blumats anyway, never nute mixes.

Thanks again for your help.

Jake

 

[Jhhnn]

So with that information I will definitely be looking into amending my soil to take care of itself. I don't like RO systems, my tap is full of good minerals that my girls seem to like... so I guess that contributes to my pH "puff" as you called it. Good to know, thank you.

As far as feeding, I will be doing that part only by hand. I have plants in different stages of flower that always require different nutrient values so I was planning only run water through the blumats anyway, never nute mixes.

Thanks again for your help.

Jake

If it's at all possible, using a float valve in the res on 1/4" copper tubing from your water supply will yield excellent results.

One thing about blumats is that they allow for very open soil mixes that would otherwise dry out too quickly to be practical. Such mixes can also be very rich in nutrients because the constant moisture level tends to prevent burning of root hairs that can occur in situations where soil is allowed to dry out.

A fellow member befriended me over a year ago & brought me this soil mix he's used with blumats for years. It's basically impossible to over-water.

Eighths-n-Aces soil mix 7/13/15- 14 gal

3 gals peat
3 gals coarse flushed coco block
2 gals med/coarse perlite
1 gal earthworm castings
1 gal compost
1 gal garden soil
1 gal leaf mold (partially decomposed leaves) Substitute 50/50 perlite/coco if not available.

1/2 cup of this 3 part lime mix- 1 part dolomite lime, 1 part gypsum & 2 parts powdered oyster shell
1 cup glacial rock dust
2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup azomite
2 cup crab shell meal
4 cup kelp meal
4 cup fish meal
4 cup fish bone meal
1 cup langbeinite
2 cup neem seed meal
1 cup alfalfa meal

Mix extremely well, wet with aerated ewc tea to level suitable for planting. Or just use water.
Let sit & keep moist for 3-4 weeks until the fishy smell is mostly gone.

Gathering all the ingredients up front can be somewhat spendy but many will last for a very long while. I'm sure that educated substitution of ingredients is possible. This mix in 5 gal fabric pots & blumats upped my game tremendously. The plants love it. I use aerated ewc tea occasionally but it's not really necessary. Even 12 week strains go seed to harvest on water alone. Ace gets two harvests from the same batch of soil using planting beds rather than pots, just uses tea more often the second time around.

It's well worth the trouble if you can put it together.

 

[sunnydog]

When using organic nutes, NEVER run them through the lines. This is asking for trouble!
Always nute the soil

 

[blowingupjake]

If it's at all possible, using a float valve in the res on 1/4" copper tubing from your water supply will yield excellent results.

One thing about blumats is that they allow for very open soil mixes that would otherwise dry out too quickly to be practical. Such mixes can also be very rich in nutrients because the constant moisture level tends to prevent burning of root hairs that can occur in situations where soil is allowed to dry out.

A fellow member befriended me over a year ago & brought me this soil mix he's used with blumats for years. It's basically impossible to over-water.

Eighths-n-Aces soil mix 7/13/15- 14 gal

3 gals peat
3 gals coarse flushed coco block
2 gals med/coarse perlite
1 gal earthworm castings
1 gal compost
1 gal garden soil
1 gal leaf mold (partially decomposed leaves) Substitute 50/50 perlite/coco if not available.

1/2 cup of this 3 part lime mix- 1 part dolomite lime, 1 part gypsum & 2 parts powdered oyster shell
1 cup glacial rock dust
2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup azomite
2 cup crab shell meal
4 cup kelp meal
4 cup fish meal
4 cup fish bone meal
1 cup langbeinite
2 cup neem seed meal
1 cup alfalfa meal

Mix extremely well, wet with aerated ewc tea to level suitable for planting. Or just use water.
Let sit & keep moist for 3-4 weeks until the fishy smell is mostly gone.

Gathering all the ingredients up front can be somewhat spendy but many will last for a very long while. I'm sure that educated substitution of ingredients is possible. This mix in 5 gal fabric pots & blumats upped my game tremendously. The plants love it. I use aerated ewc tea occasionally but it's not really necessary. Even 12 week strains go seed to harvest on water alone. Ace gets two harvests from the same batch of soil using planting beds rather than pots, just uses tea more often the second time around.

It's well worth the trouble if you can put it together.

Sweet, I like the looks of that recipe!
I've wanted to mix my own soil for a couple of years now but had no real 'need' to switch away from the happy frog dirt....

I suppose now I can convince the Mrs that this mix is a needed component of the new garden setup.

Rock on, brother. I appreciate your advice.

I'm going to start shopping for ingredients this weekend.
I think my friends over at Nick's have most of those ingredients on the shelf.

What part of Denver do you occupy?

Thanks again for the input, I REALLY appreciate it. I was planning to spend tomorrow researching soil recipes...


Stay hazed,
Jake

 

[blowingupjake]

When using organic nutes, NEVER run them through the lines. This is asking for trouble!
Always nute the soil

Read you loud and clear there, SD.

Thanks for all the info you've posted in this thread, it's super helpful.

Stay hazed and enjoy this Saturday!
Jake

 

[Jhhnn]

Sweet, I like the looks of that recipe!
I've wanted to mix my own soil for a couple of years now but had no real 'need' to switch away from the happy frog dirt....

I suppose now I can convince the Mrs that this mix is a needed component of the new garden setup.

Rock on, brother. I appreciate your advice.

I'm going to start shopping for ingredients this weekend.
I think my friends over at Nick's have most of those ingredients on the shelf.

What part of Denver do you occupy?

Thanks again for the input, I REALLY appreciate it. I was planning to spend tomorrow researching soil recipes...


Stay hazed,
Jake

There are a lot of good soil recipes out there, many of them similar. Most call for some clay to aid in water retention, useful with hand watering. It makes the soil heavier & stickier. This stuff is almost fluffy, with magnificent tilth & an open sort of texture that roots penetrate with ease. W/o blumats, It'd have to be watered all the time once the plants get large.

Ace warned me that it breaks down, gets too fine textured with repeated recycling so I work it as little as possible. Recycling & re-amending is something I'm still working on.

We live in south Denver, the Baker neighborhood. I started getting supplies at Way to Grow on S Santa Fe. They seem to have everything at relatively decent prices. We make an annual spring pilgrimage to Paulino's for outdoor plants & veggie starts. Their prices for supplies are high, being a foo-foo garden center, but they offer some unusual ornamental cultivars.

 

[LostInEthereal]

I have a question to all my brothers running nutrients with blumats, though it's not blumat specific..

I know a lot of you are using synthetic nutes with blumats, but I'm wondering what do you guys then use to keep your res clean? I remember Lazyman and his bleach, I know similarly, some use shock puck things, and I don't recall exactly what I was using last time (been a year now) but I think it was DM Zone or Physan-20? Either way, I'm more curious about how you treat your other plants (non-flower that is), primarily young seedlings and vegging plants?

I just started growing again and even then I'm just a novice, so I'm wondering what the pros do? I'm just wondering how I should treat seedlings/clones in comparison to BMs which I run full sterile?

 

[gr866]

I have had my Blumats hooked up for about 4 weeks now and prior to I was hand watering. I would like to add some Mycorrhizal root inoculant but I am concerned it may plug the drip lines. I would drench them before the Blumats were installed.
Can I do a hand watered drench, using reduced GH FloraMicro and Bloom rates in pH'ed water and add the inoculant to the drench? I can tell I have a decent root system as my coco medium has risen up about an inch in the smart pots and I have roots growing on the surface under the drip line.
Any suggestion would be helpful.
Thanks,

GR

 

[Jhhnn]

I have had my Blumats hooked up for about 4 weeks now and prior to I was hand watering. I would like to add some Mycorrhizal root inoculant but I am concerned it may plug the drip lines. I would drench them before the Blumats were installed.
Can I do a hand watered drench, using reduced GH FloraMicro and Bloom rates in pH'ed water and add the inoculant to the drench? I can tell I have a decent root system as my coco medium has risen up about an inch in the smart pots and I have roots growing on the surface under the drip line.
Any suggestion would be helpful.
Thanks,

GR

Sure, go ahead so long as your medium drains well. I do it with ewc tea & occasionally gnatrol. The blumats shut down & resume dripping when the moisture falls back to the desired level.

 

[gr866]

Sure, go ahead so long as your medium drains well. I do it with ewc tea & occasionally gnatrol. The blumats shut down & resume dripping when the moisture falls back to the desired level.

Thanks,
I worked in the golf industry as a Superintendent for 30 years and used compost tea in my greens and tee program. I also used EM1.

I have some EC about 20 lbs, I am growing in straight coco, can I use the tea in the coco, if so what is you recipe, rates and frequency?

I am a week into flower so I don't think I would use it now but definitely in the veg cycle.

Thanks Jhhnn

GR
Taken on 8/11 They have stretched considerably since that pic.

 

[nastynate420]

Do you guys do anything to cover the root mounds that show up under the blumat drippers? I've heard it's not good for roots to see light but they don't seem to mind.

 

[Jhhnn]

Do you guys do anything to cover the root mounds that show up under the blumat drippers? I've heard it's not good for roots to see light but they don't seem to mind.

The roots go where they do the most good for the plant.

If the drip rate in my fabric pots isn't high enough the plants are perfectly healthy but don't yield as much. The roots just don't go out into the dry soil. Comparing the heft of the pots occasionally helps me dial in the drip rate to get it just so...

 

[Jhhnn]

Thanks,
I worked in the golf industry as a Superintendent for 30 years and used compost tea in my greens and tee program. I also used EM1.

I have some EC about 20 lbs, I am growing in straight coco, can I use the tea in the coco, if so what is you recipe, rates and frequency?

I am a week into flower so I don't think I would use it now but definitely in the veg cycle.

Thanks Jhhnn

GR
Taken on 8/11 They have stretched considerably since that pic.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=66535&pictureid=1633771View Image

I grow in organic soil so I can't really speak to growing in straight coco. I use teas just to supplement the soil & to encourage the micro herd. My methods are primitive & mostly haphazard tbh. When fresh, the soil mix will carry the plants from seed to harvest so I really don't have to do anything. Now that I'm recycling it I've been cautious not to make it too rich so I have to pay more attention. Ideally, I think, I'd use tea every week, maybe more.

My brewer is quite primitive- just a small plastic trash can & a fusion 700 air pump, some tubing & a fishing weight to hold down the tubing in the container. I put ~1/2 cup of earthworm castings in 2 gal of water, brew it for a day or few & apply. Sometimes I remember to stir it while it's brewing, sometimes I don't.

As a grower, I'm a lot more casual than I was as a techie creating the grow environment. Blumats fit right into that.

 

[Bwanabud]

Anybody else ever get some brown algae like stuff in their rez that clogs the drippers up ?,,,when I open the dripper a tea like juice comes out first, it's driving me nuts.

 

[stoned40yrs]

Anybody else ever get some brown algae like stuff in their rez that clogs the drippers up ?,,,when I open the dripper a tea like juice comes out first, it's driving me nuts.

You have to stick with nutes that remain clear in the rez. No humics or fulvics or teas or kelp. If you have to use stuff like that handwater it into the coco. Flush your main feed lines every month to expel any crap growing in them also.

 

[Bwanabud]

You have to stick with nutes that remain clear in the rez. No humics or fulvics or teas or kelp. If you have to use stuff like that handwater it into the coco. Flush your main feed lines every month to expel any crap growing in them also.

I'm running Canna a+b with CalMag,,,that's it

 

[LostInEthereal]

I'm glad this came up because I'm about to start again and I always preferred keeping my res clean (certainly after my first experience with cyanobacteria slime all over my roots). I don't recall the strength but I used DM Zone previously.

I'm curious how one that runs sterile res for the flowering plants, treats cuttings and seedlings? Do you guys also sterilize the feed for hand-watering, or only to prevent stagnant water in the res?

 

[rives]

I'm running Canna a+b with CalMag,,,that's it

I've had some crap like that develop since I started using SM-90 a couple of years ago. It seems to either float on top of the reservoir surface or drop clear to the bottom, and with my reservoir outlet elevated off the bottom of the tank an inch or so, it hasn't caused any problems. As 40 said, I purge my lines out every couple of weeks.

 

[stoned40yrs]

I'm running Canna a+b with CalMag,,,that's it

I ran canna a+b through mine. No calmag, try some Epsom instead like I did. Gotta make sure no light can penetrate your rez. Put a filter around your pump. Come to think of it that canna did make some brown slime crap in the bottom of my rez but the filter kept it out. Must be some fulvic in that canna. Now that I switched to V+B there is no crap in the rez and it beats canna all to hell as a base nute.