Thanks Jhhnn. I've been using blumats for several years now, and continue to learn something about them nearly every run. I have to be out of town frequently, and the blumats are one of the few choices that will work with my schedule. If you stick with the rules for making them happy, they work very well but they can be some temperamental little bastards. For whatever reason, I had more small runaways with this group of plants than I've had, total, over the last year or two. Rule #1 - either have a drain or a catch pan that exceeds the reservoir capacity feeding it.
There are probably more options to accomplish this than you might think. My mom cabinet has a 10 gallon reservoir, and drains into a 14 gallon catch tub. My 4x4 tent has a 3x3 flood and drain tray in it, and I know how far I can fill the reservoir and still have it all fit in the tray. My 30" x 30" tent is on a sheet of plywood that covers a bathtub. If you grow in a closet, it really isn't that difficult to tie into the sewer system and set a drain for the grow area.
Bubbagineer
Member
Yeah, I gotta run a drain.... but I'm shitty plumber. Also going to put in a utility sink. I have some of those auto-sensor hose bib valves that shutoff the valve if it senses a water spill, so I could put a float valve in the res and still be able to sleep when I'm on the road.... but right now I'm running drip clean and Dyna-gro in the res.... a lot of DG (1 tbsp / gal) and they are loving it. I agree Blumats are temperamental, but kickass. The maxis seem to work better in the 3G pots than the 5s.
Bubbagineer
Member
@Rives - nice run bro. I'm beside myself with curiosity on the cured weight. 
Oh are those 3g pots?
I've got another flower run started. This time with (5) plants vegged about 7-8 weeks (3 Northern Lights & 2 Meltdown) and a little (for now) Harlequin that got zero veg time. I'm hoping for a keeper out of the Northern Lights girls. I'll post up as long as I'm welcome.... now that I have LEDs in the tent it's no longer just a CMH grow...
I'm closing in on my system. I switched to 3 gallon fabric pots, (2) Blumat Maxis per pot. Got (2) vertical 315w Elite Agro CMH lamps in open reflectors - 830w (real watts). ... 52w/sqft. Shamelessly copied Rives plumbing design, except for the drain
Oh are those 3g pots?I've got another flower run started. This time with (5) plants vegged about 7-8 weeks (3 Northern Lights & 2 Meltdown) and a little (for now) Harlequin that got zero veg time. I'm hoping for a keeper out of the Northern Lights girls. I'll post up as long as I'm welcome.... now that I have LEDs in the tent it's no longer just a CMH grow...
I'm closing in on my system. I switched to 3 gallon fabric pots, (2) Blumat Maxis per pot. Got (2) vertical 315w Elite Agro CMH lamps in open reflectors - 830w (real watts). ... 52w/sqft. Shamelessly copied Rives plumbing design, except for the drain
Attachments
Yes, they are 3 gallon air-pots. I used to use smart pots, but anytime I moved them around at all it loosened up the media, particularly after I went to the ReadyGro Aeration mix. This screwed up the fit between the blumats and the media, causing runaway problems. The air-pots are much more rigid and work better for me.
For my next run I've gone to the 5 liter air-pots. I got into them sort of accidentally - I had three Tsi Fly plants that I was vegging out enough to sex them, and I got distracted with other shit..... I had put them in some 5-liter pots that I had actually cut down a couple of inches so they would fit into my mom cabinet better, and the plants are now 3-1/2' tall and bushy as hell. The good thing that I've found is that the root bundle literally locks the blumat into place, where with the 3 gallon pots the mix always stayed kind of loose since the roots never completely filled out the pot. The other benefit is using 1/3 of the media! That size plant does look a little odd in a pot that is 7" high x 8-1/2" wide, but they seem to be happy. That stem in the picture below is over 1" in diameter at the base.
The below shot is two of them in a 30x30 tent (one was male and his pollen is now in the freezer). The one in the front right is a problematic mutant that I wanted to see how it turned out, but the one on the left almost fills the whole tent by itself - the smaller one has to crowd the hell out of it to even fit in there.
These are also under a single 315, but it is an Agro. The Purple Crack in the other post are under a standard 930 lamp.
For my next run I've gone to the 5 liter air-pots. I got into them sort of accidentally - I had three Tsi Fly plants that I was vegging out enough to sex them, and I got distracted with other shit..... I had put them in some 5-liter pots that I had actually cut down a couple of inches so they would fit into my mom cabinet better, and the plants are now 3-1/2' tall and bushy as hell. The good thing that I've found is that the root bundle literally locks the blumat into place, where with the 3 gallon pots the mix always stayed kind of loose since the roots never completely filled out the pot. The other benefit is using 1/3 of the media! That size plant does look a little odd in a pot that is 7" high x 8-1/2" wide, but they seem to be happy. That stem in the picture below is over 1" in diameter at the base.
The below shot is two of them in a 30x30 tent (one was male and his pollen is now in the freezer). The one in the front right is a problematic mutant that I wanted to see how it turned out, but the one on the left almost fills the whole tent by itself - the smaller one has to crowd the hell out of it to even fit in there.
These are also under a single 315, but it is an Agro. The Purple Crack in the other post are under a standard 930 lamp.
beatiful plants rivers.
i've picked horizontal and vertical retrowhite models for now. when they run out this new tech will surely be cheaper. well unless i go for a shoppng spree, it has happened before..
not the bestest for sure, but my little experience with 250w retrowhite in the past, sometimes i run basic hps too.
i've picked horizontal and vertical retrowhite models for now. when they run out this new tech will surely be cheaper. well unless i go for a shoppng spree, it has happened before..
not the bestest for sure, but my little experience with 250w retrowhite in the past, sometimes i run basic hps too.
Thanks for the compliments, guys.
I have the results from the Purple Crack run - it's now in the curing jars, with the moisture content around 63%. The total pull was just shy of 10 ozs (277 grams). It should be noted that a lot of the lower buds went directly to the canna oil bin and weren't included in the weight, and that two of the plants really should have been culled out. Three plants yielded between 70-80 grams apiece, and the two others made up the remaining 47 grams.
This has always been a pretty low-yielding strain for me - my previous best run with it had been 280 grams under 440 watts (.64 gpw), and that was using a scrog that was maintained pretty meticulously. This run was .88 gpw and the plants had basically been ignored from the time that the clones rooted except when forced into doing something with them.....too much shit going on!
I have the results from the Purple Crack run - it's now in the curing jars, with the moisture content around 63%. The total pull was just shy of 10 ozs (277 grams). It should be noted that a lot of the lower buds went directly to the canna oil bin and weren't included in the weight, and that two of the plants really should have been culled out. Three plants yielded between 70-80 grams apiece, and the two others made up the remaining 47 grams.
This has always been a pretty low-yielding strain for me - my previous best run with it had been 280 grams under 440 watts (.64 gpw), and that was using a scrog that was maintained pretty meticulously. This run was .88 gpw and the plants had basically been ignored from the time that the clones rooted except when forced into doing something with them.....too much shit going on!
indianajones
Member
that's one hell of a yield comparatively, thanks for sharing your experience (and pictures!) with us rives. how did the veg time compare to your normal veg with purple crack? was this run vegged longer? how far into the canopy were the buds solid?
Indiana, I'm sorry to say that I don't have a clue. I had been fighting cloning problems and this was part of a batch that worked. I normally start a spreadsheet on the plants as soon as I transplant them from the beer cups, but this time I didn't get one going until 3 weeks after they started 12/12. The only reason that I even knew the date was because I noted it on my refill sheet for the reservoir.
This strain doesn't get really dense - it's pretty sativa dominant. The buds were still pretty hefty at about the midpoint of the canopy, maybe a bit further down. They had gotten heavy enough that I used up all of my prop sticks to hold everything up - it looked like a power distribution system in Tijuana. The Tsi Fly in the pictures a couple of posts up are MUCH denser, but the entire plant structure is way different.
This strain doesn't get really dense - it's pretty sativa dominant. The buds were still pretty hefty at about the midpoint of the canopy, maybe a bit further down. They had gotten heavy enough that I used up all of my prop sticks to hold everything up - it looked like a power distribution system in Tijuana. The Tsi Fly in the pictures a couple of posts up are MUCH denser, but the entire plant structure is way different.
I've never used the vert method, but as far as I can see, the advantage to it is being able to drop the lamp down into the canopy so that almost all of the radiated light strikes a plant.
If you are going to be above the canopy without a reflector, only the portion of the light that leaves the lamp at a downward angle is going to strike the plants - the rest of it will do you little or no good. A good reflector will control the light and redirect it so that almost all of the light is in use. There is some loss from the increased travel distance and the inefficiency of the reflection process, but it is far less than an open lamp above the canopy where the light is lost in all but the downward planes.
If you are going to be above the canopy without a reflector, only the portion of the light that leaves the lamp at a downward angle is going to strike the plants - the rest of it will do you little or no good. A good reflector will control the light and redirect it so that almost all of the light is in use. There is some loss from the increased travel distance and the inefficiency of the reflection process, but it is far less than an open lamp above the canopy where the light is lost in all but the downward planes.
I've not done vert, either, but I think you're right. The other advantage to vert is that apparently discourages stretch & encourages side branching, done the way you describe.
The vert really doesn't cover much area unless you have a light mover and higher intensity. That's the whole reason I got the 860w vert CMH. I tried it with 12/12 from seed...just to do a couple of quick pheno hunts. After my current run I'll have some taller veggers to throw in along with a light mover. Should be interesting.
indianajones
Member
that seems too close to me, but i have only done one vertical run with a 400w CMH. i tried to keep the CMH about 10-12 inches away from the foliage.
i got an OG grolite reflector, and it works really really well compared to a cool tube and econo wing. you can really see how much more evenly the light is spread. i had no idea about the luxor hood or i would have gotten that instead of the OG, og reflector is made really shitty in comparison to the luxor.
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Which size grow bag can I use when topping plants- 3 or 5 gallons? (balcony grow)- Latest: tobedetermined
-
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Which size grow bag can I use when topping plants- 3 or 5 gallons? (balcony grow)
- Latest: tobedetermined
-
