Blumat auto watering

[Tyga]

What do you mean by "buckle"?

 

[sunnydog]

What do you mean by "buckle"?

collapse, distort, lose shape.

 

[catman]

I get where you are coming from sunnydog about there being no over-satured zoned if you got it dialed to avoid it. However, doing so ironically creates a under-saturated zones. With say a Peat mix which wicks water extremely ya can avoid the under-saturated zones, but ya do so at the expense of providing less oxygen to the roots which results in suboptimal growth and risk for disease. Whether or not this actually matters really depends on the height and shape of container and how the plants use it. I'm ultimately trying to get as many "air roots" to fill the majority of the bucket while having as few "water roots" which form at the bottom as possible.

Another problem with say a Peat mix is that it wicks both ways. That is, when the Peat becomes dry to a point, water will want to move from the roots to the Peat which messes up nutrient concentration inside and outside of the plant. Roots wick water better than Peat so it makes sense to me anyway to let the roots move water to where it needs to be instead of exposing all the roots to direct moisture. What led me to this conclusion was what I observed when I had roots grow down and out of the pipe I speak about, and into the bottom bucket where run off water would sit. What I did was fully saturate my medium and then put it on a scale after it had drained. I noticed once the roots hit the bottom bucket that the upper bucket got really heavy and sure enough was heavier than I could get the buckets by hand watering even with large amounts (like 50%) runoff.

You can always purchase your coco online. Id much rather use a professional SPM mix that I can pick up at two nearby locations and avoid the Hydro stores altogether.

The risks for contamination in the coco are still there ordered online. I liked working with Sunshine mixes personally as well myself. Never had any contamination with it even from a hydro store.

I think you may be mislead about RW's ability to hold-water. It will hold plenty of water. Maybe someone else will have better luck with RW & Blumats, but Im sticking with what I know.

You are correct that I was wrong about stating that RW doesn't hold water. I think the reality is RW is misleading per se.

Source: http://grodan101.com/knowledge-center/rockwool-growing-substrate-hydroponic-systems

The wetting characteristics of Rockwools vary considerably. Rockwool fibers are naturally hydrophobic (they repel water) because of the presence of mineral oil. In the highest quality Rockwools the mineral oils are removed during the manufacturing process and mineral wetting agents are incorporated in the melt. This form of horticultural grade Rockwool naturally attracts water and wets easily. While this is the highest quality process the actual quality of the Rockwool will depend upon the care taken in manufacturing. Other manufacturers simply add or provide a chemical surfactant (essentially a refined soap) that allows the naturally hydrophobic Rockwool to hold water. The major drawback to this approach is that the wetting agent must be supplied regularly or it may wash out.
The best way to determine the quality of the various Rockwools available is to test them. See if the wetting is uniform or if there is a large proportion of shot.


The water holding capacity and drainage characteristics of substrates vary. Grodan Rockwool, when allowed to drain by gravitational pull, i.e. at field capacity contains 80% solution, 15% air pore space and 5% Rockwool fibers. This ratio of solution to air promotes vigorous root growth. Plants growing on Rockwool will remove solution and increase the ration of air-pore space to solution. Thus, if a higher proportion of air is desired in the root zone increasing the time between watering will increase the percent of air.
The tension required to remove solution from Rockwool increases only slightly as Rockwool dries. This means that it is as easy for a plant to remove solution from saturated Rockwool as it is from Rockwool that has given up 50% or even 70% of its moisture. Thus, plants grown in Rockwool are not exposed to water stress until the Rockwool is almost completely dry. Given that a standard Rockwool slab used for tomato production holds 15 liters of water, the grower has tremendous flexibility with regard to watering and control over the air content of the root zone. However, the grower must be careful because the plants will not show signs of water stress until it is too late. A watchful eye on the conditions in the root zone is required.


The main drawback of a single pass system is that fertilizer is wasted. In general, about 15% to 20% of the nutrient solution applied is runoff.

Shit, I done confused myself.. Someone else will have to try out rockwool, haha.

 

[TribalSeeds]

After hand feeding tea or whatever, do you guys shut down the valves to the res or just let the drippers go while its really soaked?
Damn, I meant to post this in the coco blumat thread.

 

[moodster]

the blumats shud sense thst the coco is wet and stop dripping all together thats what i have noticed

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

hey guys i have a question ... do people run the long blumats in 5galish deep buckets or do the stick to the short carrots?

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

After hand feeding tea or whatever, do you guys shut down the valves to the res or just let the drippers go while its really soaked?
Damn, I meant to post this in the coco blumat thread.

if you have them dialed in already you leave them alone... shutting them off is just mean you have to readjust them all again.

 

[dansbuds]

I soak the soil in my pots probably once a week just to make sure ALL the coco is soaked once in awhile . the blumats tend to leave dry spots if i don't . i could use 2 per container but it just seems like it would a PIA to dail in 2 per pot .

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

When I did soil with them I used 1 regular blumat per 5 gallon smart pot but I know some people use two for better coverage.

 

[sunnydog]

hey guys i have a question ... do people run the long blumats in 5galish deep buckets or do the stick to the short carrots?

I would NOT. These measure moisture waaayyyy dddown! They will let the top layers dry out much more than the "standard". I would just use 2.
Outdoors, I've used 2 in 11- 12 gal. containers-worked PERFECTLY.
YMMV!

 

[Hemlock415]

Wow! This is an amazing thread and an amazing product, so glad I found this!!!

I have been an indoor grower for the past five years and we are getting ready to do our first outdoor grow. Very excited . I am really considering using the blumat system but I haven't seen much talk on this forum related to using the Blumat on bigger pot sizes.

We plan to use 200 gallon geopots.



I have two questions, Should I use the regular or the maxi? How many should I use in each 200 gallon?

Each 200 gallon goepot is 127 centimeters wide or 12,661 sq centimeters. Looks like the regular Tropf-Blumat's water coverage is 25 cm or 490 sq. cm.

If I divide the area of the pot (12,661 sq cm) by the water coverage delivered by each Blumat (490 sq cm) looks like I would need about 25 per pot! Not sure if i am calculating this correctly...



Also... 1. Is the water coverage on the maxi different (wider) or does it just work better for deeper pots? 2. I've also seen talk of using distributors but looks like some of the Blumat vets advise against using these due to clogging and overflow issues. 3. Is it even realistic to use Blumats on such a large pot?

We will only be using well water through the Blumats, no nutes...


Thanks so much for your help. I know that if we properly incorporate this into our grow it's going to be way better!!!

 

[sunnydog]

Go Go Go!!!

Go Go Go!!!

Wow! This is an amazing thread and an amazing product, so glad I found this!!!

I have been an indoor grower for the past five years and we are getting ready to do our first outdoor grow. Very excited . I am really considering using the blumat system but I haven't seen much talk on this forum related to using the Blumat on bigger pot sizes.

We plan to use 200 gallon geopots.



I have two questions, Should I use the regular or the maxi? How many should I use in each 200 gallon?

Each 200 gallon goepot is 127 centimeters wide or 12,661 sq centimeters. Looks like the regular Tropf-Blumat's water coverage is 25 cm or 490 sq. cm.

If I divide the area of the pot (12,661 sq cm) by the water coverage delivered by each Blumat (490 sq cm) looks like I would need about 25 per pot! Not sure if i am calculating this correctly...



Also... 1. Is the water coverage on the maxi different (wider) or does it just work better for deeper pots? 2. I've also seen talk of using distributors but looks like some of the Blumat vets advise against using these due to clogging and overflow issues. 3. Is it even realistic to use Blumats on such a large pot?

We will only be using well water through the Blumats, no nutes...


Thanks so much for your help. I know that if we properly incorporate this into our grow it's going to be way better!!!

I started using these outdoors. They performed ESSENTIALLY FLAWLESSLY in a guerrilla growing environment. From my understanding of the product, this is probably a good opportunity to use the maxi, although I would probably use BOTH. The slave drippers gave me a bit of an issue used outdoors in an unsupervised capacity. Crap from biomass that would find its' way into the res. tended to clog the slaves, and they have a design peculiarity when the slave clogs, water cannot travel past it. So, if the last dripper in a series clogs, no big deal. If the first one clogs, you're fucked. If you have tap access, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the pressure adapter unit. Sounds like an interesting project, best of luck!

 

[sunnydog]

Each 200 gallon goepot is 127 centimeters wide or 12,661 sq centimeters. Looks like the regular Tropf-Blumat's water coverage is 25 cm or 490 sq. cm.

If I divide the area of the pot (12,661 sq cm) by the water coverage delivered by each Blumat (490 sq cm) looks like I would need about 25 per pot! Not sure if i am calculating this correctly...

I suck @ math, but that does not sound right.Sounds like WAY too many, I could be wrong,though. If so, I would try some slaves, specially if you are using clean tap water.

 

[dansbuds]

Hemlock .... 200 gallon smarties ..... i think you'd be better off with a pump & some soaker hose circling the pot . thats just my opinion though .

 

[Hemlock415]

Wow! Thanks for the advice guys!

This grow will be in our backyard so we will be able to monitor and troubleshoot everyday.

@ SunnyDog

Ya, I also think using both blumats would be a good idea to avoid drier top soil. I have access to tap and I have seen your post on your success with the pressure reducer, so that also looks good. Hopefully I don't need that many blumats per pot, maybe 10 or so could work...

Wanted to ask what you meant by slaves?

@ DansBuds

That's a cool item, just looked it up and it defiantly sounds like a good alternative if the Blumat doesn't work out. Thanks

 

[sunnydog]

Wanted to ask what you meant by slaves?

Auxiliary drippers, the little brown things. With reasonable supervision, I think they will work just fine-excellently. We could only access ours once a week or so, and, with an outdoor res. even though we had a filter in place, the in inevitable organic debris would sometimes clog a slave. This was with passive pressure from a somewhat elevated res., the P/R would probably just blow shit right past.
The soaker hose option is no doubt cheaper, but I have no doubt the B/Ms are BETTER, as the hose is still "hand watering".

 

[sunnydog]

Hemlock .... 200 gallon smarties ..... i think you'd be better off with a pump & some soaker hose circling the pot . thats just my opinion though .

Just curious, DB, why you think the hose option would be better?

 

[Tyga]

Multiple thru hull connectors teed together onto the same line could help out if one get's clogged up?

 

[sunnydog]

Multiple thru hull connectors teed together onto the same line could help out if one get's clogged up?

sorry, I don't understand??

 

[Kit Kat]

Multiple thru hull connectors teed together onto the same line could help out if one get's clogged up?

Is this what you're talking about? A closed loop line?