Blumat auto watering

[Puscifer]

Thanks for the response rives. I was hoping to avoid having to hand water. It would be a pain to reach the plants in the way back. With my current system once I let the feed pump run longer when I need to flush.
Would tapering the ec work?

 

[rives]

Sorry, I mistook your flushing question for being mid-grow, not the end. Yes, what I do is taper off the EC until the last couple of weeks are straight water.

 

[ak-51]

I'm currently doing DTW in Coco and end of flower flush is as simple as filling the rez with plain tap and let the timed feedings handle the rest. How does one go about flushing with Blumats?

That's pretty much exactly how I flush with blumats.

1. empty both reservoirs
2. replace with clean water
3. flush feed line

It makes it easy to set up for the next run too since all I need to do is add the correct amount of nutrients for the amount of plain water that is in there and pH it. My average downtime between runs is 1-2 days, although sometimes the new stuff I throw in has to veg for a week or so before flowering.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

So you guys are merely dwindling your PPM in your blumat reservoir (or straight RO) and never actually doing a "to run-off" flush.

Do you feel you get just as adequate of flush even without passing lots of h20 through the media to rinse any salts?

I've been doing the same, but with the addition of one good hand-water with RO to heavy run-off.. which sucks because I'm not currently setup for a lot of run-off and its a pain/makes a mess.

Ending a grow with dwindled ppm/or straight RO (no run-off) is all that is needed?
Does this advice assume the use of Drip Clean through out the grow?

 

[rives]

FF, I don't flush to runoff anymore, and it has worked well for me. I do use Drip Clean, can't say if that makes a difference or not.

 

[redbudduckfoot]

yep, the dwindle method works for me as well.

at about day 55 I stop adding nutes when I top off the 35 gallon Brute, and just add RO and ph to 6.0. within a week the PPM's are down to <100, the final week/10 days the plants get nice and yellow.

Rbdf

 

[Puscifer]

You folks rock! Thank you so much for the solid replies. Gonna experiment soon as I transplant tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be back with some more questions, lol.

 

[blockhead411]

The only thing that concerns me with the Blumats is what happens if they get stuck open? Does the whole rez drain? Other than that, they seem pretty cool.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

It can.. run-away blumat is an open 3mm stream of water that will continue to run until you fix it. Its not a super fast "leak", but could definately become an issue if you are away for a long time and have a large res.

I've only ever got run-aways by overfucking with the blumat after initial setup (continually opening it up more and more to achieve a heavier pot).

Or.. I believe they are medium related when using in mixtures that don't quite have the "grab" like straight coco (like the carrot sitting too loose in the medium). The water travels through the pot/medium without saturating the carrot to the point of pinch. This can also occur if you've extended the 3mm line much farther then the 8cm recommended from the carrot....or your medium isnt wicking enough to trigger the dripping to stop before your getting run-off.

 

[TribalSeeds]

A difference in pressure in the res can cause a runaway. Thats usually when the res would be getting empty. If theres not too much water left it wouldnt be a problem.
With that said... I would have your room lined with a pond liner if youre worried about a flood. I run these on a concrete floor in a detached garage. If I ever have any runoff I just dump it on the ground because I dont care.

 

[cody2white]

The only thing that concerns me with the Blumats is what happens if they get stuck open? Does the whole rez drain? Other than that, they seem pretty cool.

Yeah they would suck the rez dry. But its pretty easy to control/maintain. I switched to these last run and absolutely love them.. and wont switch back. Theres enough time left over I can actually go do other things! Lol

Hope that helped out.

 

[rives]

I use a couple of methods to deal with the (potential) problem. One system is built on top of a bathtub, and I put a drain in the middle of the tent floor that dumps into the bathtub. My mom cabinet has a tote for a reservoir, and a larger tote for a catch basin. I'm putting together a new system that will have a shallow catch pan with a drain to the sewer line installed. If you have the will, there's a way!

 

[a6grow]

I did a search but couldn't find an exact answer so...
If my reservoir is elevated high enough, can I run the feed lines vertically up the passive intakes on the very bottom of my cab? My cab is elevated a little off the ground and has intake holes on the bottom. Should an elbow be used with the lines when going up the intake?

 

[rives]

a6, it will work fine to bring your feed line through the floor. I would use a 90 there, just to help eliminate the potential for kinking in an area that you aren't going to readily see.

 

[rrog]

Rives is a pretty helpful guy, no?

Also: Installed a second tensiometer. One per plant. My gigantic grow!

I didn't think I would enjoy watching the water use so much. It's extremely nerdy and 95% of growers could probably give two shits, but I'm digging it a lot.

EDIT: These tensios are based on the same principle as the Blumats. Instead of a pottery-looking clay tip as the Blumat has, the tensio has a space age looking ceramic tip that reacts immediately. You can pour water directly over where the probe is buried and watch the dial soar, then drop again as the wave of water passes and the soil quickly absorbs it.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

Well, I did it.... I read the whole thread. It took me a week.
I'm considering going Blumat for my imminent return to growing. They've been available in (some) UK growshops for the last 10 years or so.

 

[jayjayfrank]

i have a 3x3 tent with a 600 watt and currently using 3 liter airpots with coco. if i use the blumats should i upgrade to 5 liter? can 3 liter be enough?

 

[redbudduckfoot]

a standard Blumat will work for a 1/2 liter square up to a 5-7 gallon pot. been there, done that. follow the directions, Coco, promix, organic soil mix, these are your mediums.

these things are ridiculous. work so well, and they increase yield/vigor almost overnight!

rbdf

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

I just wanted to post up a pic of one of the crazy root wads I got this last grow using the blumats. All of them had them but this one was the largest. That is a 3 gallon smart pot with straight coco. You can see the stem peeking out at the bottom of the wad.

 

[redbudduckfoot]

thats sic

rbdf