Blumat auto watering

[TheArchitect]

fuckin hated the things, my worst grow ever.

that said, obviously they work for people.



heres a tip, dont know if it got posted before, PHYSAN 20, and ONA BLEECH

those two products, quartenary ammonia and chlorine dioxide respectively, will do the best job of keeping a reservoir clean of gunk, and lines clear.

 

[ak-51]

My solution to keeping the lines clean has been:
Run clean running nutrients (CNS17 and Canna are good, PBP was much dirtier)
Clean the lines after every run
Keep the reservoirs in the dark

I use drip clean, but it doesn't seem like that great of an improvement over what I was already doing. Maybe if I was running dirtier nutrients and not cleaning the lines as often it would have a more pronounced effect.

 

[greenmatter]

Ok,..... How do you guy's handle changing #'s of heads on your line? I've got one main feeder line wrapped around my room that I want to feed all my pots off of.

i used the standard 1/2" line for my main supply. i used the barbed couplers from kent systems to put a 6" lead of the 3mm blumat line about every 8" along the length of the main and use a clothes pin to clamp them when the leads are not being used. there is a second coupler at the end of the 6" leads so i can hook more 3mm line to it. it makes moving things around really simple


i hope that makes sense ....... i can try to get a pic if you need to see one

 

[Canniwhatsis]

I think that makes sense, thanks GM! I was kinda thinking something like that for dead holes in flower or vege. Just leave the "T" in the line, and put a nub of the 3mm on it with a knot tied in it to stop water flow.

For now I don't have enough adapters to put a lead everywhere I would like to,.... so I'm playing it by ear, and will be adding as needed.


I learn graphically better than I do thru reading, so a pick wouldn't hurt either!




Oh, and I finally broke down and bought some stakes that I can clip the main line into to take the tension off of the little feed lines! (no pics yet)

 

[rives]

The last time (of many times) that I re-plumbed my setup, I set a T about every 6"-8" all the way around the tent. I then take 4" long pieces of 3mm hose, tie knots in them, and plug the unused Ts. I also have a valve place in each line coming out of the reservoir so that future changes are pretty simple - turn the valve off, do your work, turn the valve back on and purge the air.

 

[moodster]

i use a submersible pump and fish filter in my blumat res and my water is crystal clear no need for drip clean or zone

 

[TheArchitect]

A great, additive free way moodster!

I run my rdwc with a biofilter...

 

[TheCheesyMan]

would you say the blumats do a better job than hand watering?

 

[silver hawaiian]

Yes - without question

 

[Bobbo4200]

I've got mine adjusted correctly again. I had to remove them to move the ladies hooked up to the Blumats into the flower tent.
Yeahr they are. Eventually you'll see the roots underneath the drippers! They sure beat hand-waterin' them daily! I only have two hooked up now, but would like to go for 3 or 4 hooked up next round.

 

[Canniwhatsis]

I need to order more dripper line!


Put a couple "T"'s into flower, round about where I figure I'll need them, and just tied a knot in some dripper line to purge it.


now I'm up to 3 plants on auto water,.... Once I purged the 2 that were disconnected for a while and re-set them,... they're back to dripping as normal.


I'm not certain I've got my settings right tho,... I pulled both big girls out of their 3 gallon pots just to take a look.

Both root masses pulled cleanly out of the pots, and over half the roots were happy healthy white fuzzy strings......

However, the closest to the plastic pot and dripper (wettest) looked like crap! lots of drowned brown roots.


On both of these 3gallon Tall pots, I put an inch of Pearlite in the bottom. The Blackberry had actually ROOTED into the pearlite under the dripper, tho the roots in the soil (FFOF) directly under the dripper looked flooded.



I'm guessing that I need to order some distributer heads, and turn my moisture back just a little?

 

[TheCheesyMan]

anyone know the best place to buy these in the uk?

 

[moodster]

grotec sells a full res and 12 maxi drippers for £60 heres the link just scroll down to the blumats http://www.grotec.co.uk/Search/Large%20Tropf-Blumat%20Drippers%20Gravity%20Fead%20Intelligent%20Watering everything comes with the kits

 

[skyview]

I need to order more dripper line!


Put a couple "T"'s into flower, round about where I figure I'll need them, and just tied a knot in some dripper line to purge it.


now I'm up to 3 plants on auto water,.... Once I purged the 2 that were disconnected for a while and re-set them,... they're back to dripping as normal.


I'm not certain I've got my settings right tho,... I pulled both big girls out of their 3 gallon pots just to take a look.

Both root masses pulled cleanly out of the pots, and over half the roots were happy healthy white fuzzy strings......

However, the closest to the plastic pot and dripper (wettest) looked like crap! lots of drowned brown roots.


On both of these 3gallon Tall pots, I put an inch of Pearlite in the bottom. The Blackberry had actually ROOTED into the pearlite under the dripper, tho the roots in the soil (FFOF) directly under the dripper looked flooded.



I'm guessing that I need to order some distributer heads, and turn my moisture back just a little?

It sounds like you might need a little better drainage under your dripper. Maybe just mix in a little more perlite there?

 

[RomulusUSA]

I used the standard blumats in my 2 ft deep, 2.5x5 ft beds. I put one about every 1 to 2 feet, and they worked wonderfully.

Good to hear! I am growing in 17" deep 21" diameter pots (about 24gal) and am planning to use 2 standards per. I wonder if I could get away with just a single tho... Only one way to find out I suppose?

 

[TheCheesyMan]

grotec sells a full res and 12 maxi drippers for £60 heres the link just scroll down to the blumats http://www.grotec.co.uk/Search/Large%20Tropf-Blumat%20Drippers%20Gravity%20Fead%20Intelligent%20Watering everything comes with the kits

thankyou!

 

[rrog]

Romulus, 17" is deep and you might consider the maxi carrots. That's what I use in 7+ gallon pots.

 

[skyview]

Romulus, I agree with rrog that it might be best to add a Maxi instead of two of the regular size. Another possibility would be to use the distributor drippers but you have to be much more careful about them clogging up - especially if you add nutes to the water. I used some last summer with Age Old Organics Grow and Bloom and had just one distributor clog - and only briefly.

 

[Kit Kat]

I've done two grows now in 2 gallon Air Pots and one dripper per pot just doesn't seem to be cutting it. Regardless of drip line length one side of the pot is dry, and the other wet - now that they're chopped it's even more obvious in the disparity in root development.

These pots aren't very big, but maybe the increased air flow would necessitate two drippers or a maxi per pot, or perhaps it doesn't really matter at all?

 

[rrog]

Kit Kat- something seems odd. The carrot was in the dry zone, right? Carrot and dripper were on opposite sides on the container?

I have gone to 1 max carrot and three drippers per pot.