Blumat auto watering

[skyview]

Here's the official Blumat sizing chart:



I've been experimenting though with using the Blumat Longs (Maxis) horizontally under the root balls. I'm in mid-flower now and all seems fine with only half the Carrots recommended in this chart. You can see some pictures in post #3141 on page 210.

 

[Lapides]

Thanks for the pic, but I have no idea what it means

 

[skyview]

I was responding to the question about how many carrots to use in a 30 gallon container. This diagram is the standard recommendation. The green circles represent Blumat carrots, the brown ones distribution drippers.

 

[Canniwhatsis]

Little Blumat induced root porn

 

[donmekka]

Anyone know if a 7 gallon bucket 5ft high would be enough to gravity feed 6to 10 of these?

 

[Lapides]

donmekka, that will be fine.

For gravity fed, the instructions say the reservoir should be 1 foot above the plants for every 10 feet of feeding line. And if I am mistaken and just made that up in my head somehow, the 1ft : 10ft is the standard I use and has never failed me.

 

[rrog]

These work EXTREMELY well in fabric pots like Geopots and Smartpots

 

[rocketman420]

my res is 5 4 1/2 feet off the ground running 50 2 gallon smart pots.works great

 

[nachoconqueso]

What size reservoir would I need for running 12 blumats in 3 gallon smart pots? I would also do an occasional fill of a watering can for hand feeding another 12 girls in 1 gallon pots. Is 20 gallons enough?

 

[Lapides]

What size reservoir would I need for running 12 blumats in 3 gallon smart pots? I would also do an occasional fill of a watering can for hand feeding another 12 girls in 1 gallon pots. Is 20 gallons enough?

That depends on how often you want to fill the reservoir. A 5 gallon bucket can be enough if you top it off every day.

 

[e_24]

So I have a set of blumats, res, and drip line. I an going to do a single plant scrog in a dr60 with a 250w hps. I used the blumats for my patio plants last summer and I was incredibly impressed with the performance of the product, and after reading this thread I think I'm ready to give it a shot on th beauty I'm about to start.

My question is if there is a part I can buy to attach to my res that is readily available or do I have to buy tropf parts only?

 

[rocketman420]

I got a res problem, I am running the same nutes gh micro, bloom, 6/9 1 ml per gallon cal mag, 2 ml per 4 gallons drip clean, .5 ml per 4 gallons bleach, for slime. 2 air stones and a 200 gph pump churning the mix. I got 2 27 gallon res on my 4x8 no problems for a year. I got another spot with 14 mothers on blumats same recipe everything, ro water and all, but im getting white stuff in my res and its slowly clogging my drippers. I just had to replace and clean a bunch but I don't have any problems with it at my place and its driving me nuts.

 

[rives]

I can't shed any light on your problem, but you can double the amount of Drip Clean that you are using. I have been using 1 ml/gallon for the last several years with no issues.

 

[silver hawaiian]

I've been using these doodads for a couple years now and I love it. Last grow, I was able to scoot by with one sensor per 5 gal container.

I'm thinking of upgrading to 15 gal totes - I've got extra sensors and could run multiple sensors per tote, but was considering using one sensor and some distributor drippers. Never used the distributor drippers before.

Any benefit/drawback one way or the other, in re: multiple sensors v. one sensor + distributors?

 

[Lapides]

I've been using these doodads for a couple years now and I love it. Last grow, I was able to scoot by with one sensor per 5 gal container.

I'm thinking of upgrading to 15 gal totes - I've got extra sensors and could run multiple sensors per tote, but was considering using one sensor and some distributor drippers. Never used the distributor drippers before.

Any benefit/drawback one way or the other, in re: multiple sensors v. one sensor + distributors?

For some reason, I think I remember Sunnydog saying that the distributor drippers were not good. I grow in beds that are 2.5'x5' and 1' deep (roughly 75 gallons) and I just use one dripper (sensor) every 8-12 inches and have no problem. I just make sure at least one dripper is dripping pretty much directly on the main stem.

Maybe someone else has used the distributor drippers with success and can chime in.

I hope this answers your question

 

[rives]

For some reason, I think I remember Sunnydog saying that the distributor drippers were not good. I grow in beds that are 2.5'x5' and 1' deep (roughly 75 gallons) and I just use one dripper (sensor) every 8-12 inches and have no problem. I just make sure at least one dripper is dripping pretty much directly on the main stem.

Maybe someone else has used the distributor drippers with success and can chime in.

I hope this answers your question

If I remember correctly, when SD had problems with the distribution drippers he was using a water source that that was problematic, and has since become a believer in them. Hopefully he'll jump in if I am mis-remembering. I've used both methods, in 3-gallon air pots, and found the distribution drippers worked better for me than multiple spikes. My pots were small enough that the spikes would screw with each other. The drippers are more sensitive to plugging, so the nutrient mix is even more critical than with the standard blumats.

 

[Eighths-n-Aces]

I've been using these doodads for a couple years now and I love it. Last grow, I was able to scoot by with one sensor per 5 gal container.

I'm thinking of upgrading to 15 gal totes - I've got extra sensors and could run multiple sensors per tote, but was considering using one sensor and some distributor drippers. Never used the distributor drippers before.

Any benefit/drawback one way or the other, in re: multiple sensors v. one sensor + distributors?

in a gravity fed system the drippers work great until they clog. not that the clogging is a constant problem but it does happen over time no matter what you try to do about it IME. the only real problem is when the dripper that actually controls the blumat clogs first and the rest in the line runaway, otherwise they tend to clog one at a time and you see which ones you need to work on .

if you are going for maintenance free ....... don't bother with the drippers in the gravity fed system

 

[silver hawaiian]

If I remember correctly, when SD had problems with the distribution drippers he was using a water source that that was problematic, and has since become a believer in them. Hopefully he'll jump in if I am mis-remembering. I've used both methods, in 3-gallon air pots, and found the distribution drippers worked better for me than multiple spikes. My pots were small enough that the spikes would screw with each other. The drippers are more sensitive to plugging, so the nutrient mix is even more critical than with the standard blumats.

in a gravity fed system the drippers work great until they clog. not that the clogging is a constant problem but it does happen over time no matter what you try to do about it IME. the only real problem is when the dripper that actually controls the blumat clogs first and the rest in the line runaway, otherwise they tend to clog one at a time and you see which ones you need to work on .

if you are going for maintenance free ....... don't bother with the drippers in the gravity fed system

Interesting, thanks!

I run a gravity-fed system with (per gal):

2 ml ProTeKt
5 ml SM90
20 ml Ful Power

..and thankfully the only clog I've ever encountered was a root growing about 12" into the drip line itself -- that is, I've never had a solid/sediment-based clog.

I'm wondering, perhaps 4 spikes/drippers per tote?

Based on what Lap said in re: his beds, that seems about right.

 

[Canniwhatsis]

I've had a few clogs with distributors, but never experienced any issues with runaway because of a clogged driper.

I'm running gravity feed, with nothing at all in the res, just fishtank water from my 125 gallon fresh water tank!

When I did a 15 gallon smart pot, I used one maxi head and 5 dripers about 3" from the outside edge of the pot. Worked great, but one thing I noticed when I pulled the root mass after harvest was that the bottom 5 or 6 inches of soil had next to no roots in it, just the top foot seemed inhabited by roots. Just food for thought.

 

[Gelado`]

When I did a 15 gallon smart pot, I used one maxi head and 5 dripers about 3" from the outside edge of the pot. Worked great, but one thing I noticed when I pulled the root mass after harvest was that the bottom 5 or 6 inches of soil had next to no roots in it, just the top foot seemed inhabited by roots. Just food for thought.

How long did the plants veg in the 15 gallon bags? I find lletting the soil dry out promotes root growth. I usually get an absence of growth in the top few inches of my Smartpots because of wet and dry cycles, but the bottoms of the pots are chockful of roots.