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Blumat auto watering
- Thread starter sunnydog
- Start date
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- Tags
- blumat drippers irrigation watering
purpleurksme
New member
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I was not aware diamond black and fulvex were considered organic nutrients. I will just stick with the Advanced line then and forget adding the fulvex. Thanks
Basically you want a clear, fully emulsified liquid without any particles that can drop out of suspension and eventually build up at the pinch valve. The valve meters from fully closed to whatever it takes to reach the moisture level that you've set, and since it spends most of it's time open just a tiny bit, it makes a great place to create plug-ups. If you can see anything in the nutrient solution, eventually it is going to stop at the valve and create a problem.
I've said something to this effect in this thread before but it is worth saying again ... growing with Blumats got a lot easier (and cheaper) once I switched to a just add water organic mix with a reservoir filled with RO water. The only time I mix nutrients anymore is ole reliable Maxibloom to get seedlings and clones started in coco. 0 ppm water through Blumats means no risk of clogging from scum and no dealing with pH and no need to disinfect the reservoir every couple of weeks. If low maintenance growing is the goal my method works pretty well.
e_24
Active member
Well after posting a long time ago in this thread, I'm back in the ring with super soil and these lovely blumats. Took a few days to get then totally dialed in, but now they are great! I'm runnin a scrog of ATF, and the only work I have to do is train and top off my plain old water res. they are increasing the growth a bit, and should be flipping soon. Thanks to all the great posters in this thread, it gives me comfort that I'm not the only one. Now of I can just outside my neighbor to get on the band wagon, I can't seem to shake him off of George Cervantes grow bible(I know).
I think that you've hit the ultimate combination. Some day.....
M
maestroman22
Gear: Airpots...check
Blumats...check
1000 MH/HPS....check
700 cfm inline for cooltube...check
600 cfm inline for exhaust....check
550 cfm carbon scrubber....check
Titan environmental controller...check
Co2...check
Spray pack for foliar feedings....check
Medium: FFOF
Nutes: EJ Line, AACT's
Automated Joy....Priceless.
Techniques applied: FIM, LST (X-Men Style)
I can't thank all of those before me in this thread and on this site. Without the time you all took to capture these processes, thoughts, and techniques, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Will work on posting pics when I can remove geotags. I'm old and dumb.
Blumats...check
1000 MH/HPS....check
700 cfm inline for cooltube...check
600 cfm inline for exhaust....check
550 cfm carbon scrubber....check
Titan environmental controller...check
Co2...check
Spray pack for foliar feedings....check
Medium: FFOF
Nutes: EJ Line, AACT's
Automated Joy....Priceless.
Techniques applied: FIM, LST (X-Men Style)
I can't thank all of those before me in this thread and on this site. Without the time you all took to capture these processes, thoughts, and techniques, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Will work on posting pics when I can remove geotags. I'm old and dumb.
Bubbagineer
Member
I'm sorry to hear that bro. IMO, the number one lesson on Blumats is just that - either have a tray big enough to hold the whole res or run a drain line.... on the runout.... how long had the plants really been latched on? Do you hand feed? If so, I suggest the you not submerge the cap, lots of stuff can cause them unfortunately. I think the consensus that I've read, and admittedly I haven't finished the thread (pg 190 or so), but I believe that the low head pressures we are operating at May make the Blumats more..... sensitive. I believe the guys running the pressure reducer from tap do not have nearly as many run outs, but even they have some sometimes......Blumats are really for outdoors, says so in the literature..... we're just stubborn.
M
maestroman22
I have to agree with Bubba in regards to the low pressure. Whenever I have my ladies hooked up to their 27 gallon res there are absolutely no run-offs. However, when I switch to the 5 gallon there is an occasional runaway. Biggest things: keep the blumats clean, filled with water, and try to maintain the same pressure as much as possible. Additionally, I hand massage the drip lines at least once every other day. This may not be needed for those that don't run nutes, or run chems, but for organics it's a must. It's the only way I've been able to keep my lines from clogging.
McNerdius
Member
First runoff !
First runoff !
I knew this would happen, and i prepared. Finally it has happened, and i get to see what kind of safety margin i have when a full reservoir dumps into the plant overnight.
(yes i know, way more coco than i need...)
I'm lovin the setup. This grow has been a side-by-side of two bluedream clones, one DWC, the other coco/blumat/smartpot. (v-scrog/PLL/KISS) Removing the bulky DWC reservoir will give me room to stick a humidifier in there, the only real weakness of this cab as far as i can see. (And then, only in winter when im not running the swamp cooler.)
Blumats in general and this thread are what convinced me to give coco a try after years of DWC. Fuckin love it.
First runoff !
I knew this would happen, and i prepared. Finally it has happened, and i get to see what kind of safety margin i have when a full reservoir dumps into the plant overnight.
(yes i know, way more coco than i need...)
I'm lovin the setup. This grow has been a side-by-side of two bluedream clones, one DWC, the other coco/blumat/smartpot. (v-scrog/PLL/KISS) Removing the bulky DWC reservoir will give me room to stick a humidifier in there, the only real weakness of this cab as far as i can see. (And then, only in winter when im not running the swamp cooler.)
Blumats in general and this thread are what convinced me to give coco a try after years of DWC. Fuckin love it.
New here. Read at least half this thread but I have a question . I've had blumats installed in 2 pots ffor about 3 or 4 days and yesterday morning it started to drip slowly , increased a bit as in a drop every 2 seconds now this evening it's about a drop every 4 seconds . Feeling the pot it feels about halfway watered. Should it not water then completely stop dripping . I initially had it set at 1.75 now have it at 1.5 turns but afraid to go more cause I have to leave in two days and I'm intimated to loosen it up more. Any suggestions . I do have a flood pan under just in case .
It sounds as though you may have skipped over the directions on how to set the blumats up. The easiest way that I've found to do the initial setup is to submerge the spike, with the cap off, and let it soak over night. According to the directions, a couple of hours should do it, but I used to put them in water the day before I planned on using them - now, I just store them in a jar of water.
After the spike is saturated, take a syringe and blast any air bubbles out of the spike that may be hanging around the bottom side of the plastic ring. The cap should be held under water and use a syringe to squirt water into the holes in the underside of the cap, purging any air bubbles out. While still holding everything submerged, screw the cap onto the spike and tighten it up.
The easiest way get the moisture level set properly is to pre-moisten your media to the moisture content that you want. Insert the spike into the media, and make sure that the media is making good contact with the spike. I use coco with perlite added, so I pull the spike out and fill the hole with straight coco, then push the spike back in. If you do this several times, you can get a good, tight fit between the media and the spike - if it is loose, the spike does a poor job of sensing the moisture content and you will get more runaways. It also helps to "water in" the spike - pouring water over the top of it and soaking the media immediately surrounding it so that any aeration or voids are removed.
At this point, I let the plant sit for a couple of hours or so with the water turned off to the blumats. This allows the spike to set itself to the moisture content that it is sensing. After 2-3 hours, turn the water supply on to the blumats and adjust the cap to where you get a clinging drip. This will adjust it pretty damn close to the moisture level in the pot - any drier and the blumat will start to flow, any wetter and it will close off. You can't really go by how often you are getting a drip - they react in their own time.
It will normally take a good week to 10 days to get them completely dialed in, and it sounds as though your adjustments have been far too large - moving the cap a couple of the little hashmarks at a time and allowing it a day or two to see how it reacts is how you want to adjust it. If you are moving it as much as the "V" marks, or more, you are going way too far.
As a very rough guide, I've found that aligning the bottom edge of the adjustment cap with the upper edge of pointer comes pretty damn close to where mine usually run. This can be seen in the picture below.
Good luck.
After the spike is saturated, take a syringe and blast any air bubbles out of the spike that may be hanging around the bottom side of the plastic ring. The cap should be held under water and use a syringe to squirt water into the holes in the underside of the cap, purging any air bubbles out. While still holding everything submerged, screw the cap onto the spike and tighten it up.
The easiest way get the moisture level set properly is to pre-moisten your media to the moisture content that you want. Insert the spike into the media, and make sure that the media is making good contact with the spike. I use coco with perlite added, so I pull the spike out and fill the hole with straight coco, then push the spike back in. If you do this several times, you can get a good, tight fit between the media and the spike - if it is loose, the spike does a poor job of sensing the moisture content and you will get more runaways. It also helps to "water in" the spike - pouring water over the top of it and soaking the media immediately surrounding it so that any aeration or voids are removed.
At this point, I let the plant sit for a couple of hours or so with the water turned off to the blumats. This allows the spike to set itself to the moisture content that it is sensing. After 2-3 hours, turn the water supply on to the blumats and adjust the cap to where you get a clinging drip. This will adjust it pretty damn close to the moisture level in the pot - any drier and the blumat will start to flow, any wetter and it will close off. You can't really go by how often you are getting a drip - they react in their own time.
It will normally take a good week to 10 days to get them completely dialed in, and it sounds as though your adjustments have been far too large - moving the cap a couple of the little hashmarks at a time and allowing it a day or two to see how it reacts is how you want to adjust it. If you are moving it as much as the "V" marks, or more, you are going way too far.
As a very rough guide, I've found that aligning the bottom edge of the adjustment cap with the upper edge of pointer comes pretty damn close to where mine usually run. This can be seen in the picture below.
Good luck.
I did follow the directions but I didn't do the syringe in the cap I just used my finger and tapped it underwater and tipped it around. I didn't let it adjust to the soil first . I just gave a full watering the inserted adjusted to a cling then went 1.75 arrows not full turns. I will re soak them again and try your method
So I re soaked the blumats for a couple of hours and purged all air bubbles out with a syringe and screwed it together and as I said it sat for 2 hours. I watered thoroughly and waited a little bit then inserted the blumats and watered them in , soaking the soil around it and gave a a last push down tightly. Now I'm waiting for a few hours to set the dial. So the directions for the blumats as far as adjusting to just a cling the 1-2 v markings more , is to much? Saw alot of signatures in this thread that said 1.75-2 v markings ? Any way I'm in ffof soil and I would like it to dry a little then water. I should of added more perlite when I started but to late now I for sure will next time but I'm thinking I don't drain anywhere near as good as coco and perlite mixed so drying up a little then watering is what I would like to get . I've got like 2 days to set it up for a 4 day trip away from home. Just don't want them drying up . With hand watering it usually takes my soil in a 3 gallon pot 2-3 days for the pot to get lite again.
I've tried it both ways on adjusting/not adjusting after cling and leaving it right there with the media at the desired moisture beforehand works best for me. YMMV.
Blumats aren't really designed for drying out and then watering - they basically try and hold a constant moisture level all the time, with small variations each way. Contrary to the popular wisdom of mj liking wet/dry cycles, the plants seem to love the constant moisture when combined with a good aeration mix. I haven't used FF soil, but I've used blumats in both Sunshine Mix #4 (I added more perlite to this) and my current coco mix, which is Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix (used straight from the bag).
Try and resist the temptation to tweak on them unless things get really fucked up - you usually just wind up chasing your tail and it's easy to get wildly out of adjustment. You might water your plants heavily right before you leave - the blumats won't try and do anything until the plants dry out, and then they will pick right up at whatever setting they are at. You don't have enough time to really get them set up properly, but hopefully they'll work well enough to keep things rolling until you get back.
Before you start tweaking (but after the initial set up for a clinging drop), take a white-out pen and put a white dot on the cap above the pointer. It's very easy to lose track of where the thing was set initially and you will have to go back and start all over. If they need an adjustment to really work well, just note where the white dot is relative to the pointer so you can keep track. Once you get them really dialed in, you can scrape off the white-out with your fingernail and put a new dot where it should be after all of the adjustments. You will find that the setting will stay pretty close from run-to-run on a given blumat.
Your flood pan will hold all of your reservoir volume?
Blumats aren't really designed for drying out and then watering - they basically try and hold a constant moisture level all the time, with small variations each way. Contrary to the popular wisdom of mj liking wet/dry cycles, the plants seem to love the constant moisture when combined with a good aeration mix. I haven't used FF soil, but I've used blumats in both Sunshine Mix #4 (I added more perlite to this) and my current coco mix, which is Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix (used straight from the bag).
Try and resist the temptation to tweak on them unless things get really fucked up - you usually just wind up chasing your tail and it's easy to get wildly out of adjustment. You might water your plants heavily right before you leave - the blumats won't try and do anything until the plants dry out, and then they will pick right up at whatever setting they are at. You don't have enough time to really get them set up properly, but hopefully they'll work well enough to keep things rolling until you get back.
Before you start tweaking (but after the initial set up for a clinging drop), take a white-out pen and put a white dot on the cap above the pointer. It's very easy to lose track of where the thing was set initially and you will have to go back and start all over. If they need an adjustment to really work well, just note where the white dot is relative to the pointer so you can keep track. Once you get them really dialed in, you can scrape off the white-out with your fingernail and put a new dot where it should be after all of the adjustments. You will find that the setting will stay pretty close from run-to-run on a given blumat.
Your flood pan will hold all of your reservoir volume?
JumpKickYerGunt
Member
How can I connect this to a reservoir that isn't elevated? Is there a pump that goes well with the blumats and what pressure valves/accessories would I need to make this happen? I've used these for years, but now I'm putting them into a greenhouse application in coco using the Head formula. I have a nice 55 gallon drum that I would love to fill and pump solution out of. Thanks!!!
Someplace in the thread here is a buildup of a travel trailer surge tank (accumulator) that is pressurized with a pump......
Found it - https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5198162&postcount=2174
Search for Weed, Killer as the poster for the rest of his posts referring to it.
