Blumat auto watering

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

When you first setup the blumats you soaked them for at least an hour correct?

When you assembled the cap onto the blumat did you tap the cap underwater to make sure there were no air bubbles in it? I like to put the blumat together under water in a 5 gallon bucket to make sure there is no air inside the blumat.

If that is all good the next thing to check would be that there is not air trapped in the lines, I like to open the blumat all the way and tap on the lines to knock loose any air bubbles. I let it run for about 15 seconds after I don't see any sputtering. I start at the blumat closest to the res and work my way down the line.

 

[marmarb]

im looking at getting some of these. with aqua flakes my question is with the additives will they clog the lines.

 

[rives]

I did everything like it was said in the instructions (at least I think I did lol), but only the 2 last cones r are working. They give good pressure, so I don't think it's a pressure issue.http://postimg.org/image/3koovsdb7/

I've had new Blumats that the tubing inside the pinch valve was stuck together. If you pull the tubing out another couple of inches, you can then massage the tubing at the pinch point and it will pop loose and start working.

 

[BrownFingas]

When you first setup the blumats you soaked them for at least an hour correct?

When you assembled the cap onto the blumat did you tap the cap underwater to make sure there were no air bubbles in it? I like to put the blumat together under water in a 5 gallon bucket to make sure there is no air inside the blumat.

If that is all good the next thing to check would be that there is not air trapped in the lines, I like to open the blumat all the way and tap on the lines to knock loose any air bubbles. I let it run for about 15 seconds after I don't see any sputtering. I start at the blumat closest to the res and work my way down the line.

Yeah, I soaked and closed the caps under water. Didn't tap 'em tho. I was thinking it probably is some sort of air lock thing. I will try to work on those air bubbles.

Do I need to start this whole process all over? The soaking and everything?

Thanks for your answer!

 

[BrownFingas]

I've had new Blumats that the tubing inside the pinch valve was stuck together. If you pull the tubing out another couple of inches, you can then massage the tubing at the pinch point and it will pop loose and start working.

OK! Will check those too! Thanks!

 

[Oti$]

im looking at getting some of these. with aqua flakes my question is with the additives will they clog the lines.

I advise against using all h&g additives in your reservoir as it wool clog those little lines. I used to run the entire h&g line, but found the only two additives that made any difference were drop clean and roots excel. If you must use all the additives I suggest you use only base+ drip clean in the res and then hand water in the rest of the additives a few times a week. I'd like to add that I grew great looking plants with all those additives, however I began hitting 1gpw+ when I was running base [email protected](and roots excel in veg). Just my 2¢. Good luck!

 

[marmarb]

I advise against using all h&g additives in your reservoir as it wool clog those little lines. I used to run the entire h&g line, but found the only two additives that made any difference were drop clean and roots excel. If you must use all the additives I suggest you use only base+ drip clean in the res and then hand water in the rest of the additives a few times a week. I'd like to add that I grew great looking plants with all those additives, however I began hitting 1gpw+ when I was running base [email protected](and roots excel in veg). Just my 2¢. Good luck!

Okay cool so just base and drip clean thru flower no bloom booster was needed. What was your set up if you don't mind my asking.

 

[Oti$]

Ive run blumats in mostly airpots 1.5-3 gal. Coco sometimes with perlite, but it really isnt necessary with blumats and they probably work better without it. 1.2ec, ive even been able to drop the drip clean with lower ec feeds. 1.5-2gal work best for me.

 

[BrownFingas]

I've had new Blumats that the tubing inside the pinch valve was stuck together. If you pull the tubing out another couple of inches, you can then massage the tubing at the pinch point and it will pop loose and start working.

That did it! No problem anymore! Thanks buddy!

 

[sanjuan]

I prefer a little sodium hypochlorite (bleach). Do you have a specific problem in the res?

See my two posts on this page: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=6455509#post6455509

I now check total chlorine with a colorimeter and use less bleach--about 0.75ml per day in four gallons (using plain 8.25% Clorox). Calcium hypochlorite (pool shock) would probably be even better but it is so concentrated that I haven't had the urge to try it yet.

So I've finally given up fighting the translucent white, oxygen loving mold in my reservoirs and lines. I tried Zone (copper sulfate) as well as pool shock but unless everything is pristine the mold comes back in a hurry. Next run will be two gallon plastic hempy buckets filled with coco over Hydroton.

 

[Jhhnn]

I've had new Blumats that the tubing inside the pinch valve was stuck together. If you pull the tubing out another couple of inches, you can then massage the tubing at the pinch point and it will pop loose and start working.

Very true! Luckily, I noticed that some of the tubes had that problem when I unpacked & examined the blumats.

Checking that really ought to be in the instructions because it could easily lead to huge frustration.

Using blumats in 1 gal airpots & now in 5 gal root pouches w/ Gascanastan's soil mix for 3 weeks, the results are beyond expectations. These girls have grown explosively and went to 12/12 today. The airpots have an airspace underneath, so I tried to create the same thing for the root pouches by cutting discs out of fluorescent light diffuser material for the saucers. Seems to work well so far. There is an evaporative cooler float valve mounted in the reservoir.

I have to say that the 8mm tubing is a pita, but workable. I need to figure out a better way for the next time.

 

[rives]

The best way that I've found to deal with the 8mm tubing is by using lots of fittings - you can use 90's to tuck it tightly into the corners, and I set 8mm-3mm T's about 4" apart or so and just plug off the unused ones. I discard the short 3mm tubes that the spikes come with and use pieces that are about 3'-4' feet long. The combination of numerous T's and the longer flexible tubing allows you to do whatever you want - you just need to be cautious that you don't set a plant on the 3mm tubing and pinch off the flow.

The 5-liter airpots with Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix give me the same yields as 3-gallon airpots, but with much less coco being used. Smaller pots worked fine, but the plants were a little top heavy.

I'm not familiar with your soil mix - if you are topping with a swamp cooler float valve, it sounds like you must be running straight water? I use V+B, with the two-stage reservoir arrangement, and it works well. I was just gone for 29 days and the girls were all happy as hell when I got home.

 

[Jhhnn]

The best way that I've found to deal with the 8mm tubing is by using lots of fittings - you can use 90's to tuck it tightly into the corners, and I set 8mm-3mm T's about 4" apart or so and just plug off the unused ones. I discard the short 3mm tubes that the spikes come with and use pieces that are about 3'-4' feet long. The combination of numerous T's and the longer flexible tubing allows you to do whatever you want - you just need to be cautious that you don't set a plant on the 3mm tubing and pinch off the flow.

The 5-liter airpots with Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix give me the same yields as 3-gallon airpots, but with much less coco being used. Smaller pots worked fine, but the plants were a little top heavy.

I'm not familiar with your soil mix - if you are topping with a swamp cooler float valve, it sounds like you must be running straight water? I use V+B, with the two-stage reservoir arrangement, and it works well. I was just gone for 29 days and the girls were all happy as hell when I got home.

Yeh, I installed blumats using just a 12 carrot kit, valves & the reservoir plus the float valve. More of the 3mm tubing is clearly part of a better install in the future.

The basic soil recipe is here-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=241964

I discuss the minor changes to it here, beginning at post #486-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=289319&page=33

Ace assures me that he can run 2 rounds in the same soil using large pots & only regular aerobic teas. I have no reason to doubt him, having seen his work in person.

As you say, hydro/coco doesn't gain much of anything from larger pots.

I started up with organic soil 2-1/2 years ago partially because of the excellent results we achieve in our outdoor veggie garden & because initial setup was easy- Roots organic potting mix & their liquid nutes worked OK the first couple of cycles, but I started having problems when I tried to amend & recycle the mix, also when I tried TGA supersoil which is simply too heavy, stays too wet at the bottom of conventional pots. The new mix doesn't act that way at all, certainly not in airpots or root pouches, either. The system uses more water, but it's not an issue at all w/ blumats.

I may yet end up going to hydro because it's clearly simpler in its own way. Probably not if I can get this to work well. In any event, it'll probably be blumats all the way because they work very, very well.

I'll tear down at the end of this cycle to install CDM lighting, anyway, & I'll ruminate on better ways to use blumats in the meanwhile. Aug 1 is the projected harvest date & it's shaping up to be my best effort yet.

 

[Dave Coulier]

I was wondering are there any other Blumat users out there that utilize CRF's in the media to meet the plants nutritional needs? Ive been using it for awhile now to moderate success. There's no issue in keeping the plants healthy and green when using Water only + CRF, but its very easy to over-do it since Blumats keep the media constantly moist which increases the release rates of the Osmocote. This can quickly lead to excessive fertility levels, which you can't simply flush out.

I first started off with a level tablespoon(17.80gr)/gallon of media and that was over-kill. The plants are healthy but the transition into flowering was delayed. Buds are smaller too. Used at the same rates when hand-watered, I still have high EC levels, but plants aren't nearly as delayed in transitioning to flower like the Blumat plants.

Im trying out 5grams/gallon of media w/ hand watering for my latest batch of seedlings hoping that I can maintain an EC level of around 2.0-2.5 mS/cm. If that goes well, Ill throw em on blumats and closely monitor for increases in EC levels.

Id love to hear from anyone using CRFs, so dont be shy. Speak up. If anyone has any experience with it do share. For anyone wanting a water only reservoir, CRFs, may be the best way to provide fertility at a consistent level. If you thought Blumats supercharged your plants before, wait till you mix some CRF into your media. You may be astounded by the increase in growth rates. CRF + WSF is likely best, but Ive utterly failed at finding a perfect compromise thus far. CRF alone if used at correct rates will still produce outstanding results though.

Im using Omocote Plus Standard 15-9-12, 5-6 months release. Obviously the long release rates isn't ideal for a shorter crop but for long flowering Sativa's and Hybrids I think it'll prove quite valuable if I can get the usage rates correct. There is a 3-4 month formula that would be excellent for faster crops.

Is there anyone out there who wants to join my trials and pick up some osmocote :

 

[Lapides]

Yeah or just a (re)amended soil.

 

[rives]

I used CRF's when I started using Blumats. I experimented with a number of them, including the same Osmocote Plus that you are using as well as Dynamite's "Jackson & Perkins" 9-month rose formulation (14-5-10), and Scott's Rose & Bloom 2-month formulation (12-4-8).

I found that they made for beautiful plants and worked well with straight water/Blumats. Unfortunately, the final product tasted horrible. I assume that it was because there was no way to taper the feed off and purge out the nutrients (which was why I experimented with the 2-month compound near the end), but there is simply no comparison to the flavor that I've gotten since I moved to V+B.

CRF's did work great with my bonsai mom's, though.

 

[EastBayGrower]

Hey guys, I'm so excited that i found Blumats now i cant even begin to explain! No more ball and chain unable to travel because of plants!

I'm getting ready to throw some plants outside this year about 30-40 plants, in 20-45gal smart pots, which blumat system would be the cheapest/best to buy? I would think that the 20 gal should be ok with 2 regular blumat carrots, but am kinda worried about the 45gal, i was thinking bout using 3 carrots per 45gal, but my concern is that there will be only 3 spots where the dirt is wet (im using a peat base) instead of an even watering? and will it give an even watering to a 45gal? bottom too?

Or with this size smart pots i should use a mega-carrot blumat? or multiple regualr ones will work, the pots are only about 20'' tALL MAX...

also, im growing in peat based super soil mix, so im kinda curios about wet-dry cycles, i know usually you would want a wet-dry cycle to happen for soil (not coco) , do these blumats provide enough dry time so root rot isnt an issue? or is blumats only recommended for coco?

Would it be better to initially insert the carrot when the soil is alittle drier so that is the control that the blumat will try to achieve before it waters again? or is installing it when soil is just watered the way to go? and it will still provide a dry cycle?

Thanks in advance! this place rocks and im soooo excited to use blumats compared to a normal timed drip system for my outdoor, its like smart bombs compared to cannons, the future is here lol

 

[Dognponyshow]

I'm interested in the radius and depth saturation stats also. Any info y'all can share would be appreciated.

 

[Dave Coulier]

I used CRF's when I started using Blumats. I experimented with a number of them, including the same Osmocote Plus that you are using as well as Dynamite's "Jackson & Perkins" 9-month rose formulation (14-5-10), and Scott's Rose & Bloom 2-month formulation (12-4-8).

I found that they made for beautiful plants and worked well with straight water/Blumats. Unfortunately, the final product tasted horrible. I assume that it was because there was no way to taper the feed off and purge out the nutrients (which was why I experimented with the 2-month compound near the end), but there is simply no comparison to the flavor that I've gotten since I moved to V+B.

CRF's did work great with my bonsai mom's, though.

Thanks for the feedback on your experience with CRFs. Do you recall the usage rates you tried? I think there may be hope for CRF, so Im not ready to give up on it as of yet. The ease of use is just too much for me to ignore.

Ive got 4 Mr. Nice cuttings rooting. If they all root well, Ill put them into mixes containing different levels of Osmocote and see what comes of it.

 

[rives]

Thanks for the feedback on your experience with CRFs. Do you recall the usage rates you tried? I think there may be hope for CRF, so Im not ready to give up on it as of yet. The ease of use is just too much for me to ignore.

Ive got 4 Mr. Nice cuttings rooting. If they all root well, Ill put them into mixes containing different levels of Osmocote and see what comes of it.

According to my records, I ranged from 6 to 7-3/4 tablespoons of the Osmocote in 3 gallon air pots. As I recall, the feed rates were very forgiving - much more so than I expected. I'm not sure how the weight vs volume calcs out, but it sounds like I might have been feeding much more heavily than you (I wasn't supplementing the feed with anything). Looking back at my pictures, there was some sporadic tip burn, but it was pretty insignificant.