Blumat auto watering

[BusinessFactory]

Anyone know what to do if you dont have enough plants for all the sensors? Im only running half my room this round so dont know what do do with all these unused sensors. Thought about disconnecting them and pinching off the line, but seems like there would be a better way.

Tie a knot in the 3mm drip line. Works for me. I use a gravity system. With more pressure, this might be risky.

 

[dr-dank]

So you are feeding at 1.0ec, doing a weekly flush, use dripclean and still worry about salt buildup? You only have 1 problem and it's that you even bother to check the ec of your runoff. Excess salts aren't locked away, as long as they are in suspension withen the liquid inside your coco they tend not to cause problems. Let the coco get dry and you'll have problems at any ec. You are way more likely to get problems from that straight water flush in coco. I veg a long time- 3 months, then 2 months plus in bloom. no runoff for 5 months till I flush last 2 weeks. 1.0 ec in veg and 1.3ec in bloom. No salt buildup I can see, I know what it looks like when you use fabric bags. White buildup on outside of bags. Mine stay black.

Thanks. Some thoughts/clarifications.

I flush with the same 500-600 ppm feed solution, not plain water. Last week, I do flush using plain, but for different reasons.

I used to hand water, DTW, 50% run off. When I first switched to BMs I did not do any flushes, and seems I hit burning around 3-4 weeks in. When I tested the worse looking plant's runoff it went in at 600 and came out off the scale on my hanna meter (HI98129, 3999 µS/2000 PPM @ .5).

That is what caused me to conclude I had salts building up. A weekly flush is not too painful and seemed to help.

I run a 600W in a 2x3 foot space. Light is sealed but only 9 inches above some plants. Passive intake for cooling, socal, dry and hot. Post are square 6 inch, and sometimes I have a relatively big plant (old mother) in such a pot. I believe this also exacerbates as it leads to more transpiration with less media to buffer the extra salts. If I used a 10G pot perhaps I would make it the full 8 weeks....

I believe my setup can lead to a lot of transpiration. This means salts are left in media, unless the rate of plant tissue growth happens to match exactly what is going in. Given plants use more/less at different stages, and I have a perp grow, I could not fathom a way to try and match exactly what they needed on a week by week basis. Thus, either go way low at start and plan to finish before any toxic build up (at risk of initial starvation), or hit them full strength (600 ppm) and take steps to avoid buildup.


I have no argument that dry coco is bad. But not able to get my head around the "keep it wet and extra salts are harmless in suspension" thing. Consider Ebb and flow with too high an EC. Is there not plenty of water to keep that ec in suspension, yet why can the plants still burn?

Regards

 

[stoned40yrs]

I use the shish kabob sticks they sell in every store. They fit inside the 3mm line perfectly and plug it. Tying a knot works too but the sticks are easier and faster than knots.

 

[stoned40yrs]

Thanks. Some thoughts/clarifications.

I flush with the same 500-600 ppm feed solution, not plain water. Last week, I do flush using plain, but for different reasons.

I used to hand water, DTW, 50% run off. When I first switched to BMs I did not do any flushes, and seems I hit burning around 3-4 weeks in. When I tested the worse looking plant's runoff it went in at 600 and came out off the scale on my hanna meter (HI98129, 3999 µS/2000 PPM @ .5).

That is what caused me to conclude I had salts building up. A weekly flush is not too painful and seemed to help.

I run a 600W in a 2x3 foot space. Light is sealed but only 9 inches above some plants. Passive intake for cooling, socal, dry and hot. Post are square 6 inch, and sometimes I have a relatively big plant (old mother) in such a pot. I believe this also exacerbates as it leads to more transpiration with less media to buffer the extra salts. If I used a 10G pot perhaps I would make it the full 8 weeks....

I believe my setup can lead to a lot of transpiration. This means salts are left in media, unless the rate of plant tissue growth happens to match exactly what is going in. Given plants use more/less at different stages, and I have a perp grow, I could not fathom a way to try and match exactly what they needed on a week by week basis. Thus, either go way low at start and plan to finish before any toxic build up (at risk of initial starvation), or hit them full strength (600 ppm) and take steps to avoid buildup.


I have no argument that dry coco is bad. But not able to get my head around the "keep it wet and extra salts are harmless in suspension" thing. Consider Ebb and flow with too high an EC. Is there not plenty of water to keep that ec in suspension, yet why can the plants still burn?

Regards

We talk in ec here, it's too confusing as the guy could be either talking 500 or 700 scale. Anyway your ec 1.2 doesn't sound high but MAY be for the small space you grow in, What nutes and additives? When you flush once a week don't use the same ec as you feed. 0.5ec will work better to remove more salts. You need to ditch the square plastic pots and use fabric. 1 gal should work but 2 gal would be better if you can fit them. I take back some of what I said in my post, I didn't know how small a space you grow in and used small plastic pots. That changes the ball game. My first blumat and coco grow I used maxibloom at 1 tsp/gal as recommended. This gave me an ec of 2.0. I also had some burning 4 weeks in. Nowadays I only use base nutes and feed at 1.3ec in bloom. I also have a perpetual going. 11 different strains going in bloom and all getting the same feed through blumats, even the long blooming sativas. Tell me about your nutes?

 

[gr866]

Tie a knot in the 3mm drip line. Works for me. I use a gravity system. With more pressure, this might be risky.

I have these on all my plants, I can remove them from the tent to work on them, they are quick disconnect and work fine. I think you can get plugs also. I get them fro Sustainable Village .

Hope this helps,

GR

 

[Sforza]

Anyone know what to do if you dont have enough plants for all the sensors? Im only running half my room this round so dont know what do do with all these unused sensors. Thought about disconnecting them and pinching off the line, but seems like there would be a better way.

Blumat Stops, sealing caps
Cap off any of the 3 mm Blumat barbs - the distribution drippers, Tees, or connectors.

https://www.sustainablevillage.com/Blumat-Stops-Caps?search=caps

10 cents a pop.

 

[cheffery56]

Anyone use in a guerrilla grow?

 

[stoned40yrs]

Anyone use in a guerrilla grow?

no, but they would work great, it's a nice system

 

[cheffery56]

Thanks Stoned.

 

[dr-dank]

We talk in ec here, it's too confusing as the guy could be either talking 500 or 700 scale. Anyway your ec 1.2 doesn't sound high but MAY be for the small space you grow in, What nutes and additives? When you flush once a week don't use the same ec as you feed. 0.5ec will work better to remove more salts. You need to ditch the square plastic pots and use fabric. 1 gal should work but 2 gal would be better if you can fit them. I take back some of what I said in my post, I didn't know how small a space you grow in and used small plastic pots. That changes the ball game. My first blumat and coco grow I used maxibloom at 1 tsp/gal as recommended. This gave me an ec of 2.0. I also had some burning 4 weeks in. Nowadays I only use base nutes and feed at 1.3ec in bloom. I also have a perpetual going. 11 different strains going in bloom and all getting the same feed through blumats, even the long blooming sativas. Tell me about your nutes?

I have to get with ec. I did specify .5 scale, however.

I am using jacks. Also ran h3ads 6/9. I switched to the BMs around same time as jacks. For the jacks, I was 1:.67 hydro/calnit, but things did not work great. In a side-by-side hand watered experiment (to eliminate the BMs as they were also a recent change), 6/9 did better for my setup, so I went back to 6/9. But later someone posted a jacks nute profile that looked close to 6/9; it is based on jacks at a 1:1 ratio + .5gram/gallon epsom salt.
Details here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7562320&postcount=483

"Comes out N 136 , P 35, K 146, Ca 125, Mg 55, S 71.5"

So now I'm back to the above jacks profile in R) water PHs to 5.8 for veg and flour. I really wanted it to work, and so far things seem better. Perhaps a bit too much N for later flower; that coupled with high heat gave me some fox tailing but wanted to see how things are when cooled down before changing again.

I did try using cloth bag pots, but was not big on them. I forget why, but seem to think they were adding to the evap issues that led to salt build up with no run off.

The reason I flush at full strength is I worry about leaving the ladies low on nute for the few days it takes to get the BMs fired up again. And even then for the drips of full strength (600 ppm at .5) to make its way through the media. I figured I can waste the extra water/nutes needed to get more runoff to compensate for the less effective leaching if that helps ensure that ending state is not low ppm.


Cheers

 

[stoned40yrs]

I have to get with ec. I did specify .5 scale, however.

I am using jacks. Also ran h3ads 6/9. I switched to the BMs around same time as jacks. For the jacks, I was 1:.67 hydro/calnit, but things did not work great. In a side-by-side hand watered experiment (to eliminate the BMs as they were also a recent change), 6/9 did better for my setup, so I went back to 6/9. But later someone posted a jacks nute profile that looked close to 6/9; it is based on jacks at a 1:1 ratio + .5gram/gallon epsom salt.
Details here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7562320&postcount=483

"Comes out N 136 , P 35, K 146, Ca 125, Mg 55, S 71.5"

So now I'm back to the above jacks profile in R) water PHs to 5.8 for veg and flour. I really wanted it to work, and so far things seem better. Perhaps a bit too much N for later flower; that coupled with high heat gave me some fox tailing but wanted to see how things are when cooled down before changing again.

I did try using cloth bag pots, but was not big on them. I forget why, but seem to think they were adding to the evap issues that led to salt build up with no run off.

The reason I flush at full strength is I worry about leaving the ladies low on nute for the few days it takes to get the BMs fired up again. And even then for the drips of full strength (600 ppm at .5) to make its way through the media. I figured I can waste the extra water/nutes needed to get more runoff to compensate for the less effective leaching if that helps ensure that ending state is not low ppm.


Cheers

Sounds like you will figure it out eventually Yes moisture travels out the walls of fabric pots. I saw the evidence when I fucked up and feed Maxibloom at 2.0 ec, the moisture left through the walls and deposited salts on the outside fabric. That said if there is no salt buildup on the outside of the fabric and none on top of the coco then how can the inside be bad enough to cause problems? Anywho, goodluck guy

 

[bigbadbiddy]

Different question (I think hasn't been asked yet):

My main supply line (running from the rez) will go through a wall (the rez is over in the other room).
With the pump I can cover 10m distance no problem, even height should be ok.

But just how sturdy are those water lines?
Should I wrap some extra insulation around those?
Can I seal them in the wall (with silicone or something)? Or should I leave the whole in the wall open because the lines might degrade over time and I could run the risk of water running through my wall?

Anyone ever experience the water hose breaking after a short time or so?
I am also asking because the Blumat kit (which included the 10m supply line) was quite old and I am worried the rubber might degrade and start dripping into my wall...

 

[rives]

Different question (I think hasn't been asked yet):

My main supply line (running from the rez) will go through a wall (the rez is over in the other room).
With the pump I can cover 10m distance no problem, even height should be ok.

But just how sturdy are those water lines?
Should I wrap some extra insulation around those?
Can I seal them in the wall (with silicone or something)? Or should I leave the whole in the wall open because the lines might degrade over time and I could run the risk of water running through my wall?

Anyone ever experience the water hose breaking after a short time or so?
I am also asking because the Blumat kit (which included the 10m supply line) was quite old and I am worried the rubber might degrade and start dripping into my wall...

I've always found the 8mm line to be pretty tough, but if I was running it through a wall, I would use some type of secondary containment like fuel lines for houses are required to have. A piece of 3/8" copper tubing would probably allow the 8mm tubing to easily slip through, and 3/8" or 1/2" galvanized, or 1/2" pvc pipe certainly would. This would also simplify any later modifications.

 

[bigbadbiddy]

Great advice as always rives.

I will just go with a PVC tubing for the temperature isolation.

Copper or metal in general I would worry of cold temperatures being amplified in the winter and potentially get the water close to its freezing point.

PVC should both isolate from temperature and from the wall itself and improve later modifications.

Thanks mate!

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Questions on reservoir size... I read through about 20 pages, got impatient!

4'x8' tent, ~32 plants in 3.5 gallon square pots, organic soil, water only to harvest.

Due to some space constraints, I may have issues fitting a res. Few questions

Pros/Cons to running one large res, vs smaller?

If you had to estimate gallons/plant based of pot size/media, what would it be? 1 gal/plant, 3 gal/plant, etc..

Believe i read that its bad to run airstone in res. Since water source is chlorinated city water, and ill likely need to replenish a fair amount of water often, any tips on keeping constant supply of dechlorinated water?

 

[Jhhnn]

Questions on reservoir size... I read through about 20 pages, got impatient!

4'x8' tent, ~32 plants in 3.5 gallon square pots, organic soil, water only to harvest.

Due to some space constraints, I may have issues fitting a res. Few questions

Pros/Cons to running one large res, vs smaller?

If you had to estimate gallons/plant based of pot size/media, what would it be? 1 gal/plant, 3 gal/plant, etc..

Believe i read that its bad to run airstone in res. Since water source is chlorinated city water, and ill likely need to replenish a fair amount of water often, any tips on keeping constant supply of dechlorinated water?

I use Denver water thru a 1/4" copper line to an evap cooler float valve in a black 5 gal bucket. Works great. I lessen the chances of disaster using a valve to throttle delivery to the rez so that it barely keeps up with demand.

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Interesting... we actually just decided to run 1/4 copper into the room, fortunately there's a small run of it nearby, not in use anymore. Will look into the evap cooler float valve? How many plants will 1 5 gallon bucket support? I feel like 8 weeks into flower the water may not stop running?? Not sure, very new to this ��

 

[Jhhnn]

Interesting... we actually just decided to run 1/4 copper into the room, fortunately there's a small run of it nearby, not in use anymore. Will look into the evap cooler float valve? How many plants will 1 5 gallon bucket support? I feel like 8 weeks into flower the water may not stop running?? Not sure, very new to this ��

A float valve like this- it's shown upside down-

https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-B...F8&qid=1478863657&sr=8-6&keywords=float+valve

The water level in the bucket fluctuates only slightly, less than an inch. It mounts in a hole in the side of the bucket ~3" from the top. I'm sure it will provide for more plants than you can fit in a 4x8 space.

 

[RiddleMeThis]

Think I've got the idea. Sounds perfect, just need to figure out how to dechlorinate it. Maybe I just get a filter?

 

[Jhhnn]

Think I've got the idea. Sounds perfect, just need to figure out how to dechlorinate it. Maybe I just get a filter?

Not necessary. Chlorine is neutralized very, very rapidly when it comes into contact with organic matter like peat & coco. It will inhibit soil microbes only within a very short distance of the drip point.

Honest. You'll see.