Blumat auto watering

[Tamiami]

So I have my blumat setup and functioning but I am left with a question???

How moist should I keep my soul???

I have been hand watering for awhile now and I usually wait for the pots to get light and then water till i get runoff. But now with the blumat I don't know where to set the dripper. Say that watered to runoff =100 and pot so light I would usually water it =1. What would be the ideal setting for cannabis? Please help.

 

[rives]

So I have my blumat setup and functioning but I am left with a question???

How moist should I keep my soul???

I have been hand watering for awhile now and I usually wait for the pots to get light and then water till i get runoff. But now with the blumat I don't know where to set the dripper. Say that watered to runoff =100 and pot so light I would usually water it =1. What would be the ideal setting for cannabis? Please help.

I suspect that it depends a lot on the media that you choose. I use Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix, and it is damn near impossible to over-water with it. I try to set the Blumats at very near saturation (or just shy of runoff...). My thought was to try and emulate a hydroponic installation as closely as possible, and move the highest level of nutrients through the plant as possible. According to your scale, I would shoot for 90+.

It will be interesting to see other people's experience.

 

[kalopatchkid]

hi guys quick question in regards to using neuts with the blumats. i have a 12 piece kit that comes with the bucket, i was planning on just using the bucket as a res and putting my neuts in there but im actually running a staggered grow so 6 blumats in plants near the end of life and 6 in young ones.

i could get 2 res and do them seperate but is it just possible to run them with water only and then manually feed neuts to the plants once a day? if so how would i go about this in terms of concentration? was thinking this might be better cause then i could just run CalMag/roots excelurator/drip clean thru the res since all plants get the same dose of that, and then adjust feed for separate plants with additives etc.

any help or advice would be appreciated.

I would just run two rez's. The beauty of blumats is not having to manually water/feed everyday and frees up your time to tend to other things, like focus on IPM or just life in general.

If you just using a 5 gal bucket for a rez it isnt a big deal to set up a second one.

I have been loving the simplicity of using veg+bloom soft formula + dripclean + calmag with my blumats. You can pretty much just run the VB base from veg thru flower but I have been using the Shine additive at around 1g/gallon around week 2-3, then upping the shine and lowering the base later into flower. 1.2 ec seems to be working well for me.

 

[Jhhnn]

I would just run two rez's. The beauty of blumats is not having to manually water/feed everyday and frees up your time to tend to other things, like focus on IPM or just life in general.

If you just using a 5 gal bucket for a rez it isnt a big deal to set up a second one.

I have been loving the simplicity of using veg+bloom soft formula + dripclean + calmag with my blumats. You can pretty much just run the VB base from veg thru flower but I have been using the Shine additive at around 1g/gallon around week 2-3, then upping the shine and lowering the base later into flower. 1.2 ec seems to be working well for me.

Using scratch made organic soil I don't have to do much of anything once seedlings take hold. I just change the photoperiod, transplant once after sexing & trim away lower branches at the same time. Growing fems I could just skip transplanting entirely. I barely have to pay attention, but I do anyway. Being lazy, I'm no fan of floppity strains, either.

 

[rayuki]

I would just run two rez's. The beauty of blumats is not having to manually water/feed everyday and frees up your time to tend to other things, like focus on IPM or just life in general.

If you just using a 5 gal bucket for a rez it isnt a big deal to set up a second one.

I have been loving the simplicity of using veg+bloom soft formula + dripclean + calmag with my blumats. You can pretty much just run the VB base from veg thru flower but I have been using the Shine additive at around 1g/gallon around week 2-3, then upping the shine and lowering the base later into flower. 1.2 ec seems to be working well for me.

yep loving it so far with the 6 with 1 res, they are just past day 20 so starting to drink a bit and it makes life so much easier.only thing im concerned about is the res gets a bit smelly after a few days, i dont have an airstone or pump but i've just been giving it a good stir whenever im in the room so hopefully its ok. will drip clean help keep algae at bay?

so far im loving the blumats, hasn't been that hard to dial them in

 

[Tamiami]

I have been dialing them in now for a week or so making small adjustments everyday but I imagine it's even less work the second time. Overall so far I am extremely pleased with them and I plan to purchase more. Infact they are working so well I'm considering trying out some smaller pots again, starting to feel like my 20 gallons may be Abit more then what's necessary.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[kalopatchkid]

yep loving it so far with the 6 with 1 res, they are just past day 20 so starting to drink a bit and it makes life so much easier.only thing im concerned about is the res gets a bit smelly after a few days, i dont have an airstone or pump but i've just been giving it a good stir whenever im in the room so hopefully its ok. will drip clean help keep algae at bay?

so far im loving the blumats, hasn't been that hard to dial them in

Just lightproof your Rez and you should be fine.

 

[tiffa]

I use just water in my (new clean) Rez's... it gets recirculated and it Still needs bleach to stop it smelling...go figure

 

[Guy Brush]

How moist should I keep my soul???

Onlygodknowsthis

 

[Jhhnn]

I suspect that it depends a lot on the media that you choose. I use Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix, and it is damn near impossible to over-water with it. I try to set the Blumats at very near saturation (or just shy of runoff...). My thought was to try and emulate a hydroponic installation as closely as possible, and move the highest level of nutrients through the plant as possible. According to your scale, I would shoot for 90+.

It will be interesting to see other people's experience.

Agreed about open & fast draining rooting medium. It doesn't need to really hold much water at all because there's no drying out period in between waterings.

 

[420Barista]

I have been dialing them in now for a week or so making small adjustments everyday but I imagine it's even less work the second time. Overall so far I am extremely pleased with them and I plan to purchase more. Infact they are working so well I'm considering trying out some smaller pots again, starting to feel like my 20 gallons may be Abit more then what's necessary.

Thanks for your help everyone.

traditionally the size of your plant is in relation to the size of your container its in. if you can use 20 gal containers and have adequate height for the plant to grow into, i would keep using them.

 

[Tamiami]

I am so impressed with these things I am planning to switch my entire flowering garden over. I will still be hand watering in veg but I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard I try I could never be able to do as good a job of keeping the plants happy as the blumat maxis I have been using. I am sold for sure.

 

[Jhhnn]

Blumats are excellent in veg. This is the current batch of QM on the left & Rishi Kush on the right, 4 weeks from seed in 3L airpots & recycled soil. Two 315w CDM lamps.The tallest are at 11" & growing fast at this phase-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=52773&pictureid=1796223

I may let them go another week before going to 11-1/2/12-1/2 photoperiod. I'll trim away some of the lower growth at the same time.

 

[GotRice]

I suspect that it depends a lot on the media that you choose. I use Botanicare ReadyGro Aeration Mix, and it is damn near impossible to over-water with it. I try to set the Blumats at very near saturation (or just shy of runoff...). My thought was to try and emulate a hydroponic installation as closely as possible, and move the highest level of nutrients through the plant as possible. According to your scale, I would shoot for 90+.

It will be interesting to see other people's experience.

Hello Rives and All,

Been busy with life and all. Hope everyone is doing good and life is moving along great for everyone.

I've just complete my first run with Blumat; I'm convince and thankful for this invention. It has made my life so much easier. I could travel, I can go to work, I can spend endless time with my newborn daughter (11 weeks old). Without Blumat I wouldn't be able to do all this things while trying to grow medicine for my mother cancer.

Thank You for the thread and thank you Rives and others for helping me setting it up. I'm happy to get my life back .

I'm in Vege on a new run: Questions

When hand watering I've always does Wet and Dry cycle trying to promote root growth in searching of water. Now that I'm using Blumat, how do I go about using Blumat in Vege? Since blumat always keep my coco moist does that intervene with my roots growth because I no longer have wet and dry cycle?

Please advice, thank you.

Rice

 

[rives]

When hand watering I've always does Wet and Dry cycle trying to promote root growth in searching of water. Now that I'm using Blumat, how do I go about using Blumat in Vege? Since blumat always keep my coco moist does that intervene with my roots growth because I no longer have wet and dry cycle?

Please advice, thank you.

Rice

Glad to hear that they are working well for you.

I really don't know whether or not you get the same root development, but think that it's a moot point. We are more interested in buds than roots, and the plants seem to produce buds in abundance when watered with Blumats. I suspect that the root structure isn't as extensive because it is unnecessary and the plant directs more energy to the growth of it's visible portions. Unless you were vegging with Blumats and hand-watering during flowering, it probably doesn't make any difference.

 

[Jhhnn]

When hand watering I've always does Wet and Dry cycle trying to promote root growth in searching of water. Now that I'm using Blumat, how do I go about using Blumat in Vege? Since blumat always keep my coco moist does that intervene with my roots growth because I no longer have wet and dry cycle?

Please advice, thank you.

Rice

When I have the blumats dialed in right I get roots like this in 3L airpots-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=52773&pictureid=1721886

If they're running a little dry then the roots don't penetrate to the bottom of the pot very well. I really like the airpots in veg & fabric pots in flower because it's hard to over water & get soggy roots. If I set a blumat too wet or have a runaway the soil comes back to optimum quickly. The airpots are great when transplanting, too.

 

[GotRice]

When I have the blumats dialed in right I get roots like this in 3L airpots-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=52773&pictureid=1721886

If they're running a little dry then the roots don't penetrate to the bottom of the pot very well. I really like the airpots in veg & fabric pots in flower because it's hard to over water & get soggy roots. If I set a blumat too wet or have a runaway the soil comes back to optimum quickly. The airpots are great when transplanting, too.

Hello Jhhnn and Rives,

Thanks for the reply.

Question:

Jhhnn and Rives:
-how long did you Vege in 3L for roots like this? (relating to Jhhnn picutre)
-how long do you Vege before you go into flower?
-what is your light and its footprint coverage?
-how many plants under 1 light?
what is your final dry harvest weight?

Reason I ask is I want to find out if Blumat or the wet and dry cycle does have a difference in roots development and affecting final harvest. I may of read too much about Coco and overall of the wet and dry cycle for later multi-feed purpose and over watering. Or is it my hand watering habit is making me over think too much?

Thank You,

Rice

 

[rives]

I tend to practice benign neglect. I don't sell and grow so much more than I can use that optimizing things simply isn't a priority for me. Usually the feed strength will get changed a few days after starting flowering, then it gets tapered down about 4 weeks from the end to somewhere around .3 EC for the last 3 weeks. I'm frequently out of town for extended periods (10-14 days a month or so), so the plants don't get a lot of adult supervision.

- I don't bother to check my roots unless I'm having problems.
- Veg time varies depending on whatever else is going on, but typically I probably go around 4 weeks from the time that I transplant a well-rooted clone into 3L airpots (under led) and then about a week more after I transfer them under the 315w CMH before I start 12/12.
-I have a couple of systems, but the one that I use most frequently is a 30" x 30" tent and a single 315w CMH. I sometimes use a 4' x 4' with two of the same lights in it.
-Sometimes 3, usually 4 in the 30" x 30".
-I normally pull right around a gram/watt. Sometimes just a shade under, sometimes a little over (.95-1.1).

 

[Jhhnn]

I use a scratch soil mix another member gave me. It gets semi-recycled & amended. It will carry even 13 week strains to harvest on water alone. They get occasional ewc tea when I remember. Like Rives, I just grow for a hobby. Blumats make it easy. The flowering period is a breeze.

The roots in the pic are probably 6-7 weeks from seed. Growing regulars, I start 12, flip to 12/12 at ~5 weeks when they're ~12" tall, sex them 7-10 days later & thin to the best 6 if I get 6. I move them to the bigger pots for flowering & let 'em go. Growing fems i start 6 & veg a little longer. My irregular 4x4 space is only 6'3" tall & I don't prune them other than to clear out lower growth. I like to see the natural growth pattern & I'm always growing something new. Lighting is from two 3100K 315w CDM's in a converted reflector. Yield really isn't a concern & averages ~80g/plant. High yield specimens/varieties sometimes go 120g. I don't always get 6. Check the pics in my albums.

 

[spaceboy]

Still haven't been able to get these running correctly. I purchased the pump system and that seems to be running fine, but I'm wondering if the carrots went bad or something because I'm having multiple problems with mine, biggest one being that I have a bunch that won't turn off and still drip even when they are all the way closed.

Also having hard time getting all the bubbles out. Sustainable village said to boil the water first which I did, but even after boiling them and screwing caps on/off a few times underwater there were still a few with bubbles in them.


The main problem that keeps repeating is that my pots seem to be getting to dry. When I set them up I didn't turn the arrow back after setting the drip because I want them on wetter side but they are still drying out. I've been very careful to follow all steps correctly last 2 times i set these up and same thing both times. Dry pots...