Blumat auto watering

[binaryfission]

i followed the link that CC provided and sourced them locally. My shop said they could have em in days.

just fyi.

 

[InducedSerenity]

i followed the link that CC provided and sourced them locally. My shop said they could have em in days.

just fyi.

Same. My shop got them within about a week and wanted about $75 for each kit, no shipping.

 

[sanjuan]

It is true that sustainablevillage does NOT use https when you enter your credit card info.

Oh well, my cards get defrauded about every six months anyway.

 

[Cheeb]

Thats no good...I hope they are planning on getting it under SSL. No reason not too.

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When I spoke with Kyle from Sustainable Village he said its best to place your order over the phone right now as they are still having problems with their new cart.

Its unfortunate because he has a real opportunity to make some good money off of these things due to the popularity of these forums/this thread. With these website issues and possibly stock issues he's really shooting himself in the foot on this one.

There WAS as it seemed limited availability on these things, but due to their popularity spreading like wildfire - its only lasting so long before everyone has em in stock. I believe that instead of getting them from overseas intially they are now being distributed by Tradewinds (CA hydroponics distributor) so they should be readily available at any western hydroponics store that does business with them.

I'm shocked that Hydrofarm or other eastern distributor hasn't jumped on this opportunity.

*EDIT* - Green Acres Hydroponics sent me a very small purchase and their return address had been completely torn off, HOWEVER billing charges showed as Green Acres Hydroponics on my credit card statement. They really should change it to something like GAH if they want repeat business.
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[AriesXX]

I'm only looking for two of these right now, would anyone be willing to sell me two for $15, or maybe trade for a pack of Crystal Trident seeds? (Sour Diesel IBL x Afghooey)

 

[barth]

Hey blumat users,

I was hoping to get some opinions on COCO. I used to use COCO peat. It is really finely shredded and seems to wick well and has about the same testure as peat moss. However my local hydro stored doesnt carry the bricks anymore. They have started carrying coco chips.

Premium Organic CoCo-Chips are 1/2” to 3/4” chunks of coconut husk that have been processed with the same rigorous procedures and standards as our other products to produce a advanced hydroponic substrate.

I will be using the blumat drippers. Do you thin the COCO chips will work with the blumat water system? I could mix in some used COCO peat after i rinse it well.

Any advise would be helpful.

 

[Lazyman]

I did a coco chip grow, they basically suck. Too porous for small plants, they have a hard time growing roots in it. You can think of coco chips like perlite, good to mix with other things, but not ideal alone. They won't work with blumats either as they don't wick well enough.

 

[BorkBorkBork]

*EDIT* - Green Acres Hydroponics sent me a very small purchase and their return address had been completely torn off, HOWEVER billing charges showed as Green Acres Hydroponics on my credit card statement. They really should change it to something like GAH if they want repeat business.
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Thanks for the info Cheeb!

 

[barth]

I did a coco chip grow, they basically suck. Too porous for small plants, they have a hard time growing roots in it. You can think of coco chips like perlite, good to mix with other things, but not ideal alone. They won't work with blumats either as they don't wick well enough.

Thanks Lazyman wont waste my time then. Saved me about 144 day of misery,

 

[Tokesome]

The guys asking about whether they would work in air-pots and coco. Well the air-pots seem to work well with hand watering and auto dripper systems, so I cant see why they wouldn`t work with these.

I`ve just evened up the open feed line outputs, 30 of them to feed 15x3 gal tubs, by fittimg drippers. This doesn`t account for the plants having individually different requirements. So do these blumat drippers do that and I gather you can dial them in to give some run off, is that the case?

Thanks guys, Toke ;-)

 

[gdbud]

So do these blumat drippers do that and I gather you can dial them in to give some run off, is that the case?
;-)

you are able to adjust to be as dry or as wet as you want, But with soil if you have it set to give you some run off the soil is too wet since it is wet all the time.
With Coco this might not be problem.

 

[IGrowMedicine]

Sweet thread guys, got me really interested in this product. I been reading through and haven't found an answer to my question yet, I should probably read through the whole thing before posting, but feeling kinda anxious, haha. Alright, a question was asked about the furthest distance the Blumat could be from the res , but the link provided was void now. In my situation I'm not gonna be able to keep a res in my room, and it will be 7' wide x 13' long, vertical, with 5 different levels of plants on each side, around 100 plants. If I rigged up hosing going from the res to one side of the room, would it work? I'm kinda getting the feeling it would be better to make a traditional drip system, but wanted to see if this would work first. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.

 

[sanjuan]

http://www.blumat.at/automatic-watering-system.php
(Horse's Mouth)

If only one tank is used it should be positioned at least 0.5m higher than the Tropf-Blumat unit for every 5 m of tube length.
(Raise tank 1 meter if supply line runs 10 meters.) Up to 500 drip feed points.

(I don't see a maximum length specification for the supply line.)

Edit: main supply tube: outer diam.- 8 mm, wall thickness- 1 mm, color- black or white, enough for 250 drippers with max. length of 60 m (one-sided connection) http://www.blumat.info/english/index.html?benotigt.html~inhalt

 

[sunnydog]

I think the max is several HUNDRED feet.
No problem!

 

[IGrowMedicine]

Thanks guys. But I have to keep the res higher than the tops of the Blumats? I'm gonna be using a 55 gallon reservoir, and shelves at around 5', 4', 3', 2', and 1'. Would it work in that situation? That's 5 different levels of 10', so 50' total.

 

[Tokesome]

you are able to adjust to be as dry or as wet as you want, But with soil if you have it set to give you some run off the soil is too wet since it is wet all the time.
With Coco this might not be problem.

I`m in coco and will need some run off to occur but I dont want the bottoms of the pots water logged all the time. I`m guessing for my set up I`d be better to stick with the pumps, timers and dripper system I have installed already, to give me run off a couple of time a day, but with time between each feed to dry out some.

Cheers, Toke

 

[sanjuan]

Thanks guys. But I have to keep the res higher than the tops of the Blumats? . . .

Absolutely--it is gravity feed (unless you hook up to a faucet with a pressure reducer).

 

[sanjuan]

. . . I'm gonna be using a 55 gallon reservoir, and shelves at around 5', 4', 3', 2', and 1'. Would it work in that situation? That's 5 different levels of 10', so 50' total.

It will work if you have enough height in your space to raise the reservoir high enough. Taking the simplest case: a single run of 10 feet will require the thru-hull fitting on the reservoir to be at least 1 foot above the tops of the drippers.

 

[sunnydog]

A friend of mine is has used the pressure reducer outdoors this year and it has worked well.
Indoors, As I have stated before, my concern is in case of a mishap, it never runs out of water.


SD

 

[sunnydog]

Thanks guys. But I have to keep the res higher than the tops of the Blumats? I'm gonna be using a 55 gallon reservoir, and shelves at around 5', 4', 3', 2', and 1'. Would it work in that situation? That's 5 different levels of 10', so 50' total.

Can you use a smaller res, say 25 gal. and put it on a shelf??

SD