HEADY BLUNTS -- 400w vert micro cab - 22.5" tall -- organic soil w/ blumats!

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Nice one Heady. Glad to see another 400 watt vert grow here.
I think I'm sold on the blumats as well. How big is your res and how much are they drinking per day? Just curious trying to size a res for my cab.

 

[silver hawaiian]

SH thanks for stoppin by!

i use the jr's for my houseplants only. they might be appropriate for keeping bonsai moms under low power fluorescents too.

the regular tropf blumats are ideal for micro growers. instead of watering directly through the ceramic cone (like the jr's), when the medium dries out and tries to pull water out of the blumat, it triggers a valve and opens a drip line. i use 1 per #3 smart pot.

since the system works using gravity, it's essential to have the reservoir high enough above the blumats to achieve the right about of pressure to function properly. i took tropf's "for every 10m of hose 1m of height" rule and divided it. so for every 1m of hose i need .1m of height. so i have about a meter of hose and my res sits 10cm above my emitters. the res is basically at the ceiling, so i use a little pump to refill it from a bucket.

also from the little pamphlet that comes with the patio kit: tropf recommends 1 blumat up to 25cm (container diameter), 2 up to 40cm, and 3 up to 50cm.

Hmm. I remember reading on their instructions, something about with the rez at the same level as the plants, you'll get a 100ml drip. If the rez is lower than the plants, they say to expect a 50 ml drip. If the rez is higher than the plants, they say to expect a 150 ml drip..

I'm with you - gravity makes me feel like the rez should be higher than the pots, a la siphoning..

Good stuff dude - how often are you having to fill the rez? Have you had any failures, where you came back to a rez full of water, but dry containers?

 

[heady blunts]

Hmm. I remember reading on their instructions, something about with the rez at the same level as the plants, you'll get a 100ml drip. If the rez is lower than the plants, they say to expect a 50 ml drip. If the rez is higher than the plants, they say to expect a 150 ml drip..

that sounds like the jr's. they water by syphon action and you can adjust the flow by raising or lowering the reservoir in relation to the container.

the regular blumats only work with the res above the containers, which provides the pressure they need to function properly.

Good stuff dude - how often are you having to fill the rez? Have you had any failures, where you came back to a rez full of water, but dry containers?

How big is your res and how much are they drinking per day? Just curious trying to size a res for my cab.

i think the res is about 5 gallons. they go through 1 - 2 gal a day at this point (3+ weeks in flower).

i've never had dry pots with a full res.

but i have experienced the dreaded "runaway dripper" flood. it only ever happened when i was using smaller airpots (which i have since decided only work well with blumats if they are 5gal+). the larger smartpots have seemingly solved the problem. it's also important to refill the res before it gets completely empty, or else you'll have to reset the entire system.

 

[007.]

You're looking good there bud! In the lights off pic in post 12, it looks like some branches are being trained into the very lowest of where the light casts, along the floor of your space. Is that purposeful LST, or are they just weak, unsupported branches that kind of fall over by themselves?

I got some blumats for my cab today! And a 175W MH! I've only ever rocked floros, CFLs and the sun before, so I'm really interested to see how this goes. I still have to get a couple supplies tomorrow though before I can install my new toys. I'm pretty excited.

Looking at the blumats though, I've got some questions.

1) Do you have any insight on why you experienced runaway drip? Is it just because you used airpots and the flexibility of the sides caused the soil/roots tightening mechanism that activates the blumat to behave differently? That worries me, and I'll have to keep my girls in a short rubbermaid unless I decide to go all out and pond liner my cab.

2) Tell me if I've got the right idea on hooking up the blumats. I've got my water line, a big jug to use as a rez, and some rubber grommets. I'm planing on drilling two holes near the bottom of the jug, and gluing in the grommets. Then I'll run two lines to my blumats (neatly stuck into some girls), hooking up 4 T valves per line. After the last T valve, I'll stick a short piece of hose with the end melted shut.

Sound right? I'm imagining that the airline will act as a manifold, giving equal pressure to each blumat.



Sorry to ask so many questions man. But it looks like you've got it pretty figured out there with your setup.

 

[heady blunts]

You're looking good there bud! In the lights off pic in post 12, it looks like some branches are being trained into the very lowest of where the light casts, along the floor of your space. Is that purposeful LST, or are they just weak, unsupported branches that kind of fall over by themselves?

nonono haha. those are massive branches that i have strapped to the floor of the cab with industrial velcro. they are strong as hell. i'll snap some pics of the stems sometime soon. no floppiness here!

I got some blumats for my cab today! And a 175W MH! I've only ever rocked floros, CFLs and the sun before, so I'm really interested to see how this goes. I still have to get a couple supplies tomorrow though before I can install my new toys. I'm pretty excited.

congrats. they are awesome. i hope you got the extra drip line to make your life easier.

Looking at the blumats though, I've got some questions.

1) Do you have any insight on why you experienced runaway drip? Is it just because you used airpots and the flexibility of the sides caused the soil/roots tightening mechanism that activates the blumat to behave differently? That worries me, and I'll have to keep my girls in a short rubbermaid unless I decide to go all out and pond liner my cab.

well first of all the airpots are super rigid. imo, the flooding was a combination of a few problems: 1. my old soil mix didn't hold water well, 2. the small airpots dry out wicked fast from all sides, and 3. i would let the res get too low between refills.

i fixed these problems by using a new soil mix that is peat based and not bark fines based. i also amended it with calcined DE (check out the this thread mad librettist started if you haven't heard of this) which helps it hold much more water than before, helping keep the moisture more constant. and lastly i don't let the res get too low.

2) Tell me if I've got the right idea on hooking up the blumats. I've got my water line, a big jug to use as a rez, and some rubber grommets. I'm planing on drilling two holes near the bottom of the jug, and gluing in the grommets. Then I'll run two lines to my blumats (neatly stuck into some girls), hooking up 4 T valves per line. After the last T valve, I'll stick a short piece of hose with the end melted shut.

Sound right? I'm imagining that the airline will act as a manifold, giving equal pressure to each blumat.



Sorry to ask so many questions man. But it looks like you've got it pretty figured out there with your setup.

np on question asking. you've got it all wrong tho lol. if you got the patio kit it should come with a "thru-hull" which has a rubber grommet but needs no gluing. i'd use something a little sturdier than a milk jug cause the wall thickness helps keep it from leaking. i use a small tote (i'd recommend getting an opaque one to inhibit algae growth in the res).

then you run the 8mm feeder line off the res. you T in the drip lines off that. no need to run multiple feed lines. at the end of the line use and end line T (more like an L) or get a shutoff valve (makes it easy to empty the res if you ever need to).

check out the links from a few posts back RE: the blumat threads. the one about living soil is only a few pages so it's a less intimidating read. lots of good advice to help you sidestep the mistakes the rest of us have already made.


main blumat thread.

blumats in living soil thread.

 

[007.]

Thanks man. I found a website with some instructions too. I didn't realize I had to soak the blumats overnight.

I didn't get the patio kit. Just the blumats sold individually. No packaging or anything. Kind of lame, but whatever.

Thanks for those threads. I'd found the main one, but after reading the first few pages I found a lot of questions and not many answers. Thanks for the living soil one though. I'm currently going TLO, but I'm thinking about switching mid-grow. I know I shouldn't, but I feel like organics are a little complicated to be running them at a GG for my first time.

 

[heady blunts]

updates

 

[silver hawaiian]

Holy shiat, Heady! How far along are those? They're hitting their heads on the ceiling!

You've got the Manute Bol of reefer in there.

 

[heady blunts]

this was after yesterday's light cycle. 3.5 weeks on flowering.

haha they're actually at least twice as long as they are tall. thats' the whole trick with this cab, getting them to grow horizontally.

the good news is the stretch is done. PHEW!

 

[007.]

Looks like it ended JUST in the nick of time!

 

[heady blunts]

blue dream and white widow - new best friends.

 

[exploziv]

nice stealth set-up. i'll follow it!

 

[heady blunts]

 

[self]

awesome picture!
gotta spread it around before I give you some mo'...
well done

 

[silver hawaiian]

Heady

Whaddo you usually average per harvest in a setup like this?

 

[007.]

Heady

Whaddo you usually average per harvest in a setup like this?

this is my second run so i don't have a set expectation for yield. i'm pretty confident if things keep going the way they're going i'll get well over 4oz. mostly i'm working on healthy plants and excellent quality in the final product. this little closet will never grow enough weed for my needs, so i'm just enjoying the hobby of it until i upgrade to a larger situation.

.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Phew. Glad one of us was reading along this whole time.

 

[heady blunts]

i'm feeling like that was a pretty conservative estimate. today is officially 4 weeks on flower, so in two months we'll be able to get a dry weigh. should be exciting!

 

[heady blunts]

DAY 30

 

[silver hawaiian]

Yummy and yikes - they seem to be getting a little too close to the bulb for comfort..?

Maybe it's my perspective - all good, HB?

If it's an issue, maybe some chickenwire around the bulb, a few inches away, to keep the nerg at bay?

Lookin' nice.