Blumat system advice?

TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
I'm contemplating going with a Blumat system for my tent, because I'm having a hard time figuring out how to properly water an organic grow, and I feel like I'm either over or under watering. For those of you who use this system, what would you recommend for 10 gal fabric pots? Should I go with one or two carrots per pot? According to their website, it looks like the regular carrots should be fine for the pot size I'm using, but I've read that some people use one regular carrot and one of the longer carrots. Is there any benefit to that?
 
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4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
Two situations, plastic and fabric pots.

Fabric - I would always run at least 2 carrots if they fit in the pot. Better moisture sensing so the soil is evenly watered. Smallest I've run blumats was 35 gallons and I used 4 small carrots.

Plastic - 1 carrot should be fine. 0 evaporation from the sides so the soil should always be pretty even.

You can run the small carrots in some pretty deep pots but they are a little harder to dial in. If you run a longer carrots you need to run a small carrot as well. Otherwise the top of your pot will dry out.
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
4ftRoots said:
Two situations, plastic and fabric pots.

Fabric - I would always run at least 2 carrots if they fit in the pot. Better moisture sensing so the soil is evenly watered. Smallest I've run blumats was 35 gallons and I used 4 small carrots.

Plastic - 1 carrot should be fine. 0 evaporation from the sides so the soil should always be pretty even.

You can run the small carrots in some pretty deep pots but they are a little harder to dial in. If you run a longer carrots you need to run a small carrot as well. Otherwise the top of your pot will dry out.
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Thanks for the advice! I've seen some pictures of them installed through the side of a fabric pot before, too. I'm wondering if that works as well, or if it would cause issues.
 
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4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
I think it could work if it is deep enough. I totally forgot about that option lol. You'll have to try and let us know how it goes!
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
4ftRoots said:
I think it could work if it is deep enough. I totally forgot about that option lol. You'll have to try and let us know how it goes!
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I was thinking it would be great to do that way, as long as it is just as effective, because then it would make maintaining a cover crop and top dressing easier.
 
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4ftRoots

Well-Known Member
TreeFarmerCharlie said:
I was thinking it would be great to do that way, as long as it is just as effective, because then it would make maintaining a cover crop and top dressing easier.
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I wish I had a more informed opinion about it so we could have a lively discussion. The main problem I see is the ceramic being too close to the edge of the pot so it could cause the blumat to water more than you would like. Of course, you should be able to dial back the blumat. sounds fun man I will be waiting to hear your experience!
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
4ftRoots said:
I wish I had a more informed opinion about it so we could have a lively discussion. The main problem I see is the ceramic being too close to the edge of the pot so it could cause the blumat to water more than you would like. Of course, you should be able to dial back the blumat. sounds fun man I will be waiting to hear your experience!
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Maybe I'll try from the top on two pots, from the side on two other pots, and see how each setup does. I just ordered a set so should have them in about a week.
 
W

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
TreeFarmerCharlie said:
Thanks for the advice! I was thinking about making a ring with the drip sites, too, so thanks for bringing that up!
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For me it’s easier to just have to dial in one carrot per plant. You need pretty good water pressure though for them to work their best. Make sure you can elevate your Rez high enough or pump it up to a smaller 5 gallon bucket that is around head high
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
waterproof808 said:
For me it’s easier to just have to dial in one carrot per plant. You need pretty good water pressure though for them to work their best. Make sure you can elevate your Rez high enough or pump it up to a smaller 5 gallon bucket that is around head high
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There's a bathroom on the other side of the wall so I'm thinking about plumbing it in with 1/4" tubing. If I do that, though, then I'll get a water sensor and wire it to an auto shut-off valve as a fail safe. I made the mistake of not doing that when I plumbed an auto top-off system into a fish tank many years ago and woke up to a few hundred gallons of water in the condo I lived in at the time.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
I love Blumats.

TreeFarmerCharlie said:
There's a bathroom on the other side of the wall so I'm thinking about plumbing it in with 1/4" tubing. If I do that, though, then I'll get a water sensor and wire it to an auto shut-off valve as a fail safe. I made the mistake of not doing that when I plumbed an auto top-off system into a fish tank many years ago and woke up to a few hundred gallons of water in the condo I lived in at the time.
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You cant have too much water pressure feeding the carrots or they will constantly let water pass through causing a flood. Blumat makes pressure reducers that you can hookup to a hose spigot so I would think that a normal water line pressure is too high. It's just a spring mechanism that shuts the water off on the carrot.

I use a 30 gallon plastic storage bin as a reservoir. I believe the recommendation is 10:1 ratio for your reservoir height compared to hose length. I recommend the dripper attachments as well, gets you a lot more coverage out of each carrot. I have 2-3 drippers on each carrot.
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
I love Blumats.




You cant have too much water pressure feeding the carrots or they will constantly let water pass through causing a flood. Blumat makes pressure reducers that you can hookup to a hose spigot so I would think that a normal water line pressure is too high. It's just a spring mechanism that shuts the water off on the carrot.

I use a 30 gallon plastic storage bin as a reservoir. I believe the recommendation is 10:1 ratio for your reservoir height compared to hose length. I recommend the dripper attachments as well, gets you a lot more coverage out of each carrot. I have 2-3 drippers on each carrot.
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Yeah, the kit I ordered comes with the pressure reducer. One benefit to using a reservoir, that I just thought about, is that I could at least see how much the plants are drinking.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
Nice, so you already ordered a kit then?

Cannabis really seems to react well to the consistent moisture level that Blumats provide. I have heard some say that cannabis likes wet and dry cycles, but I dont think that is entirely true.

With blumats you should never have runoff water, so i think it's a good idea to manually water until runoff occasionally.
 
TreeFarmerCharlie

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
Nice, so you already ordered a kit then?

Cannabis really seems to react well to the consistent moisture level that Blumats provide. I have heard some say that cannabis likes wet and dry cycles, but I dont think that is entirely true.

With blumats you should never have runoff water, so i think it's a good idea to manually water until runoff occasionally.
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Yeah, I ordered the kit that comes with 6 TROPF carrots. Do you know where I could find packs of drippers with the stakes? Or could I used standard drippers with these?
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
TreeFarmerCharlie said:
Those were the ones I was looking at. The stakes are sold separately though, right?
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Yeah I do not have the stakes, I just lay mine right on top of the soil. It would be nice to have them raised so that you can see them drip, I just lift them up to check once in a while.

I would imagine you could come up with something DIY like some toothpicks to keep them up off the soil. They really get you with the accessories, can get pricey quick.
 
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