Show Me Your Watering Systems

Doug Dawson

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
I really do like the blumats. They are automatic but only for a finite amount of time without maintenance. They will keep your plants watered for weeks at a time once dailed in I still water by hand as needed but usually it’s because I got real baked and forgot about filling up the water bucket.
I did have problems at first because I really should be using a larger reservoir vessel for my grow but I found an easier solution:
Here is the blumat reservoir bucket:
View attachment 4497932
It feeds the carrots water as the soil moisture level dictates; and it works pretty well for using no power. As you can see it has a little stick with white tape in it indicating water level; it is glued to a patron cork. The lid has a hole cut out for a hose which you can’t see in the back.
View attachment 4497934
System is gravity fed so you must elevate the bucket which makes for about 5” of clearance in my situation. Kind of a bitch for me to fill it up every few days. If the bucket ever goes dry you must reset the whole system and bleed out the air again to get the drip flowing again. If you use fabric pots any runoff from improperly set carrot valves will just go on the floor. Root rot isn’t really a concern as long as you have a well draining mix. The drip is not always constant as the carrots regulate the flow somewhat when properly adjusted.
The problem I had was too many carrots for one 5 gal bucket; bone dry in 3 days. My easy lazy solution was to run a pump to a hose from a water source bucket:
View attachment 4497931
View attachment 4497933
I can put it on a recycle timer to fill up a bit once per day if I plan to go away for a week or so but I usually just plug in the pump manually every few days to water all my plants. I have it split off to both the veg and bloom areas in my perpetual grow. There are currently 13 plants now being watered with virtually zero effort. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing.
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
Great info in this post. I was thinking of doing some sort of DIY automatic watering, but this seems like exactly what I need.

My fiancees friends tried to grow in the house we live in maybe 7-8 years ago. They left behind a big flood table and res, pumps and everything. I've been thinking about how to incorporate it into my grow. (This is my first go round.) I'm going to be running 6 plants in 7 gal cloth pots, which will sit in the flood table so that they can drain into it and then from there into some sort of collection container.

Similar to iPerculate, I am looking at getting 12 5" carrots, there is a kit on Amazon that I am looking at now.

My question is, is there anything else I'd need besides for what comes in this kit? Also, someone above mentioned that this doesn't work with nutrient solution, is that true? I am using the FOOP line, and I'd want to be able to mix it up in the res. If this can only use clean water, I'm not sure if it's something I want to do. I was also looking at water halos, but this seems fool proof.

My soil mix is currently 50% ProMix Myco Organik, 30% Coco, 20% Perlite.

Any advice?
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
Ah hell, I just went ahead and ordered the deluxe 12 pack off Amazon haha. They didnt have any more of the distribution kits so I got a 4 pack of those on Susatinable Village along with 40 stakes. Also picked up an extra 20 feet of 8mm tubing. I am wondering, do I need to get a pressure regulator if I am just going to use a res with a stirring pump, so it won't be forced water, I am just going to raise the res up high enough to use gravity. Also still wondering if I can use my nutrients in there, as I said above I am using FOOP, it's an organic nutrient line. I'm wondering if clogging is more prone to happen when running synthetic nutrients as you get salt buildup? I really don't know my ass from my elbow when it comes to this stuff, so any help is appreciated haha.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
I have heard others say the lines will get clogged if using nutrients, but I have not tried it myself. I give water only through my blumats, and occasionally I will hand-water with added epsom salt or whatever with my sprayer to get some runoff.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
vitalsine said:
I am wondering, do I need to get a pressure regulator if I am just going to use a res with a stirring pump, so it won't be forced water, I am just going to raise the res up high enough to use gravity.
Click to expand...
You will not need a pressure reducer if you are using gravity feed, only if hooking up to a pressurized line such as an outdoor spigot.
 
dbz

dbz

Well-Known Member
Just make sure you get the Tropf with adjustable valves on the carrot. I am using a 10 gallon water cooler with a removable sharkbite ball valve.

I am setting it up in a room I will use this fall for sealed grow with an inline carbon water filter and a float valve. Automatic refilling. I would just run it inline without a resorvoir but I want the water to warm up first a little.
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
I did get the tropf kit. Also, I hit up the FOOP guys and he has assured me it wont clog my blumat to any other watering system
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
It's not the carrot or the lines that get clogged up for me it's always at the drippers, even with just water. I have 2 drippers running from each carrot.

I find that keeping the soil on the wetter side helps because more water is flowing. Others have mentioned that raising the drippers from the soil will help with clogs at that point.

Definitely keep an eye on the moisture level of the soil throughout the grow. If it looks dry, make sure there is no blockage.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
The drippers I use I have linked earlier in the thread, they have pretty small orifices to let the water pass.

If you dont use additional drippers I'm sure clogging wouldn't be an issue at all.
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
The drippers I use I have linked earlier in the thread, they have pretty small orifices to let the water pass.

If you dont use additional drippers I'm sure clogging wouldn't be an issue at all.
Click to expand...
I ordered the same drippers, 4 packs so 40 in total, and I got 40 stakes for them as well to hold them up off the soil.

I'm gonna start a grow journal once I get the clones in today. I'll be updating it regularly as I learn!
 
G

guhman2002

Well-Known Member
meangreengrowinmachine said:
Gawd I am so fucking frustrated... I cant clone to save my fucking life that is all
Click to expand...
EZ Cloner and Olivias Clone Gel.
Cut at 45 and get it into the gel instantly.
Leave in gel for 2 min.
Put in foam holder.
Turn on ez cloner.
Done.

p.s. with an aeroponic cloner like this use 5.0-5.5 ph and check/adjust every so often. RO water with a clone solution (RX Green, Clonex, Etc)

hard to mess up. And you’ll get a solo cup worth of roots before ya know it!
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
I really do like the blumats. They are automatic but only for a finite amount of time without maintenance. They will keep your plants watered for weeks at a time once dailed in I still water by hand as needed but usually it’s because I got real baked and forgot about filling up the water bucket.
I did have problems at first because I really should be using a larger reservoir vessel for my grow but I found an easier solution:
Here is the blumat reservoir bucket:
View attachment 4497932
It feeds the carrots water as the soil moisture level dictates; and it works pretty well for using no power. As you can see it has a little stick with white tape in it indicating water level; it is glued to a patron cork. The lid has a hole cut out for a hose which you can’t see in the back.
View attachment 4497934
System is gravity fed so you must elevate the bucket which makes for about 5” of clearance in my situation. Kind of a bitch for me to fill it up every few days. If the bucket ever goes dry you must reset the whole system and bleed out the air again to get the drip flowing again. If you use fabric pots any runoff from improperly set carrot valves will just go on the floor. Root rot isn’t really a concern as long as you have a well draining mix. The drip is not always constant as the carrots regulate the flow somewhat when properly adjusted.
The problem I had was too many carrots for one 5 gal bucket; bone dry in 3 days. My easy lazy solution was to run a pump to a hose from a water source bucket:
View attachment 4497931
View attachment 4497933
I can put it on a recycle timer to fill up a bit once per day if I plan to go away for a week or so but I usually just plug in the pump manually every few days to water all my plants. I have it split off to both the veg and bloom areas in my perpetual grow. There are currently 13 plants now being watered with virtually zero effort. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
hey dick thanks for all your great info on your set up looks amazing, I just set mine up and was trying to do your stick on a cork idea in my res but im having a hard time getting it to stay straight up, the cork shoots over to the side everytime I put it in the res ....does yours do the same thing or did you get your stick to stand up straight
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
JustBlazin said:
hey dick thanks for all your great info on your set up looks amazing, I just set mine up and was trying to do your stick on a cork idea in my res but im having a hard time getting it to stay straight up, the cork shoots over to the side everytime I put it in the res ....does yours do the same thing or did you get your stick to stand up straight
Click to expand...
Pretty sure I stuck a piece of hose as a guide in the hole to keep the stick upright.
 
P

PissingNutes

Active Member
Building a 2GPH PC dripper test system where the pump is constantly running liquid in the line and timers set off a pneumatic pump/cushion (with pressure control nozzle) which in turn sets off the drippers.
 
I

InquiringMindsRight?

New Member
iPerculate said:
Loving the blumats so far. 5 carrots fed by a 30 gallon storage container. The dripper lines are great for spreading out the coverage of each carrot.

View attachment 4546439

I still hand water occasionally to give a good soaking with some runoff.
Click to expand...
Complete newbie here, but do you have drainage in the bottom of your tote? somewhere for the water not consumed by the plants to go and then cycle back through the system or store elsewhere? i feel as though itll become stagnant if it were allowed to accumulate...that or flood the babes. that brings me to ask, do you have a filtering medium in the bottom if there is drainage? to keep the soil from washing out or clogging any type of drain?
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
InquiringMindsRight? said:
Complete newbie here, but do you have drainage in the bottom of your tote? somewhere for the water not consumed by the plants to go and then cycle back through the system or store elsewhere? i feel as though itll become stagnant if it were allowed to accumulate...that or flood the babes. that brings me to ask, do you have a filtering medium in the bottom if there is drainage? to keep the soil from washing out or clogging any type of drain?
Click to expand...
I use fabric pots, so there are plenty of drainage holes. Under normal circumstances with the blumats there is no runoff water, so I will hand-water every couple weeks until runoff.
 
I

InquiringMindsRight?

New Member
iPerculate said:
I use fabric pots, so there is plenty of drainage. Under normal circumstances with the blumats there is no runoff water, so I will hand-water every couple weeks until runoff.
Click to expand...
oh, your photo showed a 30 gallon black plastic tub.
with your fabric pots, do you have them in a tray to catch water?
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
InquiringMindsRight? said:
oh, your photo showed a 30 gallon black plastic tub.
with your fabric pots, do you have them in a tray to catch water?
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, i drilled a lot of drainage holes in the bottom of the 30 gallon container.

With the fabric pots, I have them sitting on top of a riser inside of a tray. The riser keeps the pots elevated from the catch trays so they are not soaking up the runoff water.
 
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