lusidghost
Well-Known Member
Not having to water on harvest days is pretty awesome too.
Blumats. Who's using them?
- Thread starter Jjgrow420
- Start date
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
I’m keeping mine around 1.2 in early flower. I went higher and the leaf tips started to burn. I accidentally used a lower EC because I forgot to switched from RO to tap and forgot about deducting the base water. I’m glad I did or I probably would have fried them.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
I'm running 1.2 right now
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
Do you need to periodically flush to keep EC in check?
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Nope. Just watch your plants. I started at 1.0. When I seen them need more i upped to 1.3 seen tips burn so down to 1.2 and riding good now
You can hand water a weak nutrient solution to run off if you want but I don't really do that in promix. Just a couple times only.
JustBlazin
Well-Known Member
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Feel the exact same way, saves so much time and back pain, now I just dump one pail o water into another to fill my res and the plants and soil do the rest. Only time I have to get in the tent now is to top dress(every 2 weeks roughly) and some defoliation
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
I was flushing them every few days, but I stopped a few weeks ago and they've been fine. Just keep the EC low and all should be well.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
I've been a huge proponent of blumats for years. I think one of the reasons many have been skeptical is due to the belief that you have to have X amount of runoff each watering which has somehow become a must do when growing in soiless. Using blumats proves that you don't have to have runoff. Some that overfeed and use too much stuff might have issues but if you feed properly from start to finish there is no need for runoff.
Feeding less constantly rather than feeding heavy frequently with runoff leads to the same results. With blumats you're not dumping a significant amount of nutrient solution down the drain and dealing with collecting runoff.
My next move is going to be switching over to a 4x4 capillary mat. Then I won't even need to deal with the carrots and will be able to just set a fabric pot on the mat and walk away.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Ya I dont really do run off on promix. I may water till run off a couple times through the grow but that's it. I'm really enjoying the blumats though. So easyI've been a huge proponent of blumats for years. I think one of the reasons many have been skeptical is due to the belief that you have to have X amount of runoff each watering which has somehow become a must do when growing in soiless. Using blumats proves that you don't have to have runoff. Some that overfeed and use too much stuff might have issues but if you feed properly from start to finish there is no need for runoff.
Feeding less constantly rather than feeding heavy frequently with runoff leads to the same results. With blumats you're not dumping a significant amount of nutrient solution down the drain and dealing with collecting runoff.
My next move is going to be switching over to a 4x4 capillary mat. Then I won't even need to deal with the carrots and will be able to just set a fabric pot on the mat and walk away.
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
Cannabis plants like a wet/dry cycle in soil especially, I wouldn't use blumat if anything look into drip irrigation.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Cool. If you looked into blumats you would know they run a wet dry cycle. Not just drip for no reason. Better than running a system where you water every x mins whether the medium is wet or not. The carrot takes care of the timing. Dry...water. Wet... Stop repeat
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
I tried blumats and they just constantly kept the coco wet. Maybe I did something wrong then. I accept that. IF they do wet/dry then that sounds pretty amazing when it works. I Used AutoPots and those sucked and claimed to do wet/dry but they did not at all even with 50% coco 50% perlite blend.
Drip irrigation is not constantly dripping lol it uses a timed pump or solenoid to control when plants get fed, also they're very precise on how much water they dose if you're using flow regulators..
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Did you use the trop-f system?
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
Nope just now see it, we tried the classic system a few years back. That system actually seems appealing...
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Ya the other siphon one is much diff then the Trop-f. I can honestly say it's saving me so much time every day it's already paid for itself really.
I've ran diff irrigation before. More timers and pumps. Failures etc. Fuck it. Went back to hand watering. Hated it almost more. Lol. So needed to find something and remember the fellers talking about em so I figured ah what the hell give em a go. Glad I did
calvin.m16
Well-Known Member
I'm going to have to order another kit and try them out on one of my vegetation bays. I'm always looking for something new. I personally hand water for the workout lmao but I'm also in 20 gallon pots sooo way less plants to actually water. I just use a Brute trash bucket on their wheel attachment and go to town with a bucket. haha
Yikes I'd end up needing to run a pump on the system with a pressure reducer, sounding like lots of pieces and parts now. I'd just go back to drip irrigation. Not sure if you ever tried Netafim drippers or FloraFlex but they are damn reliable. I Had 1 dripper out of 36 fail when I used the system. The problem I faced was feeding so many plants required a big jet pump that was heating my nutrient solution too much. Aaaand back to hand watering.....
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
My buddy uses floraflex.. it's ok just not ideal for me.I'm going to have to order another kit and try them out on one of my vegetation bays. I'm always looking for something new. I personally hand water for the workout lmao but I'm also in 20 gallon pots sooo way less plants to actually water. I just use a Brute trash bucket on their wheel attachment and go to town with a bucket. haha
Yikes I'd end up needing to run a pump on the system with a pressure reducer, sounding like lots of pieces and parts now. I'd just go back to drip irrigation. Not sure if you ever tried Netafim drippers or FloraFlex but they are damn reliable. I Had 1 dripper out of 36 fail when I used the system. The problem I faced was feeding so many plants required a big jet pump that was heating my nutrient solution too much. Aaaand back to hand watering.....
Why would you need to run a pump? Just pressure feed it from a res
Billy the Mountain
Well-Known Member
How high to you keep res to get adequate pressure?
I've read the risk of the valve sticking open increases as the pressure decreases; i.e. higher is better.
Flooding is my only real apprehension with the blumats.
I've read the risk of the valve sticking open increases as the pressure decreases; i.e. higher is better.
Flooding is my only real apprehension with the blumats.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
I did what it said and keep the bottom of the res 1 meter above the top of the pot. Plus there's the water in it prob another meter high
I just lined my tent with 20mill pond liner. In a 5x5 12"high that can hold something like 180gallons? My res is only 20 gal and generally only filled between 10-15gal so even if it dumped the whole thing it would hold it no prob which it wouldn't because you'd notice it overwatering. My prob is I think I dialed them back too much to start with so I've had to adjust the good bunch of them to saturate the medium better but a few tweaks and they're all good to go. I've only had to 'reset' one because I had to extend the 3mill line a bit.
lusidghost
Well-Known Member
Run a pump if you want. Pumps are great.