Show Me Your Watering Systems

iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
Looking to get some different ideas on watering systems for indoor organic style growing.

Automatic timer on a schedule, constant drip, how to leave the grow unattended for a week or 2 if needed.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
I am an indoor grower so I grow in fabric pots.

Thinking more like tube systems running to each pot, setup to some kind of automatic controller or constant drip. I have seen a few posts around here with pictures of water rings around the stems and such.
 
O

oKiHai

Active Member
I am sure you can look in the Coco section at some of the DTW builds an see how they are watering. Maybe a PVC loop with top hat grommets and 1/8 drip lines to each pot, pump in a res set on a digital timer where you can program what days and how long you want it to water for. you can find seconds timers on Amazon.
 
B

boybelue

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
For some reason I have not heard of blumats until now. I have done some research today and it's just what I was looking for. I ordered a 5 pack of carrots, will start to experiment next week with them.

thanks
Click to expand...
Blumats work good with plain water, not so good with a nutrient solution.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
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:
F37001CA-5F22-4A1A-8810-F51E91632B26.jpeg
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.
72A9F3DF-73A4-4A6F-A8BF-03AF51B8BE35.jpeg
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:
D7ED1A82-2063-4306-B331-F9AE4696CD0E.jpeg
478719E6-3FA8-4A93-A06D-408B21246F86.jpeg
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.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

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...
Awesome info. I had no idea Blumat came from CO.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
Thanks @Richard Drysift

I think I will use a 18 gallon rubbermaid tote for the water reservoir so I can leave it for awhile.

I see that you have more than one carrot per plant. Is it hard to get them tuned in together? I ordered the 5 inch carrots as I generally grow in 5-7 gallon pots. I was thinking 2 per plant would give more even coverage.
 
Last edited:
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Yes all my plants in the bloom room have two carrots, the smaller size ones I think. They are in 10 or 7 gal pots; I have gotten away with just one but 2 per gives better coverage. I use just one for plants in veg; one per pot is fine up to about a 5gal. They can be a bit tricky to set at first but after a few days you’ll figure it out. Obviously if you get runoff on the floor you adjust the valves back; if the pot feels light increase the drip interval. Using fabric pots virtually eliminates overwatering issues which I could see happening in a solid plastic container with a heavy mix. It helps to keep the feeder hose at around the same height for even distribution; zip tied the hose down to the handles in a few places. You’ll notice moving the hose around can sometimes change the drip rate slightly; you want to set the valves so a drop of water is always hanging off the end. A drip per second is too much; should be more like every 3-5 secs.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

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...
Not sure what this has to do with the topic in here but If you don’t have a clone king or similar type aero cloner your rooting game will always be weak. We have tried cloning every way imaginable; even built DIY aero cloners based on same idea but the Clone King kicks all their asses. Never thought it was worth the $100 they typically charge for one online but then again I usually see roots after 6 days.
I think it is the design of the base reservoir and the position/spacing of the piping that makes it work so well. It helps to keep it super clean inside; wash it out with bleach and let it dry out completely after each run. It also helps to have a very healthy mother plant; the more vigorous the mama the faster they root. I run nothing but tap water in mine for rooting clones. No root hormone no gels. I do keep a tiny bottle of rapid start; 3 drops in the res will feed young clones if let’s say they need be in there for longer than planned.
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
Looking to get some different ideas on watering systems for indoor organic style growing.

Automatic timer on a schedule, constant drip, how to leave the grow unattended for a week or 2 if needed.
Click to expand...
When my wife's away and I have to go on a business trip, I have two Claber Oasis gravity feed drip units that I put together for the plants. They're not ideal, but they get the job done.

I prefer hand watering though when I'm home.
 
meangreengrowinmachine

meangreengrowinmachine

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Not sure what this has to do with the topic in here but If you don’t have a clone king or similar type aero cloner your rooting game will always be weak. We have tried cloning every way imaginable; even built DIY aero cloners based on same idea but the Clone King kicks all their asses. Never thought it was worth the $100 they typically charge for one online but then again I usually see roots after 6 days.
I think it is the design of the base reservoir and the position/spacing of the piping that makes it work so well. It helps to keep it super clean inside; wash it out with bleach and let it dry out completely after each run. It also helps to have a very healthy mother plant; the more vigorous the mama the faster they root. I run nothing but tap water in mine for rooting clones. No root hormone no gels. I do keep a tiny bottle of rapid start; 3 drops in the res will feed young clones if let’s say they need be in there for longer than planned.
Click to expand...
Ha sorry I posted this in the wrong thread man! But thanks for the info!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top