Blumats... Anyone using these for their smaller auto grows??

[Cave Dirt Cody]

I believe I may have read somewhere that having too much perlite in the soul messes with the blumats.

How much is to much, I wonder?

 

[Greytoke]

In my opinion you don't need any perlite in coco as it holds plenty of oxygen on it's own.

I run Blumats sometimes. I used to use them for bigger photo grows of 15 plants or so. Now that I've scaled things down I haven't used them on a smaller grow yet. But in a few days I'll be running them again, this time on a smaller grow of 4 or 5.

I would also recommend using the big carrots that go deeper into the substrate as opposed to the small ones.

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

In my opinion you don't need any perlite in coco as it holds plenty of oxygen on it's own.

I run Blumats sometimes. I used to use them for bigger photo grows of 15 plants or so. Now that I've scaled things down I haven't used them on a smaller grow yet. But in a few days I'll be running them again, this time on a smaller grow of 4 or 5.

I would also recommend using the big carrots that go deeper into the substrate as opposed to the small ones.View attachment 1421073

If I ever use coco again. It would be a 50/50 coco /perlite flood and drain.

Is their any reason why people don’t use vermiculite with coco? Looks to be a perfect match to me.

 

[DCLXVI]

I have a set of the blumat carrots also. I will say they work well with soil but not at all with coco from my experience.

I do highly recommend watching several of the YT videos on setting them up for assembly. When you are soaking them, keep the screw on "cap" part under water and use a syringe to flush water through the cap. Do it until all the bubbles come out and they work much better. It's hard to explain but once you have them in hand and you can look at the underside of the cap, you will see the three holes that you need to flush water through. Keep it submerged when you do so and screw them onto the carrot.

I have not tried them with a nutrient solution just plain water. I am currently running them with a test of the Growdots. The plant was badly stunted but really singing right now. I think the way I blended in the growdots wasn't great but not much info on them right now. Second run will probably work very well. I have a 5 gal bucket as a reservoir to feed the blumats and 4 carrots irrigating a 3.5gal airpot.

I suspect a well dialed Blumat system with an organic soil grow would be ideal.


Promix, growdots, 3.5g airpot, blumats. I've added nothing and even gave up pH-ing the res as I planned to pull it around day 28 and just didnt get to it as I didn't feel like messing about with removing the res. And now by day 36 it's not looking too bad.


Going great at the start

Unhappy times....

And now rocketing along again.....

 

[Nannymouse]

We got a bunch of the small carrots and used some of them in an outdoor tomato pot and a pot with a 'giant' type kohlrabi, just as 'supplemental' watering, as we have been hauling ALL of our water for gardens and household. The carrots carried us over real well, in between 'regular' (not) watering. This was in big pots of heavy clay type soil, just dirt from the garden. It was a 'severe' drought growing season, and i doubt that any potted plants would have survived without them. Thumbs up, from me.

 

[indicalla]

I had good results the first time I used them. When I hand-watered previously I chronically underwatered, and the Blumats really Eliminated that problem. Had some Minor issues but nothing like what I dealt with when I tried to hand water in my earlier grows. I just chopped the third and final plant on the system from her 5-gallon pot. I’m about to go on a growing hiatus unfortunately, but when I resume in the future, I’ll do so with Blumats in my garden again I believe.

 

[Hunter11]

I had good results the first time I used them. When I hand-watered previously I chronically underwatered, and the Blumats really Eliminated that problem. Had some Minor issues but nothing like what I dealt with when I tried to hand water in my earlier grows. I just chopped the third and final plant on the system from her 5-gallon pot. I’m about to go on a growing hiatus unfortunately, but when I resume in the future, I’ll do so with Blumats in my garden again I believe.

Why the hiatus? I am switching my grows almost completely to earthboxes... I under water frequently also. But I'm thinking I might try to squeeze a few smaller pots into the grow just to make sure I fill up the tent. It has come to my realization that if you are going to pay for and run a light that will flower a 4x4 area... You might as well fill up that area. I'm currently using up about half of my 4x4 with 6 autos. Well I might as well have just got a 2x4 tent then... I am getting better at hand watering... But an automated system would be great. I may use the blumats in smaller grows of 3 or 4 pots if I don't have earthboxes ready.

 

[indicalla]

Why the hiatus?

I’m in prohibition land and am about to get my house ready to list. When I get settled somewhere new, I’ll get rolling again for sure.

 

[Hunter11]

I’m in prohibition land and am about to get my house ready to list. When I get settled somewhere new, I’ll get rolling again for sure.

I know that feeling. I just moved into a new house last summer.

 

[becauseofseizers]

I have to leave for 10 days at a time. I use living soil in a small person tent. The blumats once dialed innwork great. A airrater innthe buckets prevents scum buildup.

The scum build up and get in the lines and block where the blumat pinches the line. This can be a problem. If you get a clog rather then adjust the screw try putting onnthe line 1/2 inch it usually removes the blockage.

I plan on doing blumat tape in my real outdoor garden this year to water more evenly.