Nice Grow
@Ozone69 !
I'm interested in the Blumat's , looks like they worked well for you. Are you still using them? Earlier on you said you had to get them dialed in. What did that entail? Nice root shots on the surface, how were the roots in the rest of the pot? Did they fill it? What size carrot are you using? Do you feel the Blumat's kept the whole pot moist top to bottom?
thanks :smoking:
Wow...draggin' out the old thread. Thanks for stopping by and checking it out!!!
Yes..I still use them in my closet grows. They still work great.
Earlier on you said you had to get them dialed in. What did that entail?
The dialing in is getting them adjusted in to the right moisture level that you want them to maintain. Here's the quick and dirty on the procedure I use to setup and dial in:
- At least a half hour before your going to setup, take the Blumat cap off and put the pieces in a container of water. Make sure they are submerged and wiggle around to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Get the soil in your pot nicely saturated. Not going for mud, but basically the kind of moistness you would normally shoot for when hand watering. Right about to where it starts to run off is good.
- When you're ready, PUT THE CAP ON THE BLUMAT UNDERWATER. This is important to make sure there are no air bubbles in the interior water reservoir inside the Blumat's cone.
- Insert the Blumat into the dirt about halfway between the plant in the middle of the pot and the edge of the pot. I like to angle the drip line and place it so that it is also at about a halfway point.
- Open the valve on the Blumat until the water flows freely (make sure no pinches or restrictions)
- Dial it back down slowly until the water slows to a slow drip.
- Keep dialing it down until you get a drip every 12-15 seconds or so. I'll then go two to three more of the little dash marks on the adjustment.
- Over the next several days, keep an eye on the saturation level and the drip rate and adjust slightly up/down as you feel is needed.
I wouldn't say that the roots filled the pots, but they did fill a good portion. They were denser on the side with the drip location, but there were still some trace roots on the opposite side of the pot. The standard Blumat that I use with just the single drip line doesn't keep the WHOLE pot moist. It's pretty much going to make mostly a cone shaped area under where it drips. Right there, as evidenced by the roots poking out of the surface, is where the bulk of the moisture is. From there, the moisture spreads out randomly through the soil, but with how gravity and such work you can expect a mostly cone shaped area. The water will spread through capillary action in the medium as well, so does keep a good chunk of the pot moist. That being said, though, if I put a finger in the pot on the opposite side of where the drip is, it's going to fell VERY dry next to the surface.
The ceramic cone portion that is the moisture detector part of the Blumat is a couple inches from the drip point, and you can adjust the hose length to control this. So that will also play in to the area that is kept moist. If you get into their remote drippers and running multiple drippers off of one cone, you can pretty much customize it to how you want it to work. I only run 5 gallon pots, and use the taller skinny versus the wide ones, so just the cone and simple, single drip seems to work for that.
Not mine, but here's a good example of that I found on the web. You can see they're running two cone sensors each driving about three drippers to really spread it out around the large pot.
I dunno...kind of just rambling on now. Going to stop and re-read and see if any of this is likely to make sense. LOL
P.S. If you're looking at automated watering systems and haven't already seen 'em, Autopot's are another popular option. Mention it just because they seem to work really well for several folks around the AFN forums and are another good option. Work completely different, so didn't think they would fit my closet setup as well as the Blumat's, but they are worth a peek. :smoking:
a good and lovely sign indeed O3, it's like Fall in that tent! 
....scope those trichs and see where they're at, and plan your harvest accordingly,...since you're organic, no real need for a cleansing period..... C+ is doing well? Earth juice makes good stuff! ...pick up the Microblast if you can, that's a fine micronutrient supplement,... You thinking of using the Meta-K along with the other bloom nutes? Just be sure to add your P-K numbers up and evaluate the balance,....
