Blumat or other drip system... which is best?

[GanjaAL]

Trying to figure out which would be best?

The Blumat system, a continuous drip or a steady flood on timers.

Biggest fear is leaks and busted lines under pressure. Makes for a bad day...LOL. This will be an indoor project.

So now I am almost done with my revamp of my room. I will be using 15 gallon magic pots with chow mix. From a few threads I have seen with people running chow... they have to water 4-5 times a day with 15 gallon pots. This is the only reason I want to run a drip system. Otherwise... I could handle hand watering twice a day.

Thanks for the time everyone.

 

[kushtrees]

ive only used blumats in pure coco, im not sure blumats would function properally in a hydrotron heavy chow mix. Id be curious to see if anyone has tried that though, i liked the blumats

 

[GanjaAL]

I just may to see what happens. But would like to here from others on their experiences with the product or other drip systems. I am a disabled vet so I will be around to see how she runs so it will not be unattended for very long.

 

[deep buddy]

never used blumats. i have used basket dripper stakes, t's on stakes, and lines zip tied to base of stem. all of these work , my preference being the dripper stakes or ZDTS(zipped tied directly to stem) i dont do a steady drip though either. i run 4 to 6 irrigation cycles a day usually 15 to 30 secs for my 3 gal pure coco in aeration containers.

 

[moodster]

the blumats rock in coco

 

[GreenThumbBill]

Blumats are cool but limited in that they only provide enough water for a limited space in the root zone. You would need 4 of them PER 15g pot. That means expensive and logistically a bit more complicated to setup than what it seems at first glance. I like blumats but think they are best for somebody who is growing a few small plants. I would go with a more traditional drip system if your grow is on the medium to large side.

 

[GanjaAL]

Yea... I will be runny 6 15gallon magic pots using LBH's 4 way scrog. I just do not have the room for trees as my lid is only 8' so I am working on a nice conopy with big buds. Yea the more I am looking at it the more I may have to run a traditional one. Talke to a seasoned gardener and he said I should be able to get away with watering 3x a day which I should be able to handle by hand. If it becomes a proble... I may have to one one decent watering system. Keep the thoughts coming as I am sure with all of us... we will be able to set the standard for watering with minimal pain in the ass...LOL.

*** Keep in mind... this is DTW ****

 

[deep buddy]

Yea... I will be runny 6 15gallon magic pots using LBH's 4 way scrog. I just do not have the room for trees as my lid is only 8' so I am working on a nice conopy with big buds. Yea the more I am looking at it the more I may have to run a traditional one. Talke to a seasoned gardener and he said I should be able to get away with watering 3x a day which I should be able to handle by hand. If it becomes a proble... I may have to one one decent watering system. Keep the thoughts coming as I am sure with all of us... we will be able to set the standard for watering with minimal pain in the ass...LOL.

*** Keep in mind... this is DTW ****

well w/ only 6 plants you can set up a super simple i.e cheap manifold. likely the most expensive part will be a timer that can do short cycles, i use a titan controls apollo 1 ran me about a bill(at cost) also have a drt1 from sentinel(bad ass). or you can run a smaller rez and just refill that a couple times a day once you figure how many gals you need to get desired saturation ie. 20-30% runoff(i do this for my smaller table a 6 gal wastebasket holds a sump pump, i fill once a day and give half in the morning and half for lunch). if you want a constant drip you can get a dimmer for your pump.

 

[cauldron]

i've seen people modify hand pump sprayers so they're fitted to multiple outlet manifold running off to individual drip rings in each pot. pump and let the air pressure do the rest. you can even buy quick disconnect couplings to make it super easy. this way you won't have to worry about electricity or submersible pumps.

 

[moodster]

no you dont need 4 per pot i use blumats maxi and use one per pot

 

[kushtrees]

I used the maxis in 10g pots with coco and one was absolutely not enough

 

[deacon1503]

I used the maxis in 10g pots with coco and one was absolutely not enough

so 2 maxis would be best in a 10g smarty with coco? and then i wont need a short cycle timer as i have been using right? just plumb in the blumats and thats it?

 

[moodster]

sorry m8 thought you said 10 litre LOL

 

[kushtrees]

2 worked for me, worked great, I found with blumats, since your getting very little run off, it was good to water with RO occasionally , I did feed 2 days R0 third. I lower strength nute solution would probably also work, how ever u want to deal with em

Only thing I didn't like about blumats was the gravity feed part, elevating a 100g res was impossible so I had to set up a 5g bucket with float valve and pump, worked well tho

Edit cuz my iPhone spellcheck like to turn blumats into blunts... Go apple

 

[Resinable]

Hey GanjaAl:

FWIW, I have run half inch flex tube, one to each ten or fifteen gallon smart pot with coco perlite. I use irrigation tees at the ends of the tubing to spread the flow a bit and ball valves to even it out between pots. No clogging and you can really flood the top of your container and give your plant a good soak in a very short time (maybe a couple of minutes). You need a powerful pump to do this if you have a large number of plants. I have had great results with this method and I plan on using it with chow mix soon.

 

[GanjaAL]

Cool deal brother... you have any pics?

 

[mrduke]

this thread comes at a perfect time for me. Ive been running coco in a F&D but really want to switch to drip recirculating. the only reason i havnt yet is i know any drippers i get will get clogged and i hate checking them every day.
Does anyone have a diy of how to build a manifold for 20 or so sites?

 

[Resinable]

GanjaAl: Unfortunately, I don't have any pics. That irrigation system was from a previous grow location that is now history. Currently, at my new grow I am watering by hand with a pump and water wand; just too many other priorities to set that up for my first run. Next run will def. automate irrigation though. If you have any questions about how it works I can try to explain it.

mrduke: Clogging .25 inch lines was one of the reasons I went to half inch lines. I put a pump bag type filter on the return to the res and it was smooth sailing with the half inch lines. Also I feel like with the half inch lines the nutrient solution gets applied more evenly than with .25 inch line; more like watering with a water wand; flood the entire upper portion of the container and let the water seep in uniformly.

 

[kushtrees]

[quote="mrduke: Clogging .25 inch lines was one of the reasons I went to half inch lines. I put a pump bag type filter on the return to the res and it was smooth sailing with the half inch lines. Also I feel like with the half inch lines the nutrient solution gets applied more evenly than with .25 inch line; more like watering with a water wand; flood the entire upper portion of the container and let the water seep in uniformly.[/quote]


Ive always thought about trying that. You ever have any splash or media displacement? are you making sure the flow is gentle enough to avoid this?

 

[Resinable]

Kushtrees: I put a tee at the end of the .5 inch feed line and then another small piece of poly on the tee ends going each to another tee to break up the flow and distribute the water. So basically there are four exits for the nut solution in each pot but just one main half inch line per container if that makes sense. Wish I had taken pics so it would be more clear now but I think you get the idea. Anyway there was not too much splashing and negligible media displacement. Like I said it really worked great, I definitely will be doing it again; it was like hand watering each pot but it only takes a small fraction of the time.