Earth juice and Blumats

[Snarglefarf]

Hey farmers! I'm relatively new here so hello!
I'm planning out my bog seed grow I'm starting in a week or so and I've googled and googled but can't find anyone on the interwebs who has attempted to run earth juice with blumats. This is gonna be a straight coco grow and I liked the results I got with earth juice on my last grow. However, I'm gonna be growing more plants so it'd be nice to automate watering this time but earth juice tends to sludge up. So idk if blumats would work and I was even thinking about switching back to soul synthetics. I just don't like the price tag lol. Any input is appreciated!

 

[1diesel1]

Hey farmers! I'm relatively new here so hello!
I'm planning out my bog seed grow I'm starting in a week or so and I've googled and googled but can't find anyone on the interwebs who has attempted to run earth juice with blumats. This is gonna be a straight coco grow and I liked the results I got with earth juice on my last grow. However, I'm gonna be growing more plants so it'd be nice to automate watering this time but earth juice tends to sludge up. So idk if blumats would work and I was even thinking about switching back to soul synthetics. I just don't like the price tag lol. Any input is appreciated!

Do not use Blumats for anything but straight water. It will clog your 3mm tubing like you will not believe.
And it’s a pain in the ass to clean all that shit out of your system and holding tank.
Believe me, I tried it!! Freakin rookie mistake!! Lol:)

 

[cemchris]

Blumats are good at 1 thing. Dumping water on the ground or killing plants. Honestly if you want to stick to automated watering with earth juice use 1/4 drip lines with a powerful pump behind it. That will get rid of any clogging issues. Stay away from 1/8 line (3mm) with anything non synthetic or just stay away for 1/8 all together unless you are running big ass pots, full synthetic, and need multi drippers per pot and don't want to shell out the money for a big pump to support the pressure for multi drippers per plant w/ 1/4 line running 15 plus plants. Just with something like earth juice I would clean/replace the lines every 2 rounds or so or even every round to be on the safe side. Or run something like drip clean. 100ft of 1/4 in drip line is under 20 bucks. You can build the whole system , minus the pump, from home depot for like 70 bucks including the rez and timer. How many plants?

 

[Snarglefarf]

Thanks for the replies! Well shit I was under the impression hydro growers were using blumats so thanks for the heads up.

 

[1diesel1]

Blumats are good at 1 thing. Dumping water on the ground or killing plants. Honestly if you want to stick to automated watering with earth juice use 1/4 drip lines with a powerful pump behind it. That will get rid of any clogging issues. Stay away from 1/8 line (3mm) with anything non synthetic or just stay away for 1/8 all together unless you are running big ass pots, full synthetic, and need multi drippers per pot and don't want to shell out the money for a big pump to support the pressure for multi drippers per plant w/ 1/4 line running 15 plus plants. Just with something like earth juice I would clean/replace the lines every 2 rounds or so or even every round to be on the safe side. Or run something like drip clean. 100ft of 1/4 in drip line is under 20 bucks. You can build the whole system , minus the pump, from home depot for like 70 bucks including the rez and timer. How many plants?

Completely agree with you on the blumat!
Seemed like a good thing at the time. I’ve only ran them once this summer. 12 plants in 100 gallon pots all in a loop. Was hoping to refill every 4 days but the fuckin things just dump water and I had to fill every day unless I shut the valves off. I’ll try again next summer but on a smaller scale.

 

[Snarglefarf]

Blumats are good at 1 thing. Dumping water on the ground or killing plants. Honestly if you want to stick to automated watering with earth juice use 1/4 drip lines with a powerful pump behind it. That will get rid of any clogging issues. Stay away from 1/8 line (3mm) with anything non synthetic or just stay away for 1/8 all together unless you are running big ass pots, full synthetic, and need multi drippers per pot and don't want to shell out the money for a big pump to support the pressure for multi drippers per plant w/ 1/4 line running 15 plus plants. Just with something like earth juice I would clean/replace the lines every 2 rounds or so or even every round to be on the safe side. Or run something like drip clean. 100ft of 1/4 in drip line is under 20 bucks. You can build the whole system , minus the pump, from home depot for like 70 bucks including the rez and timer. How many plants?

I was gonna plant maybe 15-20 beans hoping for 8 or 10 after culling males since I've read bogs gear tends to veg slow and doesn't stretch much. I've made diy top feed systems before but was looking to just buy something I can throw together quick. I guess I'll diy this one too and maybe try black holes 1/2 inch drippers.

 

[cemchris]

I was gonna plant maybe 15-20 beans hoping for 8 or 10 after culling males since I've read bogs gear tends to veg slow and doesn't stretch much. I've made diy top feed systems before but was looking to just buy something I can throw together quick. I guess I'll diy this one too and maybe try black holes 1/2 inch drippers.

If you want something permanent with the ability to shut off sites:

730 gph ecoplus bottom draw pump and 2 to 3 - 6 sites manifolds will support that many plants with no problem (more then 3 you will have pressure problems). 1/2 pvc to 3/4 barb and a 3/4 line from barb to pump.

Ill even give you a parts list:

2 - 1/2 pvc schedule 40 pieces of pipe. (this is for 4 x 8 might need less if less space)
5 - 1/2 90's non threaded
1 - 1/2 T non threaded
2-3 - 1/2 T's with the middle outlet female threaded (mainfold #'s)
2-3 - 6 site 1/2 threaded manifolds (1/4 line)
2-3 - 1/2 threaded pieces of pipe for sprinkler risers male on both ends (home depot - gray in sprinkler section)
1 - 1/2 pvc fitting to 3/4 threaded female.
1 - 3/4 male threaded to 3/4 barb fitting (I like the blue ones better then the gray ones - home depot)
Roll of 1/4 drip line
Drip stakes to hold the line
PVC primer and glue
Whatever size rez you want

That's it.

Home Depot special. Mine are going on 2 years now being bleached to shit after each run with zero issues and zero leaks. This is setup for tables just to give you any idea but that's the basics of any of it. 1 suggestion I will give you tho is make a loop. If it doesnt loop back you can have an issue with air getting trapped and messing up the flow to some of the drippers.

For 2 outlets (12 drippers) one on the left and right. For 3 outlets 2 on left and 1 on right staggered. Anymore then 3 you need a way bigger pump ecopluses and all that wont work. You have to go to stuff like Leaders for the pressure. I run 17 plants single dripper per table reg on this setup.

Hey don't even think about commenting on my plumbing skills or I will prime and glue your mouth shut haha

 

[cemchris]

Forgot to mention timer. $14 at the depot if you want to do full min adjustments of feeds (1 min being min). If not Titan makes cheap cyclestats for getting into the seconds ect. Also this is assuming you are in the US and have a Home Depot. Any irrigation supply house will have all of this stuff.

 

[Snarglefarf]

If you want something permanent with the ability to shut off sites:

730 gph ecoplus bottom draw pump and 2 to 3 - 6 sites manifolds will support that many plants with no problem (more then 3 you will have pressure problems). 1/2 pvc to 3/4 barb and a 3/4 line from barb to pump.

Ill even give you a parts list:

2 - 1/2 pvc schedule 40 pieces of pipe. (this is for 4 x 8 might need less if less space)
5 - 1/2 90's non threaded
1 - 1/2 T non threaded
2-3 - 1/2 T's with the middle outlet female threaded (mainfold #'s)
2-3 - 6 site 1/2 threaded manifolds (1/4 line)
2-3 - 1/2 threaded pieces of pipe for sprinkler risers male on both ends (home depot - gray in sprinkler section)
1 - 1/2 pvc fitting to 3/4 threaded female.
1 - 3/4 male threaded to 3/4 barb fitting (I like the blue ones better then the gray ones - home depot)
Roll of 1/4 drip line
Drip stakes to hold the line
PVC primer and glue
Whatever size rez you want

That's it.

Home Depot special. Mine are going on 2 years now being bleached to shit after each run with zero issues and zero leaks. This is setup for tables just to give you any idea but that's the basics of any of it. 1 suggestion I will give you tho is make a loop. If it doesnt loop back you can have an issue with air getting trapped and messing up the flow to some of the drippers.

View attachment 897361

For 2 outlets (12 drippers) one on the left and right. For 3 outlets 2 on left and 1 on right staggered. Anymore then 3 you need a way bigger pump ecopluses and all that wont work. You have to go to stuff like Leaders for the pressure. I run 17 plants single dripper per table reg on this setup.

View attachment 897362

View attachment 897363

View attachment 897364

Hey don't even think about commenting on my plumbing skills or I will prime and glue your mouth shut haha

Thanks for the advice. It's for a 4x4 table. I'll scale this down and give it a try. Maybe a 500 gph pump instead since it's a 4x4 table?

 

[cemchris]

I'd still get the 730 bottom draw. It's not much more on the wallet and pressure is always a nice thing. 730 on a 4x4 for me with 4 sites doesnt have enough pressure to run 20 lines off 1/4 just to give you an idea.