Troph Blumat Thread

[Rasta311]

Well I will be adding to this over the next couple of days. I was asked to make a separate thread for some question about Troph Blumats. I have tried many ways to grow from hydro, soil, aero, and soiless. TB are the perfect system for me. It uses no pumps and very little water. They are very maintenance free as I only have to set them once and check them once every grow. I check when I switch to flowering to make sure everything is dripping correctly and off I go. Instead of explaining in words a video will be better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWPLr0Selh8.
You want the original troph blumats and not the juniors. The juniors work a little different in the sense that the water actually comes from the ceramic cone and not from the dripper. The juniors would not be able to run nutrients due to getting clogged. IMO Blumats and coco are the way to go!

The deck and patio kit is what you are after. Home Harvest has them for around 80 bucks to your door. This includes everything you need to start. It is wise to order extra 3mm dripper line as a very small amount is included in the kit. Its only about 12 inch long for each site so you are pretty restricted on how much you move the plant around. Its not necessary as I never purchased any extra but will help in most people cases.

 

[mrdizzle]

I love the idea, but the grows I have seen that use blumats, dont come out as good I they could. its all relative of course, prove me wrong beatch

 

[casmel]

You have succesfully completed a grow with the system ??

 

[Seamaiden]

Nice! Thanks for starting this. Although, if I may, it appears that TB systems can be applied to almost any "soil like" medium, yes?

 

[Cheeseus]

Side by Side

4x8 2k 5gal Coco
1/4" Drip lines fed 3 times a day for 15 min

Kiddie Pool + Blumut
24/7

:sun

 

[Cheeseus]

They run pretty much the same as drip to waste. They can be a bit touchy so i use kiddy pools as tubs. Works great. Recycling grows a tad faster but more attention is needed.

 

[Rasta311]

I love the idea, but the grows I have seen that use blumats, dont come out as good I they could. its all relative of course, prove me wrong beatch

So then handwatering coco would also come out "not as good". This actually does a better job than handwater coco because it only waters when necessary. And the beauty of it is you can set how wet you want your medium to stay. I could not even begin to think of a reason why this would not perform as good as or better than handwatering. So your not so good grows you have seen are not at fault from blumats. :animbong:

 

[Rasta311]

Nice! Thanks for starting this. Although, if I may, it appears that TB systems can be applied to almost any "soil like" medium, yes?

Yes they can be used in tons of mediums. Even soil. Ive also seen people use these in beds w/ coco. You can also get the blumat maxi and grow some trees!

 

[Rasta311]

They run pretty much the same as drip to waste. They can be a bit touchy so i use kiddy pools as tubs. Works great. Recycling grows a tad faster but more attention is needed.

Not sure if this is what you meant but TB are not meant to be ran as drip to waste.

 

[Seamaiden]

Alright, since it's not a DTW, which is what I currently do in order to ensure least build-up, what levels would you be feeding at? <1.5EC? Well below that? Or do you deal with that another way?

Thanks!

 

[Rasta311]

Honestly I have not used my ec meter in quite a while. Ill measure tonight and get back to you. I start with a 6:9 GH base. I also supplement with powder cool bloom a few times during flowering. Now for buildup. I cant not stress how important using H&G drip clean is. It prevents salt build up like no other and a little goes a long way with the stuff. Ive had the small bottle for 2 years now and spilled some last night by accident....I still have a quarter of a bottle left.

 

[Cheeseus]

Not sure if this is what you meant but TB are not meant to be ran as drip to waste.

Am i supposed to be recycling the nutes?:blush

 

[Cheeseus]

Alright, since it's not a DTW, which is what I currently do in order to ensure least build-up, what levels would you be feeding at? <1.5EC? Well below that? Or do you deal with that another way?

Thanks!

THIS is drip to waste. You just DONT use A timer instead just a Mechanical method which measures moisture.

Example....this is the same as a Commercial farmer that has a moisture probe/meter that run dripers instead of a timed Cycle.

The reason for the kiddie pool is on a "few" instances i have had a Blumut not shut off. There are a bunch of little things that need to be tweaked but they do work.

 

[Tesseract]

So then handwatering coco would also come out "not as good". This actually does a better job than handwater coco because it only waters when necessary. And the beauty of it is you can set how wet you want your medium to stay. I could not even begin to think of a reason why this would not perform as good as or better than handwatering. So your not so good grows you have seen are not at fault from blumats. :animbong:

I don't mean to be rude, but I find this incorrect.

When it comes to the complete area being saturated with the mixture, and the accuracy of which it is done, there is no substitute for hand watering.
With hand watering, you are in complete control.
Drip emitters most often do not saturate all of the soil unless you have a few around the pot or a ring. It can leave "hotspots" of uncorrected PH and Nutrient flux.

The idea of watering the plant in the first place should ONLY be done if necessary. When you hand water, you are individually checking around each plant and its rhizosphere/medium.

Now for ease of use, emitters allow you to water every plant without the back breaking work of hand watering. Its main purpose if for saving time and effort for the grower. Hand watering is still the best tactic for complete control of any medium like soil or coco.

With that said, I look forward to seeing this thread grow as well.
Cheeseus,
Great looking plants! Always great to see a side by side comparison!

I throw both of you mad respect!

T

 

[Rasta311]

Am i supposed to be recycling the nutes?:blush

LOL not sure what the hell I was talking about. At first glance I for some reason thought you were recycling the the nutes with TP which would be bad. Ill chalk that up to a high moment.

 

[Rasta311]

I don't mean to be rude, but I find this incorrect.

When it comes to the complete area being saturated with the mixture, and the accuracy of which it is done, there is no substitute for hand watering.
With hand watering, you are in complete control.
Drip emitters most often do not saturate all of the soil unless you have a few around the pot or a ring. It can leave "hotspots" of uncorrected PH and Nutrient flux.

The idea of watering the plant in the first place should ONLY be done if necessary. When you hand water, you are individually checking around each plant and its rhizosphere/medium.

Now for ease of use, emitters allow you to water every plant without the back breaking work of hand watering. Its main purpose if for saving time and effort for the grower. Hand watering is still the best tactic for complete control of any medium like soil or coco.

With that said, I look forward to seeing this thread grow as well.
Cheeseus,
Great looking plants! Always great to see a side by side comparison!

I throw both of you mad respect!

T

Have you ever used TB? With these things you are in complete control over the watering and I promise there are not dry spots. Without a doubt in my mind do I believe that these are better than handwatering. And I disagree with the idea of watering coco when it starts to dry. Coco should not be treated like soil.

 

[Tesseract]

Have you ever used TB? With these things you are in complete control over the watering and I promise there are not dry spots. Without a doubt in my mind do I believe that these are better than handwatering. And I disagree with the idea of watering coco when it starts to dry. Coco should not be treated like soil.

When the term "dry" is used in coco it's meant as moist like a sponge. I am very familiar with the characteristics of coco and was not comparing it to soil in any regards.

Unless the medium is being saturated at the top, which 1 emitter will not do, there will be a slightly uneven distribution, its simple logic. Its also simple logic in the fact that you, being there hand watering, allows you to personally view the area and assess the situation right then and there. This a lots custom tailoring specific to the plants need based on proper mixtures. Not all plants grow the same or use the same level nutrients even from the same mother. Its all based on where it is in the room.

T

 

[Tesseract]

And no, I have never used a TB before, but the idea is very simple. It is a fact that my 1/4 drip emitters with a 400 gph pump per table will supply more h2o at a faster rate to saturate the top of the medium then a gravity fed or low pressure TB. WIth that said, I and every other grower using a decent size pot with 1 emitter will receive uneven distribution of the mixture.

T

 

[Seamaiden]

Honestly I have not used my ec meter in quite a while. Ill measure tonight and get back to you. I start with a 6:9 GH base. I also supplement with powder cool bloom a few times during flowering. Now for buildup. I cant not stress how important using H&G drip clean is. It prevents salt build up like no other and a little goes a long way with the stuff. Ive had the small bottle for 2 years now and spilled some last night by accident....I still have a quarter of a bottle left.

Thanks for remembering that little tidbit about the Drip Clean. (Speaking of which, I've found some ag products that we intend to use for our veggie garden drip system, wondering if they're comparable products.)

Those measurements would be very, very helpful, thank you Rasta. :)

THIS is drip to waste. You just DONT use A timer instead just a Mechanical method which measures moisture.

I am handwatering til run-off. Only timers being used currently are for lights and fans. Upon initial examination, though, it appears that the TB system won't "overwater", i.e. water to the point of significant run-off (that lovely 20% number we coco growers love to work with).

Example....this is the same as a Commercial farmer that has a moisture probe/meter that run dripers instead of a timed Cycle.

The reason for the kiddie pool is on a "few" instances i have had a Blumut not shut off. There are a bunch of little things that need to be tweaked but they do work.

Ah..! Now see, I didn't know this was possible, I thought that this thing was essentially capillary action at work. There is no way to "make" it do that, at least to a degree, is there? Or have you found that you see few issues with nutrient build-up in the medium? That's one of my concerns here, and if it's an issue I would like to know how it's commonly or best handled.

 

[Tesseract]

Nice call Seamaiden with the 15-20% runoff. In a drain to waste, this is essential!

Why didn't I think of that ;)

T