Opinions on Blumats

[JustBlazin]

just want to see what people have to say about these things.....they look pretty awesome, I'm thinking of getting these for my organic soil grow, but not sure if I would just be better off with just a water pump on a timer.
would love to hear from some experienced growers that have used blumats. Like do they work well? Are they hard to set up? Have heard you could end up with your full res emptying out(is this true and if so is it a common occurrence). Thanks for any imput

 

[spek9]

@xtsho uses these things and has for some time I believe. He uses a bunch of the drippers with a home-made res. Perhaps he'll pop in later and give his feedback.

 

[ilovereggae]

@SCJedi uses them too and was suggesting them to me at one point.

I have had lots of other stuff to get dialed in (and have a problem with buying "just one more" light) before I got to automated watering. Have gone back and forth between pump with drip emitters, and Blumats. I already bought a bunch of Floraflex caps, drippers, lines, and a pump I just haven't gotten around to setting them up. Partially because I would rather use Blumats - both bc gravity fed and one less thing plugged in seems like it makes more sense, and because it seems like plants really like being able to pull in whatever they want whenever they want, rather than a wet/dry cycle that a scheduled timer would still have.

I am getting close though, and finally figured out how I can get a res tote elevated high enough to make the Blumats work. I also have the same 'res'ervations about run out and flooding my bedroom. (sorry couldn't resist).

The one other thing(s) I am wondering about is how do you deal with top dressing and then watering in? Same goes for compost teas? If the medium is already wet and you drench it with a tea, does it just wait to wick more water from the res until it has sufficiently dried out? I guess I am used to letting the soil get on the dryer side, and then watering in but not too much runoff, to make sure that the plant gets a sufficient helping of whatever I am adding. Hope that makes sense.

 

[xtsho]

Blumats are great. I use them with 100% coco with great results. I know many people say you need to water coco daily with runoff and I used to do that. But I've found out that isn't the case since I've been using the blumats. The key is to never overfeed. You don't get any runoff with blumats so a reduced feed is necessary.

If you're growing in organic soil that is amended and you're basically giving plain water blumats would be a great watering option. If you decide to water with some teas or even other nutrients you can do so without adjusting the blumats. Just hand water if you want. The blumats will sense everything is good and moist and won't release anything until the soil/coco/peat starts to dry out.

You can empty your reservoir if you don't adjust the blumats properly and that has happened to me 1 time and it was my fault. They're easy to set but you need to monitor them for a day and adjust as needed. If you do that you won't have any runaways draining your resivoir.

Also, they're not going to work very well running organic stuff through them that can gunk them up. The lines to the blumat carrots are only 3mm. I run water soluble salts. Things like Jacks, Masterblend, MaxiGrow/Bloom are good choices. I wouldn't run anything dark and sludgy. But that's why with a soil grow they will supply water and if you want to add anything else you can just hand water that in.


A 5 blumat kit is under $50. So the price is reasonable.

 

[JustBlazin]

Blumats are great. I use them with 100% coco with great results. I know many people say you need to water coco daily with runoff and I used to do that. But I've found out that isn't the case since I've been using the blumats. The key is to never overfeed. You don't get any runoff with blumats so a reduced feed is necessary.

If you're growing in organic soil that is amended and you're basically giving plain water blumats would be a great watering option. If you decide to water with some teas or even other nutrients you can do so without adjusting the blumats. Just hand water if you want. The blumats will sense everything is good and moist and won't release anything until the soil/coco/peat starts to dry out.

You can empty your reservoir if you don't adjust the blumats properly and that has happened to me 1 time and it was my fault. They're easy to set but you need to monitor them for a day and adjust as needed. If you do that you won't have any runaways draining your resivoir.

Also, they're not going to work very well running organic stuff through them that can gunk them up. The lines to the blumat carrots are only 3mm. I run water soluble salts. Things like Jacks, Masterblend, MaxiGrow/Bloom are good choices. I wouldn't run anything dark and sludgy. But that's why with a soil grow they will supply water and if you want to add anything else you can just hand water that in.


A 5 blumat kit is under $50. So the price is reasonable.

wow thanks alot that was a great response with lots of helpful information. Can i ask you a few questions? So you use the gravity fed method? Could you use a water pump with them?How is it that the res empties out and what happens if the res gets to low or runs out?

 

[xtsho]

wow thanks alot that was a great response with lots of helpful information. Can i ask you a few questions? So you use the gravity fed method? Could you use a water pump with them?How is it that the res empties out and what happens if the res gets to low or runs out?

You can hook them up to a steady water supply. There is a pressure reducer that allows you to hook it up to a faucet. I'm not comfortable with that myself for an indoor grow. If I get a runaway blumat I'm only going to have 10 - 15 gallons at most on the garage floor with my reservoir.

If the reservoir drops below the outlet and there is no more nutrient solution then your not watering. You don't want to let the reservoir run out. You'll likely have to readjust the blumats to get air out of the lines. I've never let it run out. It's not hard to mix up 5 gallons of nutrient solution once or twice a week.

 

[SCJedi]

I have done 100% coco and Jack's 3-2-1 (with and without runoff) and had great results. 2g buckets

I have done LOS and had great results. 3g grow bags.

I have tried them two years in a row outdoors.in my 30 gallon pots and they have failed me twice. To their benefit it's not really their fault but rather that I live in the same gardening zone as the 5th circle of hell. Blumats and Blusoak just CANNOT keep up.

This year they are being used as backup to basket drippers, a pump, and a 55 gallon barrel. I don't expect much of anything from them this year.

Lots of trials over the past few years. I'm happy to try and answer questions

 

[JustBlazin]

You can hook them up to a steady water supply. There is a pressure reducer that allows you to hook it up to a faucet. I'm not comfortable with that myself for an indoor grow. If I get a runaway blumat I'm only going to have 10 - 15 gallons at most on the garage floor with my reservoir.

If the reservoir drops below the outlet and there is no more nutrient solution then your not watering. You don't want to let the reservoir run out. You'll likely have to readjust the blumats to get air out of the lines. I've never let it run out. It's not hard to mix up 5 gallons of nutrient solution once or twice a week.

thanks again that's some good info appreciate the response
think I'm gonna get them and try them out they sound pretty amazing

 

[SCJedi]

thanks again that's some good info appreciate the response
think I'm gonna get them and try them out they sound pretty amazing

Once you get them set up you will wonder why you ever hand-watered in the first place.

Two critical things to know.

1) You WILL deal with a runaway. IT is just part of playing the game. In my 5x5 lab tent I put a 4x4 tray as a catch basin on the floor. It was originally for accidental runaways and now it is so I can just drag a hose in and water everything down.

2) You cannot leave them carrots "as is" for the entire grow. As your plants grow so does the need for water. I find that I have to pop them open a click or two as the plants really begin to drink lots of water

 

[JustBlazin]

Once you get them set up you will wonder why you ever hand-watered in the first place.

Two critical things to know.

1) You WILL deal with a runaway. IT is just part of playing the game. In my 5x5 lab tent I put a 4x4 tray as a catch basin on the floor. It was originally for accidental runaways and now it is so I can just drag a hose in and water everything down.

2) You cannot leave them carrots "as is" for the entire grow. As your plants grow so does the need for water. I find that I have to pop them open a click or two as the plants really begin to drink lots of water

thanks for the advice
im really looking forward to using these things

 

[Cinco]

I played with them and the danger of runaway and the difficulty in running thicker nutrients through em made it worthwhile for me to put in a real simple “drip” system that has been dead reliable with DTW coco. I put it together for a grand total of $40 Canadian all in.

That said I am planning on digging the blu mats out for another run in organic amended soil. I think they are perfect for that. And I needed to be more patient in bleeding and setting up the system.

 

[xtsho]

I played with them and the danger of runaway and the difficulty in running thicker nutrients through em made it worthwhile for me to put in a real simple “drip” system that has been dead reliable with DTW coco. I put it together for a grand total of $40 Canadian all in.

That said I am planning on digging the blu mats out for another run in organic amended soil. I think they are perfect for that. And I needed to be more patient in bleeding and setting up the system.

Yeah they really work best with clean running synthetic nutrients. Anything thick and sludgy will likely clog up the 3mm lines. For an organic soil run using plain water they'll work great. And if you want to add some teas into the mix you can just hand water those in.

 

[Chipofdale]

They work great once you have them dialed in. Make sure you get the Tropf and not the classic.

It works with a 3mm surgical hose restricted with an adjustable thumbscrew. The tubing was collapsed in a few of my carrots. You have to pull the tubing past the original location and roll the tubing between your fingers and it will operated perfectly.

Watering is no longer an issue and the ladies love it.

 

[hamstring]

I travel for my job so blumats have been my savior. I had a runaway once too but it can be fixed once dialed in.

I use the gravity feed in a loop configuration. It helps to have three shut of valves. One on each outlet of your reservoir and one in the middle of the loop. The one in the middle can be used to keep air out of the lines which can lead to run away. Once a week I open up the middle shutoff valve and drain for a few seconds. I usually see a small hicup of air.

Another thing with gravity feed is to keep your reservoir full so you have good head pressure. The big guys use a pump and two reservoirs .The big res is on the ground and the a small one up n the air. They continuously pump water from the large res up to the small one to keep good head pressure. This helps with runaway a lot and oxygenates the water.

Google it and you fund some really good setups. Many large grow ops ( compared to my basement grow) use blumats for the ease of use.

 

[hamstring]

I have only used them for 6 months but here are some of the negatives I found along with the positives above.

1. I am growing in soil and only wanted to water with zero nutes. I haven't figured out how to do that because with a single carrot only a small portion of the soil in the container gets wet. If you do some research you will see it is a ballon shape of soil in the container that gets wet. All the other soil stays dry. Not sure how that works trying to grow organically. I dont see how the plant can be getting nutrients from dry soil. I went to chem nutes in the res.

2. I used two carrots per 4 gal smart pots and i had some fungus gnats because your soil never completely drys out. It wasnt bad and I'm sure with better management I can do better but wanted to at least share my experience.

 

[xtsho]

I have only used them for 6 months but here are some of the negatives I found along with the positives above.

1. I am growing in soil and only wanted to water with zero nutes. I haven't figured out how to do that because with a single carrot only a small portion of the soil in the container gets wet. If you do some research you will see it is a ballon shape of soil in the container that gets wet. All the other soil stays dry. Not sure how that works trying to grow organically. I dont see how the plant can be getting nutrients from dry soil. I went to chem nutes in the res.

2. I used two carrots per 4 gal smart pots and i had some fungus gnats because your soil never completely drys out. It wasnt bad and I'm sure with better management I can do better but wanted to at least share my experience.

You can hook up multiple drippers to a single carrot to get a wider distribution. I have never found the need in 3 gallon pots of 100% coco. Soil might be different.

 

[hamstring]

Xtsho
Yeah I have seen those drippers and they may be the route to go. I will have to do some trials with them. The nice thing is you can always supplement water or nutes if needed. I am new to them and still learning but they are nice.

Thanks for the input.

 

[JustBlazin]

thanks for the input everyone..i ordered some so hopefully i will get to start using them soon, I like hearing both positives and negatives , that way i know what im in for when i start using them
so if you dont keep enough head pressure you can get air in the lines and cause a runoff?
so what you should try not to get lower than half in the res?
i have a table thats 32 inches high right beside my tent, thats probably too low to put the res on?

 

[Apalchen]

If you already got the flora flex why didn't you just hook those up?

Just curious as I'm thinking if trying the new flora flex micro drip system.

 

[ilovereggae]

If you already got the flora flex why didn't you just hook those up?

Just curious as I'm thinking if trying the new flora flex micro drip system.

I was planning on using the floraflex, but got distracted by idea of Blumats and never followed through. I probably should just set them up on principle since I already bought them and the pump and everything. I just never got around to it. Hand watering is a hard habit to break i guess.