Tommy's Wet Microbes Grow Stinky Stanky Weed

[Tommy McCain]

Whats going on my name is Tommy. Some of you have seen me around the forum for a few months and I figure it is time to post. I guess for some "street cred" as they call it. I have been a grower for a few years but not posted on any forum. I have only grown organic except once (just to see what the hype was) and I was not pleased with chemical results. I started with organics and will stick with it. Also, I am not an autoflower grower and more of a photo guy. Luckily for me I had an extended trip earlier this summer and had to restart my garden about a month ago. I have a veg cabinet so I decided to run a few faster autos (freebees) in my flower cabinet in some smaller pots (I usually run one 15 gallon pot and a 7 gallon in my flower cab).

OK, I have everyone up to date. Now.

After every grow I would hope every grower asks "what did I do well on this grow?" and "What did I f#@K up? Last year I added Blumats to my 15 gallon bed after asking myself what I did wrong.

As an organic grower I struggled with keeping my pots hydrated sufficiently to keep that microbe party going. I would harvest and look at my roots and feel like they did not use every inch of the soil. After reading some on the subject I learned that watering you plants daily the water will wash down the same path in the pot. Over time the pots would develop "dry spots" on the edges that no roots would grow into. So I switched to blumats and have never been happier. Root growth is off the charts and my plants are happy and so am I (auto watering system...are you kidding!!! SO SWEET).

Below are two "experiments" I have been running with the three autos I am running. I know other have done this before. I am not the inventor of either of these ideas (although I haven't seen the surface blumat used with a 5 gallon pot before).

This is a Surface Blumat on a piece of capillary fabric. It has been on this pad for three weeks now. there are very small roots coming out of the bottom of the pot. When it dries up it opens a small valve and water from a reservoir opens and wets the bottom of the pot.

NYCD Auto Root and shoot growth took off after the Blumat addition.

My other two plants are in a SIP. I put weed fabric down and then added perlite. I then fill it up with water til about 2-3cm below the pot. Again root growth CRAZY!!!

Look at those roots coming out! I love it.

Happy Plants. (Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth Auto and Dutch Passion Master Kush)

These plants are water only with some kelp and neem top dress. I have also watered in with fulpower, silica, and aloe. I still top water but much less. The plants use WAY more water then you think if you are just top watering. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[hecno]

Very interesting stuff you have going on there , Can you tell me what a Blumat is ? and I see you have Cob lights , is it 4 in the room . I am hoping to have some soon .

 

[Tommy McCain]

Very interesting stuff you have going on there , Can you tell me what a Blumat is ? and I see you have Cob lights , is it 4 in the room . I am hoping to have some soon .

Ok typically I used the traditional blumat which is a prob that goes in the top 3 inches of soil (pic below). The concept is the same with the Surface Blumat. The bottom of the blumat is made of terracotta like a clay pot. You soak them in water for an hour so the clay absorbs the water. Next water your plant thoroughly. When the plant dries up it pulls water out of the clay. Once the clay drys out, the pressure change opens a valve. Water comes down the line and keeps your plant constantly moist throughout your grow. I have the whole thing hooked up to a reservoir but you can also use a pressure reducer and a hose (no refilling reservoir). You can adjust how wet you want your pot with a dial on top of the Blumat. The plants love it. I was amazed with how much water my plants take when they are evenly moist throughout the pot. And root growth is off the HOOK!!

Yep I run 4 x 3590 at 200w. I also have a 150 hps in between the four lights. I have been running this light for a year now and I am very happy. I had a 600w HPS before but could only grow in winter because of heat. Now I run it year round!!

 

[hecno]

That is so cool a idea , Do you think 1 would do a 27 ltr pot .

 

[Tommy McCain]

That is so cool a idea , Do you think 1 would do a 27 ltr pot . [emoji106]

One should work but they recommend using pot width to decide how many you need. They also have drippers you can add to a single blumat for a larger pot. The link has a ton of information on them. They are a quality product made in Austria. They make me the laziest gardener in the world.


https://www.sustainablevillage.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=40

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[hecno]

@Tommy McCain You have opened up a can of worms for me .mate , I can see the places this can go . , I have found some here in Australia . If it is not a problem can you expand a bit more of your technique .

 

[Tommy McCain]

I bought the starter kit with the original blumat and use them with a 5 gallon bucket. I have to fill the bucket about every 3-5 days depending on temps. I know you keep some girls outside and this can be hooked up to a pressure reducer for a hose.

This is the kit I first bought. It has everything you would need to start with a reservoir. All you would need is a bucket or plastic drum and a drill. All you need is one reservoir but some guys use two.

On my current grow I am using a surface blumat. This is the same but only waters the bottom of the plant through capillary fabric (it really just felt fabric). The fabric feeds the water to the bottom of the pot through the blumat. The crazy thing is that the fabric is dry everywhere except under the pot and blumat...must be magic.

Here are some pictures of the distribution drippers you can add to a single blumat.

One last issue that I only had once and is not an issue unless you are indoors (worst case I have about 4 gallons to clean up). You will occasionally have a "runaway" where they will over water your plants. I check my plants daily and have a smaller reservoir then my catch tray under the pots. This rarely happens but I have heard of guys complaining about it and I thought you would want to know. If you search online there are guys who use a double large reservoir to stop this problem. Also I bet you get some rain there? I have seen guys hook this up to a rain catch setup for the ultimate lazy gardener setup.

 

[NastyN8t]

I've been running blumats for awhile now and my plants love it. Water only organics w light feeds FTW!!!!! I learned of them on other forums and haven't found a cheaper,lazier way to increase my crop and cut my time.

 

[alex hotchrome]

I also use surface blumat, this is my first time using 'em. It's keeping the 2/3 from the bottom of my pots moist, not wet, not dry, perfect. It's EXTREMELY EASY to set up and adjust. No tools, all you need is scissors, buy it from sustainable village (not amazon) and on their website make sure you get the reservoir, 8mm silicon tubing, 3mm tubing, enough capillary mat, enough perforated plastic, and the reservoir they sell comes ready to go. And all this is cheap as fuck too!

i use two 2x4 trays, that are leveled on particle boards and shims, my apartment is very crooked.

one surface blumat on each tray, then i made a T, attached two tubes to it that reach each end of the tray. I put drippers at the end, but i don't even think i need the drippers at all. this shit looks complicated but it is absolutely not, if you're trying to figure it out you are overthinking it

The wet mat also helps to keep my humidity high, in this 95 F heat, my plants are growing faster than usual, big new leaves on every branch everyday, I think weed it likes a warm/windy/humid stable environment. VPD is more important than lights and nutrients, some say. (not me!)