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water "Tropf Blumat" water system

I've used something similar (cheaper brand) with great success.
Be sure to let soak the ceramic cones in water for half an hour before the usage.
 
Cya
 
Datil
 
They work fine for some time. But after a view weeks the plants adjust:
14569748ah.jpg

 
 
This was an indoor-plant. It didn't get water from a different source. After a while the substrate kept being dried out but the plant (Bhut Chocolate) looked great. As I use coated fertilizer (Basacote) it is not that optimal.
During the hot days we have in Austria at the moment they help - but not as primary source of water.
For a view weeks of holidays they are great.
 
At the moment I experiment with changing the position of the cone every week.
 
Liebe Grüße
Adrian
 
i used to run like 25 blumats in my garden fertigation setup. they are so stupid simple in principal, i love them in that respect. they are great, a bit costly, but they work really really well. But i dont think they are the best solution for very large setups.

at a certain point 5bucks per emitter becomes cost prohibitive when you want to up scale to dozens and dozens of plants. at this point it makes alot more sense to spend on a pressurized fertigation type system.

for like... 1 - 12 plants you cant really beat them. i never had one clog up completely... i did have several get these little kinks in the pinch valves that would not fully un kink. you just had to pull the tubing out a little however and all was good. also i noticed a fair bit of carbonate scaling collecting at the pinch points inside the tubing.

imo they need... probably weekly attention to assure 100% good operation. every now an then kick the containers around with your feet... find the ones that are lighter, and inspect the blumats for kinks/carbonate blockages if you have hard water.
 
yes i have found that its getting expensive.
with the Irrigation pipes and the pressure regulator+adapters its going up to 20$ for each pot 
so i will take this as good advice: "makes alot more sense to spend on a pressurized fertigation type system"
 
also i have found the the water are very hard and contains also very high cal' that can damage (block) the ceramic of the blumats
 
ive never had any problems with the ceramic of the blumats. if they somehow do get clogged, its probably fixable with a soak in some dilute acid.


edit:
Dani8538 said:
also i have found the the water are very hard and contains also very high cal' that can damage (block) the ceramic of the blumats
Click to expand...
i just realized we might be talking about different products. doesn't blumat also make a product that essentially wicks water down through the cone itself?
when you mention being concerned that the ceramic will get clogged, im assuming you are reffering to that product, as opposed to the product that acts like a small tensiometer.

the tensio meter product that actually opens and closes a small pinch valve should not be veunerable to carbonate blockages within the ceramic. they DO have a tendency; and i mentioned this above,to form a small clog at the pinch point where the blumat controls the flow of water through the dripper tubing.

however i must again mention ive NEVER had a blumat clog completely. when they kink or get partially blocked they tend to just drip at a reduced rate.

they are really an ingenious solution to irrigation, but only on a small scale.

some golf corses and high tech agriculture centers actually use something very similar. they basically use a set of tensio meters at different depths set out in the field to be irrigated. they are mated with vacuum sensors that detect a water deficit conditions and then trigger an irrigation cycle.

imo this is by far the best way to irrigate crops. a tensiometer is much better than a crude rain sensor/humidistat thermostat combo used by many.
 
Yeah, the pic Adriano posted seems to be the result of the "Blumat" cones, not the "Tropf Blumat" (Tropf means Drip btw).
 
I wouldn't recommend it for large systems either, but for 10-30 plants it's about the best thing you can get.
 
I can give a bit of a long-term review of the system, as I've been running mine for over 10 years now, without complaints. 2 of the dripper heads broke (water in the reservoir ran out, the soil dried up completely, the resulting vacuum in the cones broke the heads) so i had to replace the heads. The hose has become a little stiff, so I also broke one of the connectors going to the actual drippers when disassembling the system. 
So in the long run, not an expensive system, mine was less then 10$ a year.
 
I don't quite get how you arrive at 20$ a pot, the starter set with 12 drippers is 45€, the pressure reducer goes for 24€, so with a bit of additional hose you should stay well below 10$ a plant.
 
blumat maxi (for bigger pots) is 4.5 € each
distributor+tube (for 2-3 drippers per pots) is 2 € for each pots
pressure reducer  is 24€
water supply is  tube is 8€
total for 10 pots: 100€ + delivery + tax(18%) -its 150€~ = 200$  :neutral:
 
anyway i have found a local brand "elgo" that is much cheaper
for 12 pots is all about 60$ inc tubing&pressure regulator, no delivery, no extra tax. (regular drippers, no maxi)
 
By tax i suppose you mean some kind of import tax? - Because the prices on the blumat-site include VAT (which you don't have to pay if they're exported, but i guess you have to "remind" them of that fact ;) ) 
 
Also you don't need the maxi-drippers for anything up to 20-25 liter pots, so you should be OK with the 3m starter set and it should be closer to 100€ incl. delivery.
 
But still: the delivery to israel is quite steep, so it's way better to buy local, especially when you think about replacing broken parts. Paying 27€ shipping for a 50cent part doesn't really make sense...
 
Yes its import tax and its for the whole package inc the delivery.

I will have 20l pots

With the "elgo" i will have spare parts and also a warranty

I think i will go with that :)
 
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