Lazy coco growing using only pellets & hard water

[Slippy One]

The Ren is doing her thing in the coco/beanstalk. Still no idea what to expect but stretch is nearly over after 9 days 12/12 so no more threading through the screen. 
 

Blumats have been left alone with occasional hand tap watering this time. Not quite perfect no run off dampness, but I’m only adding 200-400ml before seeing runoff every 2/3 days so a lean carrot setting that works well this cycle. 
 

Anyone still struggling with Blumat carrots, ease back, keep it simple with tubes etc, keep the largest res you’ve got above 1/3 levels, don’t bury the carrots too deep, don’t touch after setting them up (I see Blumat do valve protection covers).  
 

Manually watering seems to help the carrots cycle, and it’s reassuring to see them stop dripping after a manual watering, it indicates everything is still working without air bubbles.
 

Manual assistance means you can set them with a hanging drip, and turn them another few millimetres for a lean calibration. Also means my res is still 80% full after 2weeks so far.
 

 

go go beanstalk pellets and easy growing 

 

 

Edited April 21 by Slippy One

[MindSoup]

9 hours ago, Slippy One said:

I see Blumat do valve protection covers

 

Yeah they're well handy. 

 

Are all your carrots on a loop as well? That really helps keep them in check. I've had a lot less issues since I changed from having them inline to T-ting them off one loop. That and adding multiple drippers for each carrot. 

Edited April 22 by MindSoup

[Slippy One]

@MindSoupyes, one same loop, running 2 carrots instead of 4.

[MindSoup]

Yeah nice that should definitely help. If you get the caps just be careful taking them off, the clip on quite securely and it's easy to pull the carrot up with them. 

 

I'm not sure if they're available in the UK, but sustainable village do Blumat drip rings which look perfect for your application. I saw them on one of Build a Soils recent videos 

 

 

[Slippy One]

After this cycle, I’m shutting up the indoor shop for the summer and will definitely be buying one of those rings, plus valve covers. The carrots will be repurposed for outdoor duties, might even buy one of those Blumat mains reducers and do away with a reservoir completely outdoors. 

[MindSoup]

Yeah I think the mains adapter might be a shout. Obviously indoors there's the worry of a catastrophic runaway, but ironically I think the constant pressure wil actually make it a lot less likely you'll have one.