I was just listening to Leighton Morrison on FCP talking about the carrots. He said for our light potting mix, he likes to make a slurry if silt and clay, wrap that around the carrot and then wrap that in burlap. He said that makes it easier for the carrot to be tuned. Now I have to go find a clay deposit and some burlap? 
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I have a ton of Blumat gear. It has worked most consistently for me outdoors when connected similarly to @NorthNorthNugs using a garden hose & pressure reducer. Iāve had some issues this year with pinhole leaks in the the 8mm flexible line. Always fun to check the garden and find water spraying everywhere.
Indoors, Iāve found that blumat carrots really, really, really hate pumice or any type of chunky aeration that ends up touching the ceramic tip.
This would be my recommendation for any soil not using perlite or rice hulls for aeration. Any chunky aeration like pumice or volcanic rock needs to be sufficiently far away from the carrotsāincluding the carrots on the digital metersāso they donāt artificially cause parts of the ceramic tip to dry out before the rest of the soil.
And, make sure the carrot hole is pretty snug around the ceramic tip. Easier said than done with a light soil mix, I know, but full, continuous contact between the ceramic tip and the soil is essential. The slurry made with clay would also help with that. In fact, if you seriously look into any of the Irrometers Sustainable Village sells, itās pretty much a requirement to make a similar slurry in order to get proper measurements out of them.
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haha ya had a few fun adventures this year with the racoons biting my lines for a quick and easy drink!
Excellent info in your post, I had no idea about the ceramic touching the aeration like that and causing issues. Would explain why I canāt dial in my new pots with pumice! Thanks!!
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I canāt remember how many runaways drained my 5 gal reservoir before I figured out that one. Seems like I read it somewhere, but I canāt recall. Thereās a super long thread about blumats over at ICmag that had all kinds of tips & tricks. Might have been there.
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Maybe I should browse that thread againā¦ 
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Might have also been someone from sustainable village when I was having problems with runaways and the digital meter reading in the 300s then immediately plummeting to almost 0 with only like 1/3 gal water added to a 20 gal container.
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Your reservoir should be above your pots by at least 24 inches with blumats to maintain the same pressure in them.
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So far they are working and the level in the bottle has actually dropped pretty significantly. To point out as well these two plants have been difficult to water. I tried to dial in but these two always seemed stressed
Right at installation:
2 days blumat:
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Good info on here. Runaways suck. So do clogged drippers
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So they are healthy as hell and 5 inches have dropped in my reservoirā¦ Iām actually as of now, very impressed.
Iām about to do this so that I donāt have to tend a reservoir in the basement all winter.
I have the pressure reducer on the way, went with 7.25 psi because Iām running blusoak tape(works better at lower psi) 60$ with shipping(ouch, should last forever though)
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Iāve had mine setup for a little over three weeks. So far all I have done is dump RO water in my reservoir and empty my dehumidifier. Amazing how much time these have saved me.
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If u get them set the plants really do thrive . Donāt bother with the digital meter waste of cash . The 2 prong things work just as well imo
I donāt know if I have them set up right or not- but Iām close. It may be flooding a bit and I just canāt tell (3 gallons of water disappears in 55 gallons of soil). Way better results than just giving them that water over the week; probably because they actually got it. Iāve noticed happier plants since setting them up in genuine though, happy I did. I do recommend making a whole loop with your feed line- I have some balance issues between my carrots and I think it also can cause dry outs.
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Hey, I got the filter you posted above, and put it on a ball valve with a hose fitting. I bought the .5 bar pressure reducer from sustainable village and the water sprays out of the reducer with way more force than I was expecting, did yours do the same? If I close the ball valve the flow is more reasonable but I thought the pressure reducer was gonna take care of that.
Iām also thinking Iāll need to add a T-connect so that the water can recirculate in the system to balance the pressure from the continuous supply. Wondering if your experience can shed some light on mine. Hoping to get the bugs worked out before freezing temps hit and I can no longer get water from my rain barrel.
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Iām going to be honest with youā¦ I didnāt really understand a lot of what you just said. I screwed my filter on the end of my garden hose then screwed the pressure reducer on the end of that. Thatās it. Iām not really familiar with those other parts you wrote about. I didnāt think to even test the pressure bc I was on my roof and couldnāt reach the on/off valve. I just trusted that it was working when I tested the water dripping out of the blumat carrot tube.
Sorry I couldnāt be of much assistance!
Ok, seems like the pressure reducer I got maybe isnāt working correctly. Iāll ask sustainable village about it.
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