Blumat Drip Irrigation System - Tropf Patio and Deck Starter Kit - Automatic Plant Watering Devices - Easy Setup Self Watering System for Indoor - Prevents Overwatering

Blumats are amazing devices and work amazing when installed correctly!! Make sure all tubing are connected before you install them into the soil, otherwise you can get soil into the tubing like I did, and end up with a lot of water on the floor :-) I have a couple of suggestions regarding the reservoir that Ive learned from research and experience. Make sure the feed tubing is connected to the reservoir in a full loop because it leads to more even watering across all five, or more, Blumats. The company sells a great five gallon black bucket with both feed line fittings included. Also, Even though I have an opaque reservoir bucket, I use a small airstone and add Hydroguard to keep the water fresh by preventing algae and other nasties from growing in there. I’m an organic soil gardener and the Hydroguard is perfect - it also helps prevent algae and root rot problems as well. If you’re buying this for smaller house plant pots, I’ve found that what’s included will work very well. If you’re using larger pots (3gal plus) and multiple plants I’d suggest you buy flexible feed tubing and extension kit with drip emitters. The tubing that comes with this is very stiff and quickly became hard to work with and caused twisting that cut off water from a couple Blumats until I noticed. Also, each blumat in this kit comes with a single drip emitter. I found that each blumat can provide water to four drip emitters, setup with each approx 4” apart gives you a more even watering around the pot. I’ve attached a few pictures, showing my set up, which works flawlessly! If you notice, I’m using flexible orange tubing instead of the rigid black tubing, and I’ve connected my feet tubing in a loop as well. In the second picture, you’ll see that in each 5 gallon pot I’m using two Blumats each with four drip emitters and I get very even moisture.

I bought this introductory kit to test out the Blumat system and I am thoroughly impressed. I tested it out for a week before I had to be away from my garden. I tested it on one plant and no tweaks were ever needed. I simply followed the instructions and it was set up perfectly. I can remotely monitor my garden when I'm away and the leaves on my plant were "praying" the entire time I was away. I will probably just continue to use this going forward since the roots (and my plant) are always happy. It uses less water than regular watering too so there are some efficiency gains with this system. I have since ordered more hoses, connections, etc. from Blumat so I can expand this system to the rest of my garden. Note: I would recommend checking out YouTube videos from Sustainable Village as they offer some very good tips for installation and ensuring a reliable set up. This is a versatile system with all the different products and accessories they offer. Those videos really help shed light on everything Blumat can do. Update January 2024: I have ordered several more Blumat products since getting this kit and I really can't speak highly enough about their stuff. Literally everything I have ordered from them is just quality. It makes me think of Sony or something (you ever see a bad Sony piece of gear?). Anyway, their stuff is all legit in my opinion and I am just very happy I found these folks and I want to spread the word. Cheers!

Set up wasn't too difficult. I found that when I fill my reservoir (even when there's still water inside), I have to make sure that all the drippers are properly set because once in awhile they will turn on full blast. Sort of tedious, but worth it because my plants are getting a steady supply of water with not much effort on my part. I connected one of the original blumat carrots to this system - the tubing is the same size as drip carrot. By original carrot, I mean the kind that feeds water to the plant from the carrot itself (not drip like this kit). So far it's working well. I sort of prefer the original carrot because the hose effect can't happen like with the dripper.

I do not frequently review products. I am choosing to review this product because of the exceptional performance and design of the product. I purchased these blumat carrots because I was going on vacation and had a high value crop that I needed to make sure got just the right amount of water while I was gone. Part of the reason that I purchased these is that they have few failure points. They are essentially a moisture activated vacuum valve that opens or pinches a small tube to water your plants. No electricity, simple in design and nearly failure proof. I left for my trip after installing and tuning this system and when I came back my crop had grown considerably. In fact, because of the consistent and small dosage of watering that my plants received I believe that they actually grew at a faster rate than if I had continued to hand water them. Basically these carrots replace water in the soil at the same rate that your plants use it. Never more or less water then they need. I am very impressed with these and will definitely purchase more as my garden expands. The only caution that I would give is that it can take a few days to get these set up and tuned to your plants needs. They are not plug and play. Once they are tuned though, they are worth every penny.

Bought these for an indoor garden. It worked well and I bought several more components to complete my setup. I use several additives and a fertilizer and I have no clogging issues at all. My plants are the happiest and healthiest they have ever been. I bought the small set to test them out. I like them so much I'm purchasing about $25,000 worth of them for my commercial horticulture operation. I anticipate significant labor savings and better production from my plants. A couple of tips: * Once a day I flush the lines. You can buy valves and quick disconnects but the simplest and cheapest method requires no extra parts. Use a Tee that branches from the 8mm feeder line to the 3mm sprinkler line. Add a 5" piece of the 3mm line but do not hook up the sprinkler. Cut a 3/4" piece of the 8mm line. Bend the 3mm line and tuck it into the 8mm piece, that stops the flow. When you want to flush, just pull the 3/4" piece off, flush, then replace. * I use a gravity feed and when I let the buckets run dry, air or something gets into the system and I have to flush to get everything working well again. Since adding flush points is so easy, I added one at the first plant, the middle plant and the last plant. I have 20 plants on a line. * I upgraded and purchased the super flex 8mm tubing. It is not necessary but it is much easier to work with.

One of tips was broke. Didn't see before thirty days.

Amazing product, easy setup and great results. I am using this system as an experiment in both an indoor as well as outdoor garden. Currently I have 3 of the Blumats setup running off of a 5 gallon bucket reservoir that is gravity fed and growing produce under a 600W HID light. The reservoir is running about 4-5 day cycles between fillups into coco coir/perlite medium in 3 gallon buckets. Zero runoff when set correctly and I have grown a complete cycle with organic nutrients running through the system and a little DripClean to keep the lines free. Outdoors I am running 6 of these powered from the hose adapter with zero ferts in the water. These are powering a small 6x6 raised bed with organic soil mix and compost as nutrients. The outdoor ones need a little fiddling here and there depending on temperature and how fast the soil dries but still have preformed extremely well. Not sure if you can use this system as a complete irrigation option, but for vacations and people who have balcony gardens this is a huge step up from the watering can. Amazing product, great quality, and I can safely assume it will work for at least a few years making it well worth the cost.

I've done three installations, one in my atrium that's permanent, and two that were rigged up to water plants while I was traveling. One of the temporary installs was in my guest bathroom shower, fed by a Blumat pressure regulator attached to an adaptor (both sold by Amazon) attached to the shower arm. For a water source, I cracked the cold-water valve open just a bit. There's a small window above the shower that supplied enough light to keep indoor plants alive for five weeks. In fact, when I came back they'd never looked better. BTW the instructions that come with the kit warn that it isn't for indoor use, although according to Sustainable Village this has to do with liability concerns rather than with the product not working indoors. The permanent install is in my atrium and, again, the plants have never looked better. You *will* have to bleed the system to get the air out. Just bleed it like you'd bleed a car's hydraulic brakes, starting at the spike further from the water source and working your way toward the source. Installation is straightforward, although fine-tuning the flow regulator on top of each spike may take you several weeks. I thought I had everything dialed in, but when I came back the Ficus in the atrium was suffering--there must have been a hot spell. I guess the lesson here is to err on the side of caution if you're going to be gone--crank up the flow to a little more than what the plant seems to need. (Or maybe the lesson is that Ficus are temperamental.) The third system was supposed to be attached to the kitchen sink faucet, again using an adaptor sold on Amazon, with indoor plants on the counter in the sort of drainage tray used under an air conditioner condenser and dumping any overflow into the sink. But given the need to fine tune the system, which would have taken my kitchen offline for weeks, I used it in my patio, with less success, although maybe pothos aren't outdoor plants :-) BTW when I got home I put all the indoor plants back in their places but left the shower and patio systems hooked up and the valves on. Several days later both of them started spouting water from the end spike. Apparently they'd dried to the point that they were signaling for water. This stuff ain't cheap. I have about $500 into three systems plus regulators. But I think it's worth it. First, you don't need to hire a house- or plant-sitter if you're traveling. Just make sure the system is installed so that water won't ruin your floors if there's a malfunction: in a shower, tub or those condenser trays I mentioned. Second, you don't need to deal with a landscaper to plumb and wire a conventional drip irrigation. You design and install the Blumat system yourself. And third, your plants will look way, way better, even if you think you're conscientious about watering. Finally, don't be afraid to reach out to Sustainable Village for tech support. They're great.