How is it possible to deliver fewer inputs, but increase or maintain output? This seems more like a problem for alchemy than botany!
However, that is the “magic” of Blumat watering systems. Getting more from less is all about timing!
How Timers Waste Water
Traditional drip irrigation systems are operated on a basis of timers and pump flow rates. These deliver pre-determined amounts of water to a garden. This is very convenient for a gardener, but not for plants!
These kinds of systems deliver water to plants and soil whether they need it or not. This causes over-watering of soil at certain times in the day (or in some cases, chronically). When soil is over-watered, the excess water needs to evaporate before plants can grow. This means that high volumes of water are being delivered, only to waste it! Water is being lost through run-off, evaporation due to sunlight and/or wind exposure, as well as excess transpiration of the plants. When they are over-watered, they will attempt to void themselves of the excess water too!
Not only does excess water not increase productivity of a garden, but it is actually detrimental to a garden.
Run-off, loss to evaporation from wind and sun-light, over-watering, under-watering, and excess transpiration from plants are all typical occurrences in gardens irrigated using timers. These all contribute to less-than-optimal growth rates, as well as high water consumption rates.
How Blumat Systems are Different
Blumat systems avoid all the pitfalls of timer-based systems. Since Blumat systems only deliver water as plants demand it, there is never any run-off. If a Blumat system has run-off, it needs to be adjusted.
Another benefit of Blumat watering systems it the slow, gradual delivery of water. Anyone with a properly-calibrated Blumat system has seen the beauty of it’s function: the cadence is a steady drip —- drip —- drip. One can visualize the gradual, even dispersion of this moisture underneath the soil. This slow and gradual delivery ensures that there is no excess water on the top-soil lost to sun or artificial lighting or moving air, ultimately minimizing evaporation from the soil into the surrounding air.
Excess transpiration from plants (due to over-watering) never occurs in Blumat systems either, since plants are never over-watered.
Blumat systems avoid all of the causes of water-waste that occur in traditional drip irrigation systems.
How do Blumat Systems Increase Yield?
While it is not guaranteed, I do see yield increases (while also seeing reductions in nutrient and water use) almost ubiquitously when cultivators switch over to a Blumat Watering System.
By keeping moisture levels in the gold-locks zone (never under- or over-watering), Blumat watering systems always keep a plant in its optimum stage of growth. This ensures the plant is never losing valuable time to recovering from less than ideal conditions. The plant is always growing, and at the fastest rates possible.
By creating an environment that your plants thrive in, Blumat Watering Systems will almost always increase yield–while simultaneously decreasing water use!
Key Takeaways
- Timers are convenient for humans, not plants
- Timed systems deliver high volumes of water in short periods of time
- Timer-based systems waste water through run-off, evaporation loss, and excess transpiration
- Plants and soil-based organisms like slow, steady moisture delivery
- Blumat systems deliver water slowly and steadily, and stop when it is not needed
- Delivery of water and nutrients only when plant need it allows for minimal loss to environment, and the highest ratio of Moisture Input: Biomass Output, which is accomplished with Blumat systems
