Blumat - Tropf (drip) Sensor

The Tropf-Blumat (Tropf means drip in German) is a sensor that automatically supplies plants water through its thin tubing.

This ceramic cone employs the principle of hydrostatic pressure, that delivers water extremely slowly, and at the plant’s own preferred rate. Allowing each plant to determine its own irrigation schedule.

Blumat Sensors can be used as standalone devices or can also be integrated with drip emitters (we call them “distribution drippers”), drip tape (BluSoak), or capillary mats.

These three components assist Blumat sensors in going further. While a Blumat typically irrigates a very small area (a 1-gallon container for example), a single Blumat can irrigate entire garden beds when attached to the Blusoak.

How It Works

Each Tropf Blumat is filled with water and voided of air prior to being connected to a pressurized line (pressure from gravity-feed is adequate). The water inside the Blumat is in a completely sealed environment. The only exposure it has is through the pores in the ceramic cone.

1. As soil surrounding the cone dries
2. It pulls on the moisture inside the cone through osmotic pressure. Since this is a sealed environment and the pressure cannot equalize, this pulls on a plastic diaphragm in the top of the Blumat.
3. When the diaphragm is pulled down, it allows an irrigation tube running through the top of the valve of the Blumat to open and emit moisture. It does this very gradually.
4. As the water is emitted through the Blumat, the moisture is gradually restored to the soil surrounding the porous ceramic.
5. This relieves the pressure difference between the chamber inside the Blumat and the surrounding soil. This stops pulling on the diaphragm, and the diaphragm restores its former position of pinching the irrigation tubing shut.
6. Allowing each plant to determine its own watering schedule.

*The brown knob on top of each Tropf Blumat can be individually calibrated to specific plant species, strain/cultivar/varietal, or media.