Pythium in my well water. H202 or Pool shock?

Edsta007

Member
I've been growing non stop for the last 6 years in coco run to waste outdoor. Ive had great success without any problems. I recently moved to a rural area and the only water source I have is a well.

The well water is infested with pythium, as soon as my sprouts emerge they get root rot and die, if I use bottled water they are fine, but as soon as I go to well water they drop with in a few day's.

Ive used bennies like great white with no luck. Ive also read that the dose you would need to kill pythium with peroxide would kill your plants, so what I was thinking of is using a mega dose of peroxided to kill the pythium, then let the water sit for a couple hours until the peroxide has stop reacting, then water the plants.

The only other option I can think of is use pool shock which I know nothing about.

Any info would be much appreciated, its been months of failed attempts of sprouting then dying, previously I'd never had a problem with this.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Well the h2o2 will still be in the water after a few hours so make sure you don't have too much or it will burn plant roots. The pool shock method is probably the most effective method. I am sure you can find dosage requirements if you search the site, I have never had to use either so I don't know the amounts to add.
 

Edsta007

Member
Have you had the well water tested to see whats in it? Wouldn't want something toxic like a pesticide or whatever in it.
I got it made especially for growing, ive had it tested for minerals, ph etc but thats all I can do, I'm in Ghana near the equator so Its the only test I can find. I'm also limited to products I can buy
 

thumper60

Well-Known Member
I've been growing non stop for the last 6 years in coco run to waste outdoor. Ive had great success without any problems. I recently moved to a rural area and the only water source I have is a well.

The well water is infested with pythium, as soon as my sprouts emerge they get root rot and die, if I use bottled water they are fine, but as soon as I go to well water they drop with in a few day's.

Ive used bennies like great white with no luck. Ive also read that the dose you would need to kill pythium with peroxide would kill your plants, so what I was thinking of is using a mega dose of peroxided to kill the pythium, then let the water sit for a couple hours until the peroxide has stop reacting, then water the plants.

The only other option I can think of is use pool shock which I know nothing about.

Any info would be much appreciated, its been months of failed attempts of sprouting then dying, previously I'd never had a problem with this.
time to collect some rain water
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Slow sand filtration has been shown to be an effective, simple, and inexpensive method for removing Pythium from water
 

Singlemalt

Well-Known Member
I've been growing non stop for the last 6 years in coco run to waste outdoor. Ive had great success without any problems. I recently moved to a rural area and the only water source I have is a well.

The well water is infested with pythium, as soon as my sprouts emerge they get root rot and die, if I use bottled water they are fine, but as soon as I go to well water they drop with in a few day's.

Ive used bennies like great white with no luck. Ive also read that the dose you would need to kill pythium with peroxide would kill your plants, so what I was thinking of is using a mega dose of peroxided to kill the pythium, then let the water sit for a couple hours until the peroxide has stop reacting, then water the plants.

The only other option I can think of is use pool shock which I know nothing about.

Any info would be much appreciated, its been months of failed attempts of sprouting then dying, previously I'd never had a problem with this.
I'm rural, though have never had problems with my well; the local well drillers/services do have a service that uses ozone to disinfect a well. They suggest doing it once per year. Don't know how much it costs.
As to your immediate problem, peroxide and then letting it sit with occasional agitation or even boiling your water (dunno how much you need)
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
ED,
I have lived in rural areas with my own well. After pulling a submersible pump...they would use chlorine bleach to sterilize it. Fairly heavy one time dose. Just do a few internet searches for volume.

If you can locate a local well driller...they will have the info and probably the chemicals you need to set your system right.
JD
 

Edsta007

Member
ED,
I have lived in rural areas with my own well. After pulling a submersible pump...they would use chlorine bleach to sterilize it. Fairly heavy one time dose. Just do a few internet searches for volume.

If you can locate a local well driller...they will have the info and probably the chemicals you need to set your system right.
JD
Thanks for the info. I wish it was that easy, I'm an Aussie moved to rural Africa, English here is not coming, my well was dug by hand. Anything I have to get to treat the well will have to be ordered from the states.
 

JohnDee

Well-Known Member
ED,
A hand dug well...that's a whole different set of problems. If you can find an appropriate product...maybe you should just sterilize it in batches. Find a few barrels to store water in. I've never dealt with that...but good luck man...
JD.
 

Edsta007

Member
ED,
A hand dug well...that's a whole different set of problems. If you can find an appropriate product...maybe you should just sterilize it in batches. Find a few barrels to store water in. I've never dealt with that...but good luck man...
JD.
Yeah I'm good thinking of filling a 44 gallon drum and add some calcium hypochlorite or pool shock, and let it sit over night, then water
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm good thinking of filling a 44 gallon drum and add some calcium hypochlorite or pool shock, and let it sit over night, then water
here's the mix for HTH shock (52%):

0.10 grams per 10 gallons is 1ppm free chlorine. up to 5 is safe for humans and plants.

i wouldn't let it sit overnite. mix it up and use it directly to keep your ppms accurate. chlorine is a nutrient used by cannabis so win/win.
 

BuddyColas

Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm good thinking of filling a 44 gallon drum and add some calcium hypochlorite or pool shock, and let it sit over night, then water
https://www.rollitup.org/t/keeping-a-sterile-res-in-dwc-shock-chlorine-advice.948306/page-3

Check out post #43

Turns out the chlorine combines with nitrogen (fairly popular in nutes). I have seen this for myself testing with pool or hottub strips. I have a good 4-5ppm chlorine, then I add the nutes. Now totally white strip or no chlorine.

I use Clear Rez to keep a sterile res now. It uses Hypochlorous Acid. It might be hard to get where you are.
 
I had a problem with pythium in my well water causing severe root rot after years of no issue. started using beneficial treatments like hydroguard, great white,mykos,azo s and southern ag fungicide with limited results-helped but didn't resolve it.Tried the standard well shock treatment with chlorine to reduce bacteria or fungal growth and had a bunch of crap flush out the lines.helped some for a couple months but did not resolve the problem. Got an inline uvc sterilizer and have seen a complete turn around since installing. Roots are exploding out the bottom of my rock wool and clones are rooting in 1-2weeks as 95-100% success with significant root mass instead of 3-4 weeks and 50-60%success with brown stringy pythium infested roots. It will also kill any coliform bacteria present in your water making it safer for consumption.
 
Btw if you have a surface well(hand dug)you really need to have your water rested regularly for total coliform count (especially fecal coliform) as it will give you an indication of your waters potability for human consumption as surface wells are known to be more prone to contamination than deep wells.
 

Edsta007

Member
Btw if you have a surface well(hand dug)you really need to have your water rested regularly for total coliform count (especially fecal coliform) as it will give you an indication of your waters potability for human consumption as surface wells are known to be more prone to contamination than deep wells.
Thanks for the reply, I think a UV sterilizer would be perfect for the well, just hard to get one in the country, ill have to do some researching, I've been drinking from it for a few months, it was fine up until a month ago I got typhoid after finding a dead bat in there. I didnt close the lid properly.
 
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