if you want and if you’re in the states, email me your cell # at [email protected] and I’ll send you a text to see if maybe a different set of eyes can help. Up to though and won’t be offended if you’re not up to it.
DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes
- Thread starter Heisenberg
- Start date
ProudHeretic
Member
Man, I REALLY appreciate the encouragement. I have been growing hydroponics for about 8 years (veggies and what not) on tower gardens (aero) which were outside in Florida. No chillers, no bennies, and no problems. Fantastic veggies and NEVER any root or bacterial issues. Fast forward to 2022 and we moved to a cannabis cultivation legal state. I decided to buy this RDWC system and a grow tent to put in my "man cave" 10'x12' shed that was already on the property when we bought it. The previous owner already dry walled it and made it a man cave with climate controls and everything. So I started my first cannabis grow back in August of 2023 (Super OG Kush photos) in the RDWC and it was a banger! I yielded over a pound! In that grow, I had no chiller, but I did use Orca for most of the grow. Rez temps sometimes got up to 73°-74°, but never had an issue. After harvest, I disassembled the system and thoroughly cleaned every bit of it with H2O2 and bleach. Then I cleaned the grow tent with H2O2 and Isopropyl alcohol. Put the system back together, but didn't add any water because I knew I had to go out of town the first week of January. Started my seeds third week of January. Got the system ready to go with fresh RO water, but this time I took the suggestion of a friend and tried to run sterile. That was the beginning of hell! By day 21 after sprout, I noticed the nasty stuff floating in my res. That was 2nd week of February and I have been battling it ever since.
hey hey, I replied on the other post
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
We have chloramines on top of some other additives in the water here, so I seem to get away with low temps and nothing else most the time. Need aquarium heaters more than a chiller if anything. Low PPM tap water, as clean as RO. I only ever shock the res on rare occasions. Not much point using adding anything as a constant preventative with low temps IMO. Water source is very important.. Maybe your RO system is contaminated or something, so all the water you supply could be as well?...
Did you re-use the same air stones and hydroton? I would replace all the soft tubing and any rubber gaskets,grommets, etc, especially after having any slime infections like that. The rubber or whatever soft material can harbor stuff, and should be replaced every year anyway because it eventually disintegrates and leeches out in the res. Preferably with all silicone seals, so you never worry about it again. I did notice light possibly shining through the upper net pot mesh on one of the pics..
Did you re-use the same air stones and hydroton? I would replace all the soft tubing and any rubber gaskets,grommets, etc, especially after having any slime infections like that. The rubber or whatever soft material can harbor stuff, and should be replaced every year anyway because it eventually disintegrates and leeches out in the res. Preferably with all silicone seals, so you never worry about it again. I did notice light possibly shining through the upper net pot mesh on one of the pics..
If I were to brew a tea using orca, southern ag and molasses, how much of each would I add to say 4 gallons of Ro water and then how much of that goes into my ~40 gallon system?
this is my last ditch effort before throwing in the towel on deep water… had 5 runs that turned out great and now I can’t even get started… no matter what I do within 24 hours the brown shit is back.
this is my last ditch effort before throwing in the towel on deep water… had 5 runs that turned out great and now I can’t even get started… no matter what I do within 24 hours the brown shit is back.
Tomatoesonly
Well-Known Member
tyler.durden
Well-Known Member
The tea is definitely the most nuclear option when it comes to bennies. If it doesn't work, I don't know what will. For me, it is a pita to make and use, so I only went that way when absolutely necessary. The second best method I've found are 2 products from a company named API. The company specializes in products for aquariums and ponds, and some of them are highly effective in hydroponics. Instead of RO water now, I use tap and add API's Tap Water Conditioner. This product neutralizes chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals. It immediately makes my tap water safe for roots and bennies just as well, or better, than RO. The magic product is Ecofix from the same company. It is a highly concentrated and diversified liquid blend of beneficial bacteria. I only add 5ml to my 27 gallon rezes twice per week. That's it. Both of these products are very inexpensive on Amazon. My roots are thick, long, and white. Much like my cock...
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What type of nitrogen does it react with that forms ammonia? May have been my issues in the past with using Floraflex and hth pool shock. Basically the roots just refused to enter the solution
amneziaHaze
Well-Known Member
Dont put mollases in a dwc. Your ph will go crazy
No need for crazy teas simple res vhange and a tea spoon of trichoderma
To late haha. Brewed up the tea with molasses for 48 hours and 2 gallons went into my ~ 40 gallon system a few hours ago…
Tomatoesonly
Well-Known Member
Concerning…
Any products you would recommend for the trichoderma?
amneziaHaze
Well-Known Member
Cheapest one.in theory you can trow a handfull of garden dirt inside i never tried it
I use tnc but in last few years it got popular price went crazy up. It used to be 5$ for a little bag
I use tnc but in last few years it got popular price went crazy up. It used to be 5$ for a little bag
Wastei
Well-Known Member
That's not a problem with the concentrations used for sterilization. If overused yes but at recommendations it's a non existing problem. I personally had better results and found it easier and cleaner to use regular unscented bleach (sodium hypochlorite). You can use the chlorine dilution calculator with recommendations in my signature.
Chlorine will not react with nitrogen at 3-5ppm residual concentration. The main issue is often the wrong mixing order, you should always add oxidizers last when mixing a nutrient solution.
Wastei
Well-Known Member
Trichoderma do 0% positive in water cultures, more on the negative. You use bacteria cultures as preventatives and to clean the root stomata from biofilm preventing nutrient uptake.
The only one I recommend using is products based on bacillus amyloliquefaciens like Hydroguard or SouthernAG Garden Friendly Fungicide with the later being way more concentrated.
amneziaHaze
Well-Known Member
i only ever had algea but even that after i did a res change and populated with trichoderma nothing came later.but i have been growing in high temps
whats the fungicide made of?
oh yea and why do you say it will do 0% positive in water? did you try and fail or do you think tricho doesnt live in water?
whats the fungicide made of?
oh yea and why do you say it will do 0% positive in water? did you try and fail or do you think tricho doesnt live in water?
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Wastei
Well-Known Member
Trichoderma needs an inoculant medium to function ie soil, peat, coco coir. They have no function in hydro since there's no medium to inoculate.
They will die off and convert to possible bad bacteria cultures. It's better to focus on simple cultures that are known to be effective instead of using products intended for soil and growing in containers.
You want to kill of bad bacteria cultures and there's no more effective than bacillus amyloliquefaciens doing that.
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I’ve actually done both orders, first and last; either way it didn’t make a difference. last two rounds the roots wouldn’t enter the solution with chlorine present. The crop prior to those had no issues with chlorine though which leads me to believe it can be strain dependent.
I’ve also been reading that phosphoric acid ( GH ph down ) can precipitate calcium out of solution… I’ve only witnessed the cloudiness when adding gh ph down to tap water and not when adding to RO that has cal mag in it
Wastei
Well-Known Member
I also experienced precipitations with Pool Shock and Jacks 321 but never experienced problems with regular bleach(sodium hypochlorite). This was 10+ years ago.
Have you tried regular bleach(sodium hypochlorite) instead of pool shock(calcium hypochlorite)? I've found regular bleach is often way more cleaner with less inerts, it's made for cleaning without leaving any residues at higher concentrations after all and pool shock is for disinfecting pools at lower concentrations.
If I do a comparison the solution with Calcium hypochlorite is milky with a lot of residues in the bottom and the other is crystal clear with sodium hypochlorite. I troubleshooted this exact problem many years ago.
Cheers!