DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

[Green melody]

Also r u saying leave the lid off the jug when u put it into the fridge cause I have been making this tea for almost a year and never left the lid off and it seems to do fine because u need to break the surface tension to allow oxygen into the water for the bacteria and that would be a mess

I would assume filling a gallon jug of tea halfway, allowing the other half to be oxygen... then opening the lid twice a day, might be pretty efficient for preserving as many microbes without leaving it exposed.

You can cover your tea in the fridge but do not seal it.

The bennies need to breath even when they are chilled, but you might get away with just opening the container from time to time. At room tempt the bennies will use all the air in a half-full container in under an hour. The tea gives off very little odor when it's cold. You could try improvising a lid which contained a hole covered by a carbon filter, the kind they sell for cat boxes.

 

[mufastaa]

just want to rep this tea again, it is the best part of my grow for sure. definitely get more problems with smaller roots, as you said, but they quickly become big roots and do just fine. and they smell so great, earthy moss fits it perfect. and i mix all my products at once w/no problems.

new season of breaking bad was sick!!!

 

[lvtokerr]

Has anyone used this tea to fight creepy crawlers in roots?

 

[Bwpz]

I'm trying to run an organic DWC. I've seen you say that bennies aren't important for DWCs unless the slime show up, except with organics. Do the bennies always help in organics? Should they be added every week?

Thanks (=

 

[mickfanning]

Right on the nose. Clean and sterilize as best you can, and then add already active bennies. Be careful that no organic material enters the res. This includes ph adjusters and any other additives, like superthrive. Brown gunk on the roots in not necessarily a bad thing, it could be humic acid. Mine will occasionally get patches of brown or black when they are younger, though it is temporary and does not stunt root growth. If a day goes by with no root growth what-so-ever, the slime is probably back. If you have slime coming back even after you use the tea, then you need to examine your methods. Tailoring things to suit your grow is fine, but you must first start with tried and true.

If I use the Heisenberg Tea in my waterfarm system, I can never use pH adjusters again?

 

[2easy]

If I use the Heisenberg Tea in my waterfarm system, I can never use pH adjusters again?

that is the same system i use and trust me you will still need ph adjusters. if you use good base nutes with good ph stabilisers you wont have to use them very often.

 

[Heisenberg]

Has anyone used this tea to fight creepy crawlers in roots?

The tea will fight bad microbes, but the only 'pests' it will directly effect are fungus gnat larvae. It will make them deathly ill and unable to grow into adults.

I'm trying to run an organic DWC. I've seen you say that bennies aren't important for DWCs unless the slime show up, except with organics. Do the bennies always help in organics? Should they be added every week?

Thanks (=

A plant's roots can not absorb organic compounds unless they are first decomposed by microbes. So without microbes you're unlikely to get the full benefit of an organic nute program. Some companies sell organic nutes that are already broken down and ready for uptake, so research what you have.

If I use the Heisenberg Tea in my waterfarm system, I can never use pH adjusters again?

That quote was referring to organic PH adjusters, such as vinegar. Hydro PH adjusters that are not labeled organic are fine.

 

[dr.medecine]

The cloudy water was new to me this time around....
..PH is all about nutrient uptake. If a plant is not eating then PH does not matter unless it is at toxic levels. So, in a situation such as a cloner, the PH of the water does not matter until the point where the cuttings get roots. So the PH of the tea would not have effected anything, but at that point I had written off the clones and was just experimenting. Luckily this time around I have a friend with a garden who was willing to take clones for me, so I did not get behind. Filtering the tea is completely a matter of preference. The little bits of dirt might discolor your roots, but wont hurt anything. If you do want to filter, an aquarium net or tea strainer works fine.

Also, brew the tea at room temp and then store in the fridge.

Thanks, appreciate you also taking time to write about your private problems in same thread you help people out, kind learning from all info here. I got a hole bunch af aswers from above info alone.. Never actually even though about the fact that ph level don´t mean anything if not eating atm. Well like you also say, unless toxic levels! Thanks for pointing out such a simple yet important little "detail" I would never have known about unless you just told me. 1 less thing I have to even think about since I found it took a lot of ph down to lower ph of water that mixes with tea.

I have had my res water turn murky a few times and each time it boiled down to spoiled nutes while in the bottles.
also i have run across a few strain that refuses to root at anything other than 5.2 to 5.5 ph any higher and zero roots.

...thanks for yet another piece of the "potential" puzzle to understanding that also different strains can be very different from each other and ,ight need different care? Would also appreciate to know if any of those happen to be GHS strains?

No no, STORE it in the fridge, you had it right. With no lid on the bottle. it needs oxygen. BREW it room temp, and try not to fluctuate your room night and day temps too much. the reason you brew the bacteria at the same temp as your rez will be is because you want the bennies that thrive in your temps (75-78 is mr. berg suggested benny happy place, although they thrive from 75-82) to muplitply because thats where they will be going to.

I dont recall exactly why myself. I believe most AN nutrients have a reputation for triggering slime. I would save those products for your coco. You also said your coco smells. My only guess is overwatering or fish emulsions (if you use them). What is the humidity level in your room?

Even if your a newb, this is a tough problem and most who come to mr. bergs thread are right where you are... clueless. Ive been growing for over 10 years and this is the first time ive come across slime. This is one of the worst things i have ever dealt with and i have seen it all. when it comes to pests and plagues the best way to keep them at bay is having a healthy enviroment, mostly good co2 exchange and no stale air pockets in your room. everything is already in there; powdery mildew spores, pythium, etc etc. but good airflow, not too much humidity, not too much heat... no problem. But this slime.. lol.. its amazing really. No sterilizing chemical compound seems to keep it gone, the only thing that seems to work is going back to square one after this evolved cyanobacteria has shown itself in your areas watersource... nature itself. Has your smell gotten better since you added the tea?

Thanks for info + thank you I did it correct from beginning regarding tea storage then like aslo Heisenberg corrected me on above as well, now I shall always rember at least this detail I´m sure. Although if 75-78 is bennies happy place could perhaps run it a bit lower and get away with that or is that perhaps not advisable? RH level is different from day to day cause I take air from outside but now atm it´s at 55. PH was 6.5 something from run off but adjusted to 5.8 now.

 

[mickfanning]

If I want to switch from using h2o2 in my waterfarms without draining and doing a nute change, can I just wait 4 days and then add the Heisenberg Tea? I read that the benefits of h2o2 in a nutrient solution only lasts for 4 days, but will adding bennies after 4 days going to kill any of them?

 

[big liverski]

UUUUGGGHHHH slime came back- I had been keeping a cup of tea in my res and it still came back- On friday I took everything out, cleaned with bleach and then h2o2. rinsed everything, new air stones, used ro water, added 10 cups of tea, let it sit for 12 hours, added basic nutes- slim is back this morning??????WTF

 

[Bwpz]

UUUUGGGHHHH slime came back- I had been keeping a cup of tea in my res and it still came back- On friday I took everything out, cleaned with bleach and then h2o2. rinsed everything, new air stones, used ro water, added 10 cups of tea, let it sit for 12 hours, added basic nutes- slim is back this morning??????WTF

What's your water temperature?

 

[big liverski]

temp- 63 at night, 66-68 day

 

[Bwpz]

temp- 63 at night, 66-68 day

Are you feeding the microbes while they're in your reservoir? How big is your reservoir and how many watts is your air pump?

I'm no expert I'm just trying to help as best as I can xD

 

[big liverski]

9 gal resevoir, 6 airstones, 2 pumps, 18w and 7w, not feeding the tea, although yesterday i through in everything i had at them that was organic, added more tea today and on wed i am going to drop a massive amount of dutch master zone in the res, leave it for 2 days,then reclean everything and add new tea

 

[Green melody]

9 gal resevoir, 6 airstones, 2 pumps, 18w and 7w, not feeding the tea, although yesterday i through in everything i had at them that was organic, added more tea today and on wed i am going to drop a massive amount of dutch master zone in the res, leave it for 2 days,then reclean everything and add new tea

Your temps are a little low for the microbes. maybe keeping them at 72 instead of 62-68, they retard the microbes at cold temps. I think my problem was because of the change in water temps, 68 at night, 78-80 day. I noticed the tea working at its best in between those, but i couldnt keep my temp stable.

I would avoid using dutchmaster zone for sterilization. I would use h2o2 (because it doesnt stick around very long), or physan20 (breaks down into nitrogen after a few days). the chlromines in the DM zone tend to stick around alot longer than bleach or h202, so you will have to rinse very well and scrub your plastics to be sure its gone. adding tea without doing this will most likely kill most microbes. While zone does nothing to the slime anyway.

when you add the tea, try to leave out nutes for a few days if you can. if your plants are already showing signs of major nute def's, you might have to add the low nutes right away, but then again, if your at this point, and also have no healthly rootmass, you might consider a soil transplant to save them.

 

[mickfanning]

If I want to switch from using h2o2 in my waterfarms without draining and doing a nute change, can I just wait 4 days and then add the Heisenberg Tea? I read that the benefits of h2o2 in a nutrient solution only lasts for 4 days, but will adding bennies after 4 days going to kill any of them?

Anyone have any advice about this?

 

[2easy]

Anyone have any advice about this?

just wondering why you dont want to do a nute change? you should be dumping your res at least once a week anyway. but yes IMO i would say you would be ok to add tea after four or five days

 

[TriPurple]

I have had great success with your tea. Recently I've been reading good things about Pond/Start-zyme & at a fraction of the cost. What do you think of these type of products? Do they have similar effects? Thanks!!!!

 

[mickfanning]

What is the optimal temperature in the reservoir when using the Heisenberg Tea in a RDWC? And if I use a nutrient solution of 50% RO water and 50% Tap water, will the chlorine from the Tap water kill the bennies?

 

[big liverski]

can you add too much tea? out of desperation i have been putting some in daily to try and keep the slime at bay until harvest.
Also, on the last batch i brewed, i got slime on my airstone. any ideas on this?