DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

S

sidewing

Well-Known Member
sidewing said:
i was looking at the ingredients on the side of the mycogrow soluble and it says humic acid and kelp.. (organic ingredients). this may be why its not a good idea to add mycogrow powder directly to the res. instead brewing it in tea first breaks it all down for the microbes to eat.

i tried to cut a corner and add myco powder straight to res without brewing. i noticed im getting a little bit of the same (beginning signs of brown stuff). its not slime yet. but the plants in veg i can rinse it off with a spray nozzle. the plant in flower some came off but some didnt. which is usually what happens before it turns into slime. its grabbed hold of the roots. its only at the top of the roots (nearest to the net pot). all the roots below (a good foot segment) are all white. my tea bucket i let run for over a week without touching it and it smells kinda fishy. i sprayed it with bleach and washed it off real good and i started brewing a batch of tea again. i guess i'll just stick to applying every 3-4 days until it seems fully controlled then i'll try to fall back to once a week when i do res change.

i wish i was one of those people that could just run sterile and not have to deal with all this.
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blah. im paying the cost for cutting corners. my tea i brewed was added but i pulled out my PREVIOUSLY super healthy blue dream in flower and all the thick white roots that were a good foot long had the brown slime a little. there was a little new growth on the lowest portion, but i took it to the sink and started spraying it off, i tugged gently to see their condition and most of the roots just pulled right now. they had lost their white healthy appearance. i basically lost all the long segments of my roots and i pulled them off so the plant can grow new healthy roots in its place. i'll be keeping my brewing bucket clean, and adding tea every 3 days regularly from now on. no more cutting corners no more bs. i have 3 super healthy plants in veg that i want to keep that way and the only way i see for that to happen is with regular tea from now on.

the blue dream in flower the reason i thought there was something becoming an issue is i have some yellowing on the leaves for no apparent reason. the brown slime was choking out some of the roots causing uptake issues. i pulled all the decayed roots off about 12 hours ago and shes still perked up and looking healthy in flower. no doubt this will probably delay her up to a week.

lesson learned. STICK WITH THE DAMN TEA EVERY 3 DAYS! dont try to cut corners, you will pay the cost.
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
Just started up the tea. Making two gallons and using 2 handfuls of EWC, half a scoop of Great White, and I'm using Hi Brix Plant Molasses instead of Floralicious Plus this time around. I noticed that as soon as I added the molasses (1 Tbsp) that there was instant foam all over the place. This wasn't the case with the Floralicious Plus, the foam came hours afterwards. I don't know if this matters, maybe my microbes will be more badass because of the molasses? What do you think? bongsmilie

Also, my seedlings are looking okay I guess, the pepper seedling had severe curling which I'm noticing is now going away. However, the tomato seedling seems to be getting worse on the curling..it also has slightly purple stems and dark blackish purple under some of the really curled up leaves. I added in some Rapid Start, Silica, and Floralicious Plus. No nutes at this moment since they are very small. Maybe this will help fix it up? Any advice? I don't think this is a temp issue as temps are 75-85f. Res temp is 68. Maybe using the tea will help strengthen up those roots which in turn will fix up whatever is happening above? Or maybe this is all a ph issue as I was running plain water which I did not ph down so it was around 8.1. (Now it's 5.7.) Though it did seem to be working fine when I had them in the prop tray...who knows. This is a mystery.
 
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gand3r

gand3r

Active Member
Stoned Tree said:
Just started up the tea. Making two gallons and using 2 handfuls of EWC, half a scoop of Great White, and I'm using Hi Brix Plant Molasses instead of Floralicious Plus this time around. I noticed that as soon as I added the molasses (1 Tbsp) that there was instant foam all over the place. This wasn't the case with the Floralicious Plus, the foam came hours afterwards. I don't know if this matters, maybe my microbes will be more badass because of the molasses? What do you think? bongsmilie

Also, my seedlings are looking okay I guess, the pepper seedling had severe curling which I'm noticing is now going away. However, the tomato seedling seems to be getting worse on the curling..it also has slightly purple stems and dark blackish purple under some of the really curled up leaves. I added in some Rapid Start, Silica, and Floralicious Plus. No nutes at this moment since they are very small. Maybe this will help fix it up? Any advice? I don't think this is a temp issue as temps are 75-85f. Res temp is 68. Maybe using the tea will help strengthen up those roots which in turn will fix up whatever is happening above? Or maybe this is all a ph issue as I was running plain water which I did not ph down so it was around 8.1. (Now it's 5.7.) Though it did seem to be working fine when I had them in the prop tray...who knows. This is a mystery.
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Hey,


Regards the seedling, if its young i always find having correct temps, correct lighting and going very easy on the feed is important. If the leafs are curling it can be heat stress, or even humidity if its way off. Having humidity high in veg is essential to health plants, get the bascs in check with a light feed and give it some time and it will sort itself.

How long do you bubble your tea for before use and what temps do you brew the tea at?
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
gand3r said:
Hey,


Regards the seedling, if its young i always find having correct temps, correct lighting and going very easy on the feed is important. If the leafs are curling it can be heat stress, or even humidity if its way off. Having humidity high in veg is essential to health plants, get the bascs in check with a light feed and give it some time and it will sort itself.

How long do you bubble your tea for before use and what temps do you brew the tea at?
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Hi, thanks for the reply. I checked today and the leaves are uncurling so it may have been a ph issue or maybe they wanted some light goodies (rapid start, and floralicious plus.) Whatever happened seems to be working so..I guess I'll stick with it. Temps are 74-85 and humidity is usually around 50.

Also, I bubble my tea for 48 hours and at around room temp so I guess 70-75f. One thing I noticed today is the solution in my res is a little foamy. All I have in there is rapid start, some silica, and floralicous plus and res temp is 68. Should I knock it down a few degrees to be safe? Has plenty of oxygen in there as well. Thanks for help dude.
 
gand3r

gand3r

Active Member
Hi,

If your res temps are 68oF then loweing them anymore will have little impact on stopping anything as your already at a good tempersture.

If the roots are white and there is no slime or brown roots are forming then i would not be that fussed. I have had foam in my res before when using tea, i thought it was the benifical bacteria still growing.

When using tea just be very cautions using too much molasses or any other sugar. It can very easly be used as food for the bad stuff thats in your system :/
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
gand3r said:
Hi,

If your res temps are 68oF then loweing them anymore will have little impact on stopping anything as your already at a good tempersture.

If the roots are white and there is no slime or brown roots are forming then i would not be that fussed. I have had foam in my res before when using tea, i thought it was the benifical bacteria still growing.

When using tea just be very cautions using too much molasses or any other sugar. It can very easly be used as food for the bad stuff thats in your system :/
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Alright man thanks. The foam in my res was before I added the tea. I added the tea last night brewed for 30 hours..added two cups just to be safe. Going to add another cup or two when it's at 48 hours. Hopefully that will take care of anything bad that may be about to happen. I do think all will be well though. Also, I used a tablespoon of molasses according to the directions. Man I wish I had a microscope or something to see this stuff in action.
 
gand3r

gand3r

Active Member
Stoned Tree said:
Alright man thanks. The foam in my res was before I added the tea. I added the tea last night brewed for 30 hours..added two cups just to be safe. Going to add another cup or two when it's at 48 hours. Hopefully that will take care of anything bad that may be about to happen. I do think all will be well though. Also, I used a tablespoon of molasses according to the directions. Man I wish I had a microscope or something to see this stuff in action.
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The one thing i learned about using the tea is you need to be careful with the sugar. I got slimed as i used too much molasses, i had the best looking pants id ever seen, i added what i thought was a good recipie for tea and i got a very very thin layer of slime on the roots. I did nothing about it as i was thinking it was actually good stuff :( within a week i lost the crop.

How much tea do you add, and how often. whats the entire volume of the system?
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
gand3r said:
The one thing i learned about using the tea is you need to be careful with the sugar. I got slimed as i used too much molasses, i had the best looking pants id ever seen, i added what i thought was a good recipie for tea and i got a very very thin layer of slime on the roots. I did nothing about it as i was thinking it was actually good stuff :( within a week i lost the crop.

How much tea do you add, and how often. whats the entire volume of the system?
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Wow that sucks man, and I'm actually just starting out. Have a 13 gallon system. If all goes well this should be my very first successful grow. Since I have no problems as of yet I'm thinking of just adding 3-4 cups and leaving it at that..not sure how often I should be adding, weekly maybe? And for the molasses a tablespoon shouldn't be too much yeah? I'll know more when I actually see some roots poking out of the net pots (they're pretty small right now.)
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
Hey so I checked today and I'm noticing a very very light almost unnoticeable layer of this brown stuff on the side of my res. It's almost not even there but I brushed the side of my res with a toothbrush and this stuff is coming off. No idea what it is but I added 6-7 cups of the tea into my res. Plenty of oxygen and temp is at 68f..hope it goes away. Maybe it's just bio film or something from the tea? Ph seems to be stable so I'm not too worried right now. I found that I had a tiny light leak due to a tube for my water chiller..I've taped around it so it's fixed up now.
 
gand3r

gand3r

Active Member
Stoned Tree said:
Hey so I checked today and I'm noticing a very very light almost unnoticeable layer of this brown stuff on the side of my res. It's almost not even there but I brushed the side of my res with a toothbrush and this stuff is coming off. No idea what it is but I added 6-7 cups of the tea into my res. Plenty of oxygen and temp is at 68f..hope it goes away. Maybe it's just bio film or something from the tea? Ph seems to be stable so I'm not too worried right now. I found that I had a tiny light leak due to a tube for my water chiller..I've taped around it so it's fixed up now.
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Hey man,

Sorry for taking so long to reply, busy with work.

The stuff on the res can be bio film, it could also be slime.

I have had good PH levels without swinging yet still had root rot, the PH dropping is a ign of an infection that is well established. Thats what ive noticed anyhow :/

I ignored stuff on my roots, like i said before i had the slime but ignored it as it was very slight.

if you can get some pics up.
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
gand3r said:
Hey man,

Sorry for taking so long to reply, busy with work.

The stuff on the res can be bio film, it could also be slime.

I have had good PH levels without swinging yet still had root rot, the PH dropping is a ign of an infection that is well established. Thats what ive noticed anyhow :/

I ignored stuff on my roots, like i said before i had the slime but ignored it as it was very slight.

if you can get some pics up.
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Hey dude,

So the stuff on the res is gone, I guess the tea worked its magic. Ph is stable..when I had this stuff happen before ph would increase really fast..other times it would decrease rapidly. Everything seems to be good right now..although none of the plants have roots out of the netpots yet, so pics would be sort of useless. I can take pics of the the top? Some of the seedlings do appear to be a little curled up but are doing better each day.

One thing I'm curious about is how long does it usually take for roots to grow out of the netpot? I'm using 3" netpots and it's been a week. I can only see tiny roots barely coming out on one of the seedlings. The rest seems to be fine but no roots at all. By the way I am growing three different varieties of peppers and one tomato. :) No pot haha.
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
Hey, so I am finally seeing roots coming out of the netpots on all of the seedlings. Also, they are white and awesome looking...the one thing is that only one of the seedlings is growing perfectly. The other seem to be growing very very slowly and are still curling up.

In DWC do young plants generally concentrate on establishing a good strong root system before doing any good growing? Or should the roots and top be growing at the same rates? I mean I've heard that taking care of the root system will automatically lead to healthy foliage but for me everything is curled and messed up looking..save for one. Maybe it just needs some time? Any help appreciated. I've also added DM Add.27 and 1/8 strength Flora Series nutes now. Let's see what happens I guess.

Currently running:
-Armor Si Silica
-Rapid Start
-EWC Tea
-Added in a bit of Great White separately as well, just to be safe.
-Floralicious Plus
-Dutch Master Add.27
-GH Flora Series nutes at 1/8 strength

PPM is 550. My tapwater is 200 however so I guess really it's 350ppm.
PH is 5.9.
Res Temp is 68f.
Air Temp is generally around 76-83 during the day and 66-70 at night.
Sol 2 led light is around 12 inches away.

Someone help please.
bongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmilie
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
La Roma Tomato. You can see the curling if you look closely.20141024_210739.jpg 20141024_211514.jpg

Scotch Bonnet Pepper. This one is doing a lot better actually but I don't know..you tell me.
20141024_211235.jpg

Thai Dragon Pepper. This one is really messed up lol. Pray for it. I have no idea what's wrong with it. If you look closely there's a black tinge to the old leaves as well as the curling..any advice?
20141024_211301.jpg

California Wonder 300 Sweet Pepper. Yum yum. This is the only one that seems to be doing great. :) Makes me happy looking at it.
20141024_211311.jpg
 
Scroga

Scroga

Well-Known Member
Hello all just want to remind y'all to keep your recipes simple... There is a difference between a microbe tea and a nutrient tea... For those that said they added to much molasses you didn't allow to brew long enough..if its cold allow more time...if you have slime.. Sterilise clean then bring on your tea schedule..take your plant into the shower and rinse of that root zone thoroughly ...nuke with chloramine for day or too..flush...refill stat teas... But me personally I would introduce roots excelurator as an inoculant... Miracle product if you follow instructions and introduce after ph'ing your res... Ciao good luck
 
gand3r

gand3r

Active Member
Stoned Tree said:
Hey, so I am finally seeing roots coming out of the netpots on all of the seedlings. Also, they are white and awesome looking...the one thing is that only one of the seedlings is growing perfectly. The other seem to be growing very very slowly and are still curling up.

In DWC do young plants generally concentrate on establishing a good strong root system before doing any good growing? Or should the roots and top be growing at the same rates? I mean I've heard that taking care of the root system will automatically lead to healthy foliage but for me everything is curled and messed up looking..save for one. Maybe it just needs some time? Any help appreciated. I've also added DM Add.27 and 1/8 strength Flora Series nutes now. Let's see what happens I guess.

Currently running:
-Armor Si Silica
-Rapid Start
-EWC Tea
-Added in a bit of Great White separately as well, just to be safe.
-Floralicious Plus
-Dutch Master Add.27
-GH Flora Series nutes at 1/8 strength

PPM is 550. My tapwater is 200 however so I guess really it's 350ppm.
PH is 5.9.
Res Temp is 68f.
Air Temp is generally around 76-83 during the day and 66-70 at night.
Sol 2 led light is around 12 inches away.

Someone help please.
bongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmiliebongsmilie
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Hey mate,

Once the roots are established the plant will take off extremly fast, the pace they grow once the roots are underway is actually quite amazing. Each day you can see a change :D

How dot eh roots look now, has the brown gone.

Scroga said:
Hello all just want to remind y'all to keep your recipes simple... There is a difference between a microbe tea and a nutrient tea... For those that said they added to much molasses you didn't allow to brew long enough..if its cold allow more time...if you have slime.. Sterilise clean then bring on your tea schedule..take your plant into the shower and rinse of that root zone thoroughly ...nuke with chloramine for day or too..flush...refill stat teas... But me personally I would introduce roots excelurator as an inoculant... Miracle product if you follow instructions and introduce after ph'ing your res... Ciao good luck
Click to expand...
Hi Scroga,,

Thanks for popping back in here.

As you said i added too much mollasses, around 16ml in around 2 gallons water using a eak pump and a cold ambient temperature. Room was about 17oC. I only brewed for 48hrs in them conditions so my own
 
Scroga

Scroga

Well-Known Member
gand3r said:
Hey mate,

Once the roots are established the plant will take off extremly fast, the pace they grow once the roots are underway is actually quite amazing. Each day you can see a change :D

How dot eh roots look now, has the brown gone.



Hi Scroga,,

Thanks for popping back in here.

As you said i added too much mollasses, around 16ml in around 2 gallons water using a eak pump and a cold ambient temperature. Room was about 17oC. I only brewed for 48hrs in them conditions so my own
Click to expand...
Just use a teaspoon bro..
 
Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
Do I have afterslime? The foliage up top looks healthy although I am concerned about some purplish veins on some of the older leaves and some of the leaves look curled down..alot. This is a pepper plant and my first grow so..yeah. Also, should I take out GH Rapid Start and Floralicious Plus? Maybe these are messing around and feeding some bad microbes. Should I run just plain nutes and the tea?
***To see these pics in the most detail (Click and then right click and click view image.)***
Roots:
20141114_000623.jpg 20141114_000632.jpg 20141114_000636.jpg 20141114_000640.jpg
Curled Leaves:
20141114_005729.jpg 20141114_005729.jpg 20141114_005836.jpg
Red-purple dark veins:
20141114_005845.jpg (Click and then right click and click view image)
TDS, Temp, PH:
20141114_005857.jpg 200ppm is tap and rest is Armor Si Silica, Rapid Start, Floralicious Plus, Dutch Master Add.27, GH Flora Series nutes at 1/8 strength, EWC Tea.
 

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Stoned Tree

Stoned Tree

Member
Also, one more thing. How much molasses should I be adding to my tea? My room temp is around 78f. Making 2 gallons. I've heard some people say 1 tbsp while others say 1 tsp. Currently I'm using half a tbsp and brewing for 48 hours. Starts with plenty of foam, foams up even more..then by 48 hours it's back to normal with no foaming. I just want to put enough in there but at the same time not too much. Someone reply, you guys are all dead. :(
 
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