Testing Beneficial Bacteria in Ebb and Flow (AK47 with Great White)

mrduke said:
Mr. homeb waht are your thoughts on running GW or similar in a sunshine mix?
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I am planning a test in the dirt as well but because of the timing, I didn't have any strains ready that I'm familiar with and know what to expect out of. I would think that if you're using a quality dirt like sunshine mix, high quality nutrients and you have a set of healthy roots, that GW wouldn't make much of a difference either way. If you experiment, please let me know your results as my 'GW in the dirt' test wont start for a little while.

the reason i ask is my local shop owner was recommending that I run trays full of SS#4 w/ no drains and adding benifical bacteria's to make the "soil" come to life, What i thought was really interesting is that he said i could reuse the soil for years as its a living fungus filled habitat.
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The only reason I don't reuse soil is because of the salt buildup from fertilizer. I like sunshine mix #8 (and I think #4 is similar) because it's a 'clean slate' so the only thing my plants get is what I've given them.
 
Day 50 today and we probably have 12-14 days left before harvest. I may have forgotten to mention this but after I leached the medium last week, I added back some Great White and that was the last dose the reservoir will get per the instructions.

Everything looks fine at the moment and I think the litmus test for this experiment will be the final yield for this grow. As of now, I really don’t see GW making any difference as far as plant health or growth is concerned. GW has aided in uptake of nutrients (which can be seen by slight tip-burn at otherwise 'normal' feeding levels for this strain) but was that aid even needed and will that increase yield or quality? We shall see.














 
I currently have samples of Quantum growth beneficials microbes. I currently use them and have for a couple of years. I recieve the samples from a rep. thats a friend thats why I posted on the product before. They are the only liquid stable photosyntheic bacteria on the market and have a great consortism of bennies. If you send me a private message with a contact I'll get him to send you couple of bottles your way. I will add that Heisenberg has a great way to brew your own on a previous blog that has great info. Contact if you want, like to get feedback from someone else about the product. Happy growing Indoorman
 
The picture below has nothing to do with the thread but she's super sexy and I felt like showing her off. This is one of my Kali Mist ladies from serious seeds that made the cut to the second round. She yielded the most potent smoke I've ever come across and she'll be in the running against probably 2-3 other Kali girls, all competing for a spot with my other mothers. Wish her luck ;).

 
Heya HB, awesome stuff as always! Had a question, do you ever use hydrogen peroxide or bleach in your res? I'd assume that either of those would kill these microbes. What are your thoughts on using those to keep algae/etc. in check? I was planning on using HP in my next run here shortly but all I can get is the over-the-counter stuff and I'm not sure how effective it is or if it's even worth using. Thanks HB! =)
 
brownbearclan said:
Heya HB, awesome stuff as always! Had a question, do you ever use hydrogen peroxide or bleach in your res? I'd assume that either of those would kill these microbes. What are your thoughts on using those to keep algae/etc. in check? I was planning on using HP in my next run here shortly but all I can get is the over-the-counter stuff and I'm not sure how effective it is or if it's even worth using. Thanks HB! =)
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I've never used that stuff as I've never had a problem with things in my reservoir. Bleach and H2o2 are a band-aid for a bigger issue. If you're seeing algae, make sure your res is dark and that the res isn't stagnant. I ran a test for 6 months to a year where some reservoirs were being aerated and some weren't. The stagnant reservoirs always stunk at res change time but that never affected the health of the plants. I added an airstone when I got a chance and volia, no more smelly reservoirs.

If your res is dark and not stagnant and you're still getting algae growth, then at your next res change, I'd sanitize your res with bleach (1-2 ounces per 5 gallons and let it sit for an hour). Rinse, and resume growing. Also a thought; some nutrients are cleaner than others and in some cases, they could be supplying the bugs with what they need for growth.
 
What about algae on top of rockwool cubes? Since algae is a plant and H2O2 does not kill plants, it does not seem that it would help any for RW cube algae growth.

EDIT: found this quote: "Hydrogen peroxide can be added to the water and will deter growth of algae, but it may also affect fertilizer chemistry." specifically for RW cube growth from Ed Rosenthal.
 
medicine21 said:
What about algae on top of rockwool cubes? Since algae is a plant and H2O2 does not kill plants, it does not seem that it would help any for RW cube algae growth.
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If your cubes are staying wet enough for algae to grow on top of them, you may be flooding too many times per light cycle. Treat problems as they arise but look for solutions to those problems so you're not constantly putting out fires.
 
homebrewer said:
If your cubes are staying wet enough for algae to grow on top of them, you may be flooding too many times per light cycle. Treat problems as they arise but look for solutions to those problems so you're not constantly putting out fires.
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That's the thing, I am not. I flood once a day and early flower even skip days between watering. The RW cubes just hold so much water and I use small 4x4x2" on top of it. What contributes to cube algae in my case, is the fact that light gets through all the way, because the plants are lollipoped for SOG. Gives nice ripe buds on the entire plant, but also lights up the cube and algae grows.

I have experimented with cube covers, but have not come to a conclusion as to what is worse: algae on cube or a worse breathing cube as it is covered up.
 
medicine21 said:
That's the thing, I am not. I flood once a day and early flower even skip days between watering. The RW cubes just hold so much water and I use small 4x4x2" on top of it. What contributes to cube algae in my case, is the fact that light gets through all the way, because the plants are lollipoped for SOG. Gives nice ripe buds on the entire plant, but also lights up the cube and algae grows.

I have experimented with cube covers, but have not come to a conclusion as to what is worse: algae on cube or a worse breathing cube as it is covered up.
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"sorry to jump the gun but seems like you just need to seal the light out," Capt Obvious.
No light = minimal algae, right? I cut a square of panda sheet and tape it to the cube cut a slit for the stem and works pretty good!
 
Yes, as I mentioned I have cube covers on half the plants to experiment. The question is, is there any drawback to covering up the cube, such as less O2 getting to the cube?
 
Fellas, this isn't relevant to this thread so if you would please use the PM function on this site, I'd appreciate it, as well as people in the future not wanting to leaf through a few pages of 'non beneficial bacteria' content. Thanks.
 
homebrewer said:
Fellas, this isn't relevant to this thread so if you would please use the PM function on this site, I'd appreciate it, as well as people in the future not wanting to leaf through a few pages of 'non beneficial bacteria' content. Thanks.
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deal. and apoligies....damnit i did it again. delete. delete.
 
Day 57 today and this is their last week. Things are looking pretty chunky so I'm excited to see what the final weight comes in at. My previous AK47 grow under these new bulbs and in this exact tray yielded 20 ounces on the dot so hopefully we'll see an increase when using Great White. Aroma, bud structure and plant health all seem to be 'normal' so other than a potential bump in yield, GW doesn't seem to be making a difference as of yet.

In regards to their final week, I wont be flushing. I'm not a flusher and know for a fact that plants have nutritional needs in the last weeks of their life. I'll be feeding at a little over 1.0 EC and today will in all likelihood be their last res change.

I also like to harvest when I see a combination of signs. Swollen calyxes, red pistols and cloudy trics all signify that my plants are done. Based on the look of things now, I'd say day 64 or 65 will be chopping day.

Here are the ladies, I'll take some final pics when I decide to chop in about a week. Cheers!











 
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