Blue brother
Well-Known Member
When first deciding on a method to grow your favourite crop you will be faced with many decisions. Soil? Hydro? Synteticnutrients? Organic nutrients? These are just some. Seeing as you've found this thread I'm going to assume that you chose hydro.
In hydroponics we use an inert medium, this means the medium has no nutrients stored in it at the time of purchase. So everything that your plant needs to grow and thrive in this medium will have to be put there by you.
We do this by mixing up batches of nutrients and watering with it. There are 3 main types of nutrients: synthetic , semi synthetic , and organic.
If you have chosen semi synthetic or organic nutrients then you cannot go sterile, sterilising a solution with organic compounds in it will be a waste of time and money, because the use of sterilising agents such as hydrogen peroxide will destroy any organic compounds and any beneficial bacteria (which you obviously want seeing as you bought nutrients with these in).
So for these people the best way to keep pests out is to use something called beneficial bacteria. As the name suggests these are benneficial, they kill harmful pests and eat dead roots making for better nutrient uptake and faster growth. However this means that your res medium and root zone will be alive with millions of bacteria which need to be maintained and replenished.
If done correctly this method will be more productive than keeping everything sterile.
However as a beginner this cAn be a major headache, it's one more thing to worry about when really you need about ten things less to worry About. Magic powders and potions can be expensive and there are soooo many options it's enough to pull your hair out.
Just look at a live res ingredient list compared to a sterile res ingredient list.
This is why I chose sterile.
I'm a massive fan on keeping things simple, you can literally count every additive I use on one hand. Hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) is the chemical I use to ensure my res medium and root zone stay clean. It creates a lot of dissolved oxygen in the water every time it kills a pathogen, I can use it without fear because unlike bleach and other sterilising agents it breaks down into water and oxygen and leaves no residue, I clean all surfaces with it and use it during flushes aswell.
You can virtually gAurentee that if you use 10% strength h2o2 at 5ml per litre you will rarely get a root or wAter based problem. In fact I've never had one.
This for me was a no brainer. If you're a beginner and are making this decision yourself then consider both options. But it might be best to leave bennies (beneficial bacteria) till you've got yourself through a few cycles.
Well that's all guys, hope this has at least helped one person making the decision for themselves.
Peace
In hydroponics we use an inert medium, this means the medium has no nutrients stored in it at the time of purchase. So everything that your plant needs to grow and thrive in this medium will have to be put there by you.
We do this by mixing up batches of nutrients and watering with it. There are 3 main types of nutrients: synthetic , semi synthetic , and organic.
If you have chosen semi synthetic or organic nutrients then you cannot go sterile, sterilising a solution with organic compounds in it will be a waste of time and money, because the use of sterilising agents such as hydrogen peroxide will destroy any organic compounds and any beneficial bacteria (which you obviously want seeing as you bought nutrients with these in).
So for these people the best way to keep pests out is to use something called beneficial bacteria. As the name suggests these are benneficial, they kill harmful pests and eat dead roots making for better nutrient uptake and faster growth. However this means that your res medium and root zone will be alive with millions of bacteria which need to be maintained and replenished.
If done correctly this method will be more productive than keeping everything sterile.
However as a beginner this cAn be a major headache, it's one more thing to worry about when really you need about ten things less to worry About. Magic powders and potions can be expensive and there are soooo many options it's enough to pull your hair out.
Just look at a live res ingredient list compared to a sterile res ingredient list.
This is why I chose sterile.
I'm a massive fan on keeping things simple, you can literally count every additive I use on one hand. Hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) is the chemical I use to ensure my res medium and root zone stay clean. It creates a lot of dissolved oxygen in the water every time it kills a pathogen, I can use it without fear because unlike bleach and other sterilising agents it breaks down into water and oxygen and leaves no residue, I clean all surfaces with it and use it during flushes aswell.
You can virtually gAurentee that if you use 10% strength h2o2 at 5ml per litre you will rarely get a root or wAter based problem. In fact I've never had one.
This for me was a no brainer. If you're a beginner and are making this decision yourself then consider both options. But it might be best to leave bennies (beneficial bacteria) till you've got yourself through a few cycles.
Well that's all guys, hope this has at least helped one person making the decision for themselves.
Peace