DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

hollaway said:

I am in need of some advice if anyone would be so kind...
I have the root slime I brewed up some tea last week and applied my first dose of 2 1/2 cups (2.5 gallons of water in my res) and I've also given the follow up of 1 more cup. I read something Heisenberg wrote about if a brown slime appears after the tea is applied to just stay the course and that it is not harmful but it just looks terrible lol up top the plant is growing and looks pretty decent IMO. Just looking for a second opinion, should I try to clean the slime off under the sink or cut off some roots or just leave it alone ? All I have in my res are nutrients and the tea and my res temps are 70 and under
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Ps. Sorry my pictures are sideways.

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Ya that don't look so good. I just went through a crazy battle with this myself, and I gotta say that I wish I would have staye the course with the bennies the first time, but I panicked and went sterile. But I had really good luck killing the slime off that way, and recently put two of my plants back into the bennies, and the result were great.
I think you Can give it some time, and remember the bennies in your roots look a little funky themselves, especially if you over do it a little, in my experience so far. I'm sure some guys that have been on this thread for a while will chime in shortly. But IMO you could probably trim of a little above where you have the worst of it just to get that big nasty mess out of the res, and spray them off, get the gunk out, clean your buckets with some h202 and give them a little flush with some h202 for an hour or three, and make a new fresh rez again with some bennies. But I dont think you have to go too drastic. Plants still look good, and I now have complete faith in the bennies. Go back through the thread a bit and look at the pics of my roots, they were horrible. And now they are coming back pretty strong. And I had some massive roots to clean up. I dont think you can go wrong. Just veg em an extra week or two if you wanna make up for any lost time. Good luck.

As 10after said, wash (spray bottles are good for that), give a bit of H2O2 bath, give fresh res with only pure water and tea, then after a day add nutes and you should be fine. Since your roots are small and don't provide much housing for bennies, you could put some expanded clay in your brewer when you brew and then add those to your res.

I have been bubbling my tea for over 48 hrs and no foam ever showed up.
Isnt the foamy top the sign that its breeding well?

Usually, but not necesarely. If you have biofilm (snot like slimy thing floating around and sticking to your stones and other surfaces), you are OK.

I had no foam when I was brewing under 20°C. I get most of it at about 25°C.

Spanky84 said:

Usually, but not necesarely. If you have biofilm (snot like slimy thing floating around and sticking to your stones and other surfaces), you are OK.

I had no foam when I was brewing under 20°C. I get most of it at about 25°C.

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I have a lot of air going, so film prolly couldn't accumilate and I have none nor foam, but I am at 66*f.
Is that too cold?

Yes, I had nothing at that temp. Try brewing at a warmer place or geting a small aquarium heater.

Spanky84 said:

Yes, I had nothing at that temp. Try brewing at a warmer place or geting a small aquarium heater.

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So was my brew not beneficial then?
I didnt know it had to be warm to do it...can I have it exposed to HID lights to get warm in the flowering area?

I don't know. It could perhaps even cause problems if sugar wasn't used up and is poured into a res. And perhaps it still had enough microbes to do some good.

Anyway, lights would keep it warm, but I have no idea how such strong light would affect the brew.

Spanky84 said:

I don't know. It could perhaps even cause problems if sugar wasn't used up and is poured into a res. And perhaps it still had enough microbes to do some good.

Anyway, lights would keep it warm, but I have no idea how such strong light would affect the brew.

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Ok I am gonna flush tomorrow.

Having foam doesnt mean your tea is good! And not having foam doesnt mean its bad!

listen if you are on the fence about your tea being good, you need to get a microscope








also last i looked this thread is about brewing teas not about steril water!

had brown slime and some blackening tips on my roots, res changes only stalled it, I was gona transplant into soil when I decided I'd give this a shot, just 1/4 cup of ewc and a teaspoon of mycogrow from fungi.com in 1 gallon of r/o with a bubbler for 72hrs, fed with a tablespoon of blackstrap. Now even the roots that WERE brown are white again and the roots are growing so much they are wrapping around my air stones. TYVM

I went 72 hrs because I saw no foam, still saw none at 72 but it still worked

thats asome great job!!!!!

Mine hasnt improved or worsened, I added the tea for the 1st time on Tuesday...still going nowhere

bassman999 said:

Mine hasnt improved or worsened, I added the tea for the 1st time on Tuesday...still going nowhere

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Mine did the same, but when it clears up, the roots take off!!!

Just an update on the roots. The plant in the last 4 pics are the ones with the bennies. The others are sterile with sm-90 and H202. The bennies have done a much nicer job of cleaning things up, and there has been lots of growth.

This tea appears to be working! Lots of new growth in 5 days. Couple spots on the roots still look pretty shitty though. Just started brewing my second batch tonight. Thanks Heisenberg!

Quick question, can rain water be used?

I'v read that it cna contain all kinds of pathogens it picks up from the atmosphere. I' haven't tried it, but if I did', I'd be sure to boil it before use.

Have any of you out there tried using tea in an aero cloner e.g. EZ clone or Turboklone?
I have had a bunch of clone stems fall victim to some sort of green mold (the upper part above the neoprene, not the lower portion of the stem in the cloner getting sprayed with water)
and so I was wondering if adding a bit of strained tea to the cloner would be beneficial, and also wouldn't cause any problems with the machine itself
Opinions?

Had a horrible case of the brown slime. Thanks to Heis, and the tea, I think im on the rebound! One quick question, im running 5gal buckets, 6"net pot lids so 3-3 1/2 gal of water, I put two cups of tea in four new rooted clone buckets, and three cups in the four buckets with slime(after rinsing, sterilizing, ext.). After two days I see nice white root tips in all buckets but there is a slight foam in the buckets also. I know foam is ok/good in the brewing of the tea but is it ok in the res? Thanks in advance!