My experience with beneficial bacteria

Hey hey!


Adding beneficial bacteria not only saved my grow from repeated relentless ruin by algae, but it also changed everything I learned about growing in DWC tubs.

Here it is:

1) I no longer care about water temperature. It seems the warmer the better in fact.

2) I no longer care about light leaks in my tubs at all anymore. I have houseplants (slow growers that get less attention) in direct and indirect sun that have been growing for 6+ months in clear glass vases w/ no problems whatsoever. Not an odor, growth, or even an insect of any kind. Just white roots.

3) I don't change the res water in my reservoirs anymore. From the first day in veg all the way until until the flush at 14 weeks. I just add nutes, ph down, and water as they use. I haven't encountered anything detrimental at all as a result of not changing.

4) My plants are THRIVING. Chest high and flawless all through their cycle.


I loosely follow a recipe from Heisenberg. He's the OP on beneficial bacteria and the resource. My tea is just EWC, Subculture -M, and molasses. I continue to be amazed by this stuff. In a nutshell it keeps everything bad out while allowing me to neglect all the basics of DWC growing like temp control, frequent water changes, light proofing, and using sterilizers like H202, physan, bleach..

I am also brewing the tea in differing concentrations (lower and lower), storing it for ever longer, using widely differing amounts and intervals on different plants at all growth stages in both soil and hydro, and encouraging temperature swings. I haven't found a ceiling or detrimental effect in any area yet, aside that from using too concentrated an amount leads to a brown algae-like growth in my DWC tubs and vases (which seems to cause no harm.) All bugaboos always stay out. My water temps have varied from low 60's to high 80's w/ no apparent difference, other than that plants grow more quickly in warmer weather.

And the benfits go on and on...

Adding the EWC tea really has been a magic bullet.

Hope this helps your grow. Did mine. Beleive in the BB's.

Peace

I was thinking about slapping together a homemade chiller, thinking twice now. What is the temperature in your canopy getting? I was thinking if the roots are cool i can disregard the canopy up to 95 degrees as long as the roots are around 70. What do you think?

nice dude.
sounds like you found your sweet spot!

Did you see any changes in potency? IS the store bought beneficial bacteria powder anygood? And the beneficial micorizol in powder form? Thinking about blowing off temps and res temps and using those. What do you think?

Mellowman - You don't have to worry about water or root temps at all. In fact warmer water promotes faster growth so you actually want high temps.That's the beauty of it. My room hangs pretty consistently around 80 degrees but has been much warmer with no probs.
As far as potency - yep it's up. My plants are ultra healthy and problem free now - way more so then when i tried to run cold sterile res water. There's an algae out there too that will absolutly laugh at H202, physan, cold water, light-proofing, and bleach. It fucked up my grow for quite a while before i learned about the tea.
Subculture-m has been good for me but the real secret to the tea is earth worm castings. There are lots of other products too that provide various beneficial bacteria. Read up on the thread 'how to breed your own beneficial bacteria' if your looking for other formulas or ingredients.

For your last question - yeah I would. Cost-wise running benes is cheap. I've done both and I'm never going back to trying to run a sterile res and fighting temps all the time. Add in having to use a chiller and forget it. It's an inferior method.

Do you think i would be ok with a res temp of 85 degrees constant and a canopy temp of 95? IF so im going to blow off the chiller altogether and the airconditioner

I read the thread and Heisenburg says the microbes have to eat something or they will die. What can I add to the res to my buckets for the beaties to eat so they dont die?

ITs a moot point my res was a hundred degrees this afternoon haha. Definately going with my chiller.