DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

SweetDove said:

Would anyone be able to link me (or direct me to which page?) to some info on root-slime vs algae? Maybe with some pictures? Id be eternally grateful.

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With algae you shouldn't have to worry about it as long as you've done a good job of lightproofing your buckets or whatever your groiwng in and if you haven't do so immediately. Hard to tell the difference between the two but the root-slime is more likely to form on the roots obviously and if the brown stuff is still forming in 100% darkness it's definetly brown slime alage(root slime) and not regular algae. Regular algae doesn't eat the roots but it can suffocate them and lead to pythium and produce a bio-film that bad bacteria can grow in. Algae can grow in very low light so light proofing has to be total NO LIGHT LEAKS AT ALL PERIOD. Sorry I don't have any pics for you but they both look so much alike so I'm not sure it'd even matter.

And Heisenburg I still think your tea is a great idea and has helped a lot of people and I would still like to use it if possible. My only problem is I'm running drip totes and not DWC systems and wanted to know what products you think I should use. You originally said to use the mycogro hydro mix instead of the mycrogro soluble but it would appear they don't make it anymore as it's nowhere to be found on fungi perfecti or elsewhere. I already have a bottle of aquashield and was about to buy a bag of ancient forest humus. Ancient forest humus is the correct product right? I'm confused because you described it as EWC but it's a mixture of EWC,peat moss and some other stuff and not 100% EWC. I'm sure it's probably what you were talking about and I'm probably just paying too much attention to semantics here. Also should I forgo the ZHO powder or do you think I'd be fine running it in a low pressure drip system?

To many posts to read through but have you ever heard of anyone having a clog in a drip system since starting this thread? Thanks for any help and sorry if I hijacked your thread and offended you in any way by doing so.

Well, I brewed up some tea and added it to a sprinkler aero system that I normally use for cuts, nothing has survived in it for about 6 months everything whithers and dies. I popped in two rooted babies, they deteriorated very fast, the roots went brown and they looked seriously unhappy. I went away for the weekend and have just got back.
The babies have regained some colour, and clear white tiny roots are bursting out.
I think I might have overdone it with the tea, starving the roots of oxygen at first, but the system now seems stable and healthy.
Would there be any benefit in placing my old equipment into the active reservoir. Would the beneficials feed on spores,zoospores , oospores of pathogens, biologically cleaning them; as in the past the chemical cleaners I've used, have not been effective.

bobhopetoo said:

Well, I brewed up some tea and added it to a sprinkler aero system that I normally use for cuts, nothing has survived in it for about 6 months everything whithers and dies. I popped in two rooted babies, they deteriorated very fast, the roots went brown and they looked seriously unhappy. I went away for the weekend and have just got back.
The babies have regained some colour, and clear white tiny roots are bursting out.
I think I might have overdone it with the tea, starving the roots of oxygen at first, but the system now seems stable and healthy.
Would there be any benefit in placing my old equipment into the active reservoir. Would the beneficials feed on spores,zoospores , oospores of pathogens, biologically cleaning them; as in the past the chemical cleaners I've used, have not been effective.

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it seems to be back, the new roots were great for a few days but are now deteriorating. do I have to clean off the roots and sterilize the rez or should I add more tea?

I would clean the res and run system with h202 then dump and add tea again.

Hey guys, Just wanted to get your opinion on my situation.

I am doing a low pressure aero mister system with the fenceposts as gullies. I ran into the slime problem once my roots hit the water and needed to chill in the anaerobic water which sat there in between pump on/off cycles. 5 on 10 off.

I had been running zone one week and sm90 the next. switching on and off with a sterile rez, no problem for the slime. only a few plants had it, most were healthy, almost didnt notice it. tried to be as quick as i could.

after trying to sterilize with physan 20 with no success, my ph began to rise and the water now had an odor, a strong unhealthy root smell best described it.

So i read this thread, and used the following for my tea: aquasheild, extreme mykos wp, ancient forest ewc( in a sock ), earthjuice hydro molasses, and Roots excel.

I noticed there was not many film bubbles on the batch, I believe it was from the RE. I have noticed later in thread it isnt recommended now.

I ran with physan 20 and flushed many many times. added the tea which brewed for 48 hours per instruction. 40 gal REZ. added 3 gallons, mostly adding it through the 50 plant sites around the crown.

8 hours later, ph stable and no longer a smell at all. and it smelled bad after the physan, 4 flush, and new rez. but once the tea was added to it , it seemed the bennies cleared it up quickly? i didnt see much mention of that. surrounding areas of rez now have foam. I am running system almost 24/7 now with pump. treat it more of a NFT system for initial tea inoculation.

it is about 35 hours since tea added today, and the roots look a little worse than normal, not sure if its slimy, or the "after slime" but it looks worse than the half decent looking roots that were there when i started the tea, is that afterslime?
pH still stable, very stable, and odor has not returned.

I have a new batch of tea i just added a few cups of. this batch was without the Roots Excel and IT STARTED FOAMING AFTER 6 HOURS. the anaerobic properties of RE seems to show when brewing the tea.

So does it sound like its working? How long before noticeable growth with new whites hairs? I know i should have used Mycogrow soluble instead of mykos, i will next batch. and i know i shouldnt have used the RE in initial batch. what r your thoughts on this?

and also how do you feel about putting the sock in the REZ after brewing? clogging aside. i know aero misters can clog.

Hi guys, all new to this and very tired of not being able to grow without getting some nasties and heavily stunted growth every time before even reaching a proper veg stage. All seedlings/clones get the nasties no matter what I use to clean or how thoroughly??

Have good air supply, chiller, emptied my wallet swapped system etc.. etc.. No enough is enough and gonna try this. Although cannot find the product I need?

EWC, what does that any anyone? Can any kind soul fill me in?

This is what I have bought so far and on it´s way:

PLAGRON ORGANIC WORM HUMUS CASTINGS 1 L

Hydroponic Root Inoculant Mycorrhizal Fungi Trichoderma Beneficial Bacteria 4 oz

Meridian Organic Blackstrap Molasses - 350 gram

BOTANICARE ZHO RHIZOSPHERE ROOT INNOCULANT 1/4 LB BENEFICIAL MICROBES .25

What more do I need guys?

Aquashield and ancient forest alaskan humus is things I could order but way to pricy for my taste, already expensive du to shipping fee. 2 lb Pound Organic Bountea Alaska Humisoil Compost Tea Fertilizer Plant Growth is also something I could get but not cheap enough, though cheaper then GO ancient forrest du to weight being shipped.

Also explenations like a "handfull", a "scoop", a "cup full" etc is something I don´t get at all? I simply do not know what that is, silly me, lol.. ml, cl, dl etc.. is what I can grab basically.

I do have some Voodoo Juice, Piranha and Tarantula (both powder and liquid) Can I do anything with that or?? I mean in the tea of course? ..or better used as is?

im no pro but i reckon the products you have will work just fine.
EWC earth worm castings

i didnt use any of the products listed in the original heisenberg tea just substituted for stuff i could get locally and cheap and my tea rocks.

good luck mate you will not be dissapointed

2easy said:

im no pro but i reckon the products you have will work just fine.
EWC earth worm castings

i didnt use any of the products listed in the original heisenberg tea just substituted for stuff i could get locally and cheap and my tea rocks.

good luck mate you will not be dissapointed

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Ohh thank you so much sir, you just teached me what I could not find on my own.. I mean I had a feeling it would be very simple but still I did not connect those dots, lol..

Very glad to hear your tea rocks man, so many happy customers I´v seen online when talking Heisenberg tea (or any of the million versions of it) that it just must be good? I mean as long as mixing the correct components etc.. to get these goodies out of. I will also NOT get any more of those Nirvana seeds I have been using, the strain called: Blue Mystic, feminized + auto. After all I´v tried so many solutions (not this tea though) and I get no ware with those seeds for DWC use, soil works (not well tho) but not DWC!

What seeds would you guys recommend for a DWC noob aiming to use this tea? Don´t know what to get but want s strain that is as fast growing as possible (lost about 4-5 months so far) but still very tough and forgiving as can be. DWC noob friendly if you so like and does not require a credit card to get a hold of? Bank transfer, Paypal, E-Visa or whatever.. Sorry for asking in this thread, just that is must be used with this tea and no more poring H2O2 or whatever every day in to the res.

Thanks!

I have had great results with dwc, drip etc and in my opinion you should use a 3 part GH or AN and flush system with h202 once a week during res change (few hrs min) and clean res and all lines going into or out of it daily with a h202 and water solution. Lots of air pumped in to the water! (Go accesive on the size of air pump, it should cost around 500.00+ for 3 or more bucket grow) And use water chillers to keep water cool and you will never have rot.. I would never introduce any organics on my clean intricate hydroponic setup, yakkk!

Ohh I so forgot to ask a question regarding bennies.

I gave Voodoo Juice, Piranha and Tarantualla to DWC yesterday. Before that there was absolutely no smell at all, water was as clean as it gets when looking down DWC bucket..

Today same bucket is looking very different, I can smell a weak smell in it or even through hydroton, not a bad smell, no told aquarium or far gone Pythium, just different and hard to explain? Water though was not at all clear and super fresh looking no more, no today is was foggy, turbid, muddy (don´t know the English work for it???) I could even see small little grey/brown dots every here and there on air lines, suction cups, where water comes in/goes out to chiller inside the bucket, of course naturally I thought ohh colonies of bennies but really? Can it be something else? Have never added this products before, ever??

Again so sorry if off topic here, just wanna know what to expect form the tea later on so that I don´t waste it and start cleaning like crazy if I see that muddy water + little grey´ish dots over some surfaces in DWC again?

dr.medecine said:

Ohh I so forgot to ask a question regarding bennies.

I gave Voodoo Juice, Piranha and Tarantualla to DWC yesterday. Before that there was absolutely no smell at all, water was as clean as it gets when looking down DWC bucket..

Today same bucket is looking very different, I can smell a weak smell in it or even through hydroton, not a bad smell, no told aquarium or far gone Pythium, just different and hard to explain? Water though was not at all clear and super fresh looking no more, no today is was foggy, turbid, muddy (don´t know the English work for it???) I could even see small little grey/brown dots every here and there on air lines, suction cups, where water comes in/goes out to chiller inside the bucket, of course naturally I thought ohh colonies of bennies but really? Can it be something else? Have never added this products before, ever??

Again so sorry if off topic here, just wanna know what to expect form the tea later on so that I don´t waste it and start cleaning like crazy if I see that muddy water + little grey´ish dots over some surfaces in DWC again?

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AN microbe products are notorious for exasperating and sometimes even causing a slime outbreak. The voodoo juice is safe so you can use it in the tea, but it is about 10x beyond any justifiable retail price.

I would worry more about the odor than the cloudy water. Both should clear up within a day or two, if not I'd start over.

There is a reason we do not add most microbe products directly to the res. Some contain a bit of organic food to get the microbes started, which feeds the slime. Brewing them in a tea takes care of that.

As for seeds, I recommend TGA third dimension or GHS lemon skunk. Both do great for me in DWC, as most indicas do. Sativas take a bit more finesse. For nutes, you can't go wrong with GH 3 part in DWC. Keep it simple. Be sure to include a foliar spray in your schedule.

bobhopetoo said:

it seems to be back, the new roots were great for a few days but are now deteriorating. do I have to clean off the roots and sterilize the rez or should I add more tea?

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I cleaned the roots in h2o2 and moved them to a new clean bucket with tea they are still deteriorating. the roots are brown and coming loose,they look to be covered in a kind of fuzz. I,m not sure if it is slime that I'm dealing with, what else could it be.It seems like pythium but appears to be airborne, as it spreads with no contact or cross contamination,and appears imediately in new equipment. I,m wondering about trying a soil grow.

bobhopetoo said:

I cleaned the roots in h2o2 and moved them to a new clean bucket with tea they are still deteriorating. the roots are brown and coming loose,they look to be covered in a kind of fuzz. I,m not sure if it is slime that I'm dealing with, what else could it be.It seems like pythium but appears to be airborne, as it spreads with no contact or cross contamination,and appears imediately in new equipment. I,m wondering about trying a soil grow.

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Sounds like you have more or less nuked them to death. I can picture the type of root situation you're describing an it always came after a series of sterilization attempts. Damaged roots are like damaged foliage, they can only take so much and once damaged they rarely spring back to life. I think you need to put the plants in a light nutes mix with some tea and give them time. Look for new root shoots, and new tip growth, within a week, however tiny, and ignore everything else. By sure to cover the basics such as aeration and temps as well.

Heisenberg said:

AN microbe products are notorious for exasperating and sometimes even causing a slime outbreak. The voodoo juice is safe so you can use it in the tea, but it is about 10x beyond any justifiable retail price.

I would worry more about the odor than the cloudy water. Both should clear up within a day or two, if not I'd start over.

There is a reason we do not add most microbe products directly to the res. Some contain a bit of organic food to get the microbes started, which feeds the slime. Brewing them in a tea takes care of that.

As for seeds, I recommend TGA third dimension or GHS lemon skunk. Both do great for me in DWC, as most indicas do. Sativas take a bit more finesse. For nutes, you can't go wrong with GH 3 part in DWC. Keep it simple. Be sure to include a foliar spray in your schedule.

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Hi, thanks for the help Heisinberg. I kinda hoped you would see this and answer to it, of course I´m also very thankful for all other answers by more experienced DWC growers as well!

Ok I see, so the tea brewing process is the key then? Not just dumping bennies in the bucket/root zone..

I kinda had to change your formula up a bit since I cannot get all products mentioned by you, at least not in a price range that makes any sense at all! So to the product already ordered by me like I mentioned a few posts back is:

PLAGRON ORGANIC WORM HUMUS CASTINGS 1 L
Hydroponic Root Inoculant Mycorrhizal Fungi Trichoderma Beneficial Bacteria 4 oz
Meridian Organic Blackstrap Molasses - 350 gram
BOTANICARE ZHO RHIZOSPHERE ROOT INNOCULANT 1/4 LB BENEFICIAL MICROBES .25

..I know also got the hold of this product:

2 lb Pound Organic Bountea Alaska Humisoil Compost Tea Fertilizer Plant Growth

I could also get MYCOGROW shipped to me if needed but do not want to pay more then I need to cause it´s already much more expensive for me to get these product then what it is for you US guys, shipping and potential custom/tax fees is what drives the cost up of course! Have already spent more then I dare to say here on H2O2 and other cleaning producs, how much have that gotten me so far?
Nothing..., zero nix, rien, nada, jack, zip, zilch, I mean absolutely nothing! Investments already done but start to feel very tired and sad here! Cannot keep this up anymore and not do I have the energy to do so even if I could afford it. At the very least I did order a cheap 3 stage RO system anyway, so perhaps I can trust the water now?

I will read your guide to tea again and again to be able to make it easy for myself when the items arrive but some major things is a bit worrying for me though..

1: When should I transfer seedling/clone in rockwool or root!t plug into DWC?

2: How do I learn about how much I should add of each product? (in exact measured weight or volume to brew the tea I mean?)

3: When do I inoculate, and possible how? (after all it seams like I have a hard time even getting my first set of true leaves. Some could be do to sensitive strain/genetics though???)

GH 3 part you say, sure I can do that. They are not very expensive, not even to Sweden. I do have AN sensi grow part A+B atm, I got noware with Vitalink (hard water) so I got the AN sensi for free by my very nice supplier! Are they not as good/useful with bennies as GH?

Regarding foliar feed you mentioned, I have something called HALO foliar plant feed at home. Can that be used on very young seedlings perhaps?

I will check up that lemon skunk, a million thanks for helping a DWC nood out here. ..and to all of you helping out as well, that is true caring folks.. Jah bless you all!

/dr.medecine

Heisenberg said:

Sounds like you have more or less nuked them to death. I can picture the type of root situation you're describing an it always came after a series of sterilization attempts. Damaged roots are like damaged foliage, they can only take so much and once damaged they rarely spring back to life. I think you need to put the plants in a light nutes mix with some tea and give them time. Look for new root shoots, and new tip growth, within a week, however tiny, and ignore everything else. By sure to cover the basics such as aeration and temps as well.

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cheers man that gives me a bit more confidence. This has been going on so long it's driving me crazy.Ive a mother in soil that seems to be thriving so all isn't lost.
Just to clarify something on the fist page your directions are to put in 1 cup per gallon every 3 days. for how long should you maintain that level before switching to a preventative dose?
This thread has given me a lifeline but I still feel I,m hanging by a thread.

bobhopetoo said:

cheers man that gives me a bit more confidence. This has been going on so long it's driving me crazy.Ive a mother in soil that seems to be thriving so all isn't lost.
Just to clarify something on the fist page your directions are to put in 1 cup per gallon every 3 days. for how long should you maintain that level before switching to a preventative dose?
This thread has given me a lifeline but I still feel I,m hanging by a thread.

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@bobhopeto, hope you things going for you.. It can be a nightmare in DWC, or so it has been for me anyway and you just wanna claw your eyes out after a couple of months without luck..

But also I saw that you used the "measurement" cup ??? May I ask what you mean by that, I see this every here and there and have no ide how much a "cup" is supposed to be?

/dr.medecine

dr.medecine said:

@bobhopeto, hope you things going for you.. It can be a nightmare in DWC, or so it has been for me anyway and you just wanna claw your eyes out after a couple of months without luck..

But also I saw that you used the "measurement" cup ??? May I ask what you mean by that, I see this every here and there and have no ide how much a "cup" is supposed to be?

/dr.medecine

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a US cup is 240 ml a US gallon is 3.84 litres
so I dose at 1 litre per 16 litres of reservoir

Yeah I've lost a lot of hair over this, It's actually affected my life badly.

Hey mr.berg,
i am on day 4 of tea. My first batch was made from ancient forest, roots excel, mykos wp and aquashield.
No foam on that batch, but.after 48 hrs i added 3 gals to my 40 gal rez through net pods. Also sterilized with physan and flushed well.
Next day the swamp smell was gone, ph was stable and my plantd started drinking. no signs of new growth. Also roots looked worse, more bunched and saturated.
Daye 3 i added new tea, no RE in brew this time, alot of foam this time. Added a gallon to rez.
On day 4 some plants have little growth at netpods, and some healthier ones have more lateral roots down in the water, not in netpod, not exactly white....mote of a less slimey yellow. Is that how some plants react? Or do all roots remain dead in afterslime, and the only new roots are at base of crown?
Some plants have no new growth yet, but it appears like fresh white bumps on main root stalk in netpod... Is that a sign of growth?
Im brewing tea with mycogrow now, but will the recipe i used be ok for now.

Does eveything sound right??? Rez creeps from 75 to 82 during one part of day... Is that ok if brewed at those temps?

Signed up to say thanks for giving me my first successful grow ever and to show off my babies like a proud dad should. After 2 failed attempts due to root slime as well as many rookie mistakes, Looks like I will be getting my first harvest ever. I am still making mistakes though. Example I am growing in 13 gallon 6 bucket RDWC. I made the rookie mistake of growing two strains (Alien OG and Harlequin) in the same system. The Harlequins like their nutes about 300PPMs less than the Alien and I burnt the leaves bad on the Harles while getting perfecting tip burn on the Alien. I add a gallon of unfiltered tea thru the netpot of hydrotons twice a week. I don't have root problem anymore but feel that it's helping my plants grow better. <-- Nothing to back this up but it doesn't seem to be hurting them so... I am only using AN 3 part with botanicare cal mag + and was foliar spraying SSU per your recommendation. Thanks again.