Any insight on “TPS NUTRIENTS - BILLIONS”

Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
Has anybody used “TPS nutrients - billions of microbes for plants”?
Purchased this product yesterday, before using, my roots were slightly stained. 24 hours later, My roots were tangled, had slime, and my air stone is caked in the same slime, water was frothy. All in the matter of 24 hours. I’ve never done Hydro so this will be my first time using Bennie’s and I don’t know if this is a normal reaction. Before I toss out the rez and clean everything, decided to clean up the roots as much as I can. I am turning to this forum asking anybody that has insight on this matter.

water temp- 73f
Air temp- 76f

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OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
That's for dirt grows. Did you not do a little research about hydro before doing it?

Now you need to do some research on how to wipe out root rot in a hydro system.

I always did my DWC sterile so stuff like that wouldn't happen. A little peroxide goes a long way.

:peace:
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
OldMedUser said:
That's for dirt grows. Did you not do a little research about hydro before doing it?

Now you need to do some research on how to wipe out root rot in a hydro system.

I always did my DWC sterile so stuff like that wouldn't happen. A little peroxide goes a long way.

:peace:
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Searching for an answer about a product, but I’ll play along with you.

What in these ingredients isolate the use to soil only application? Or do you even know any thing about the specific product in question?
Obviously sterile works in most instances but I’ve decided to try using bennies.
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
No, that's not normal nor is it going to be sustainable. I ran hydro for a few years and I had limited success running beneficial. Great White did a decent job cleaning up some minor root rot I had going at one point, but at no point should you have slime buildup so quickly and to that degree. In my experience sterile is the best way to go in most forms of hydroponics. If you prefer growing with biologically active inputs my recommendation would be to stick to soil.
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
Tolerance Break said:
If you don't know how bennies work, you shouldn't be using them. You just killed a bunch of expensive bacteria, which opened the door for pathogens to attack your roots.
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oh, they were killed and that’s the reason for slime. Thank you for input. How were they killed is what I will be trying to figure out now, good to know .
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
NanoGadget said:
No, that's not normal nor is it going to be sustainable. I ran hydro for a few years and I had limited success running beneficial. Great White did a decent job cleaning up some minor root rot I had going at one point, but at no point should you have slime buildup so quickly and to that degree. In my experience sterile is the best way to go in most forms of hydroponics. If you prefer growing with biologically active inputs my recommendation would be to stick to soil.
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read alot from a Bennie forum by Heisenberg and that was my aim. Within that thread somebody had mentioned colonizing of the Bennie’s so my purpose of this post pretty much to see if that was a thing I guess. Thank you for your input.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Ezleaves said:
Searching for an answer about a product, but I’ll play along with you.

What in these ingredients isolate the use to soil only application? Or do you even know any thing about the specific product in question?
Obviously sterile works in most instances but I’ve decided to try using bennies.
Click to expand...
As Obi-Wan once said, 'These are not the bennies you are looking for.'

No where on the label for that product does it specifically say it's for hydro. Under Additional Inputs it lists sugar, molasses and algae. You don't ever want to add those to hydro.

There are bennies specific to hydro use like Hydroguard but from my years of being on various forums helping nOObs grow I've seen more problems than benefits using such products.

I only did DWC from '01 - '20 and out of about 50 tubs worth of plants had root rot twice. Both times I had used clones that were rooted in a mix that had some real soil in it instead of straight soilless. Bacteria from the soil is what caused it and high doses of 35% peroxide is what killed it and saved both those tubs.

But what do I know.

Roots.jpg

:peace:
 
NanoGadget

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
Ezleaves said:
read alot from a Bennie forum by Heisenberg and that was my aim. Within that thread somebody had mentioned colonizing of the Bennie’s so my purpose of this post pretty much to see if that was a thing I guess. Thank you for your input.
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If you get the mess cleaned up to your satisfaction and still really want to give beneficials a go I'd try something like Hydrogaurd that's meant for it. You may find success with it. My recommendation remains running sterile. Best of luck!
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
OldMedUser said:
As Obi-Wan once said, 'These are not the bennies you are looking for.'

No where on the label for that product does it specifically say it's for hydro. Under Additional Inputs it lists sugar, molasses and algae. You don't ever want to add those to hydro.

There are bennies specific to hydro use like Hydroguard but from my years of being on various forums helping nOObs grow I've seen more problems than benefits using such products.

I only did DWC from '01 - '20 and out of about 50 tubs worth of plants had root rot twice. Both times I had used clones that were rooted in a mix that had some real soil in it instead of straight soilless. Bacteria from the soil is what caused it and high doses of 35% peroxide is what killed it and saved both those tubs.

But what do I know.

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:peace:
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Correct doesn’t specify “Use for Hydro” on the label but through the action of scanning the product information on their website it does list that it is compatible with Hydroponics.
From the info I managed to gather those very sugars you say are NOT to be added into hydro, actually DO feed the beneficials, unfortunately the also feed harmful as well. I understand that. I actually had no reason to choose this product over others besides the fact that the sugars were added and I wouldn’t have to add anything else.
Somebody mentioned I killed the Bennie’s. That comment alone gives the best direction so I can figure out how I killed them unknowingly.

I Wasn’t knocking your experience nor will I knock your experience.I know you are experienced based off reading a lot on RIU and you are knowledgeable. You bring value to a lot of stuff I have read. As for the topic, you didn’t have information to add other than an opinion of going sterile.
 
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Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
NanoGadget said:
If you get the mess cleaned up to your satisfaction and still really want to give beneficials a go I'd try something like Hydrogaurd that's meant for it. You may find success with it. My recommendation remains running sterile. Best of luck!
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Yah I am currently sterile again after the drastic turn for the worst in such a short period of time. Did a full clean out. Maybe I added them in wrong or in an abundance. Just liked to know if somebody used the stuff and how the used the stuff and what happend when they used the stuff. I appreciate you!
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
Tolerance Break said:
If you don't know how bennies work, you shouldn't be using them. You just killed a bunch of expensive bacteria, which opened the door for pathogens to attack your roots.
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Nailed it. Killed Bennie’s with a wrong gallon of distilled that turned out to be my hgh solution. You gave me direction. I Appreciate you for that.
 
Tolerance Break

Tolerance Break

Well-Known Member
There are various types of bennies, but it boils down to bacteria that helps feed the plant and bacteria that protects the plant.

If you're using non organic feed, there is nothing for the feeders to eat, so they die, which creates food for bad bacteria. They don't meaningfully serve a purpose. If you're using protective bacteria, your margins for error become much more slim. You have to provide the perfect conditions for not just roots, but an entire microbiome, where if something fails, the whole system crashes very quickly. Alternatively, you can run organic hydro, but I've never seen it done successfully, and it pretty much defeats the purpose of hydro.

It comes down to goals. If you're determined to make bennies work in hydro, go for it, but sterile is the cheaper, cleaner, lower maintenance option.
 
tyler.durden

tyler.durden

Well-Known Member
Ezleaves said:
Nailed it. I doubled back and went to check my water supply. I mixed up and messed up. Killed Bennie’s with a 3ppm hgh pool shock solution I accidentally used. Thank you!
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Your slime was likely caused by an over abundance of bacteria, it does not look like brown slime algae in your pics. These guys are right, you don't want to use sugars in hydro. I ran flood & drain sterile for over a decade, worked great. I bought a house in another state and the water just sucks - lots of pythium and chloramines. The chlormines are enough to kill my bennies, but not enough to kill the pythium. I tried ungodly amount of pool shock and bleach to no avail. So now a use API tap water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine and chloramides (and heavy metals as a bonus), then add my bennies. 5 ml of API Ecofix, which is a concentrated blend of beneficial bacteria, and 5 ml of Southern AG's Garden Friendly Fungicide to my 27 gallon rezes. Lots of good bacteria for hydro without the sugars. Any bennies will cause a biofilm (slime) if too much is used, but it is rarely disastrous. I only have to add the bennies every 5 days or so, and all these products are super cheap. I now have my root issues handled, and they look better than even running sterile. Best of luck.



IMG_2897.JPG
 
Ezleaves

Ezleaves

Member
tyler.durden said:
Your slime was likely caused by an over abundance of bacteria, it does not look like brown slime algae in your pics. These guys are right, you don't want to use sugars in hydro. I ran flood & drain sterile for over a decade, worked great. I bought a house in another state and the water just sucks - lots of pythium and chloramines. The chlormines are enough to kill my bennies, but not enough to kill the pythium. I tried ungodly amount of pool shock and bleach to no avail. So now a use API tap water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine and chloramides (and heavy metals as a bonus), then add my bennies. 5 ml of API Ecofix, which is a concentrated blend of beneficial bacteria, and 5 ml of Southern AG's Garden Friendly Fungicide to my 27 gallon rezes. Lots of good bacteria for hydro without the sugars. Any bennies will cause a biofilm (slime) if too much is used, but it is rarely disastrous. I only have to add the bennies every 5 days or so, and all these products are super cheap. I now have my root issues handled, and they look better than even running sterile. Best of luck.



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Yah I had a downward spiral after adding it, pretty much nuked the Bennie’s with pool shock on accident as soon as I introduced them, unforgivingly. mycorrhizae feed on carbohydrates as well which is why I figured this was a good product. But I do wonder if this product would have worked out if I didn’t blow it or if it’s better for a pre established Bennie system. In my case the slime wasn’t an excess of activity it was death lol. My experience was a complete operator error no doubt. And a big one to say the least. I won’t do that again unless I follow the Heisenberg tea exactly as he listed it. Plant is now in the infirmary Getting sterile medicine lol.
 
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