Confessions from a dirty guy

Years ago I got lazy while growing in bags, i didn't keep up on removing some runoff.

I mean this water was clearly disgusting to me, the plant sent roots from the bag to this pan of sludge.

At first I was gonna address it but instead decided to watch.

What happened was the plant thrived.

Now Im not suggesting we let our rooms go anarobic and breed disease etc.

I guess Im just wondering what the plant was getting from this mess.

But thinking about nature I have seen other kinds of plants growing at the edge of swampy nasty water.

Can we recreate it safely or should we even try.

Any and all thoughts appreciated

i would be most concerned about pest.

once upon a time I grew in five gallon buckets, I drilled holes in the bottom of the bucket(of course you need drainage) but then I stacked it into another five gallon bucket to catch runoff. well the roots made it down into the bottom bucket with runoff in it and that plant did very well, the soil could be very dry but because of the extra water the plant didn't suffer. I even thought about adding a air stone to the bottom bucket, hybrid setup? I moved on to bigger pots but maybe will try it this summer while most of the ladies are outside. sometimes (at least in nature) there are "pockets" of a nutes and its the roots job to tap it so it can be used as needed. however like with cloning if there is water and some air you will eventually get roots if the plants stays alive.

Nature knows best, this is tree roots growing into a cenote. Southern mexico and central america lack in rivers(above ground anyway) so trees grow roots into cenotes and bring water to the soil. Since we know fungii and bacteria can serve multiple host this water the trees bring up can serve the flora with shallower roots.

stoned-monkey said:

Nature knows best, this is tree roots growing into a cenote. Southern mexico and central america lack in rivers(above ground anyway) so trees grow roots into cenotes and bring water to the soil. Since we know fungii and bacteria can serve multiple host this water the trees bring up can serve the flora with shallower roots.

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Thats pretty cool

The plant was elective feeding like deep water hydroponics or fish aeroponics. The balance of the "sluge" is important, but that's the limit of my knowledge on "sludge" topics. I would imagine other than maintaining water level or mild fungal inoculation; much would be left to the runoff, root material exchange, without handy nutrient introduction. PH would also play a factor.. The tray itself my not have gone completely anaerobic as i imagine it wasn't more the a foot deep. Under that depth air is exchanged into water by agitation or natural changes in water temp and atmospheric pressure fluctuations. Great idea! outdoor people may take note as grow bags are very popular.

Dmannn said:

The plant was elective feeding like deep water hydroponics or fish aeroponics. The balance of the "sluge" is important, but that's the limit of my knowledge on "sludge" topics. I would imagine other than maintaining water level or mild fungal inoculation; much would be left to the runoff, root material exchange, without handy nutrient introduction. PH would also play a factor.. The tray itself my not have gone completely anaerobic as i imagine it wasn't more the a foot deep. Under that depth air is exchanged into water by agitation or natural changes in water temp and atmospheric pressure fluctuations. Great idea! outdoor people may take note as grow bags are very popular.

Click to expand...

Some good info there on air exchange. I would love to come up with a supplemental or even a primary sludge that was consistent and predictable
I might pop a few seeds and do some Frankenstein shit.