DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

Shexy8 said:

dont be concerned about the color of my surface roots.. those are oxidated and i also have a ppm of 950... so yeah.. lol.. i have taken samples of roots inside and they are much whiter.. these surface roots are also infested with fungi colonies so i accept the color yellow as A okay =) zero slime is visible to the naked eye.. there are fishbone white roots running around the sides.. and also the sheer mass of roots is actually pretty impressive wouldn't you say? that is only the top.. i cant remove the top of the lid since i have a scrog pattern up .. made out of a 1 by 2 and some thick kite rods.. sorry that you kinda have to bend your neck to see the actual bud pics.. i have only been flowering for a few weeks.. =) and i only have 1 400 watt light.. so that tells you what can happen with only a little light.. right?

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If my roots looked like that I would be soo happy. Atm I have 1 plant with basically pure brown roots in bucket with ample air stones and just 100ppm calimagic 1ml/gal rapid start and 2 cups tea in 2 gallon water, not directly under lamp.. Both my plants now have water level about 1 to 1 1/2 below net pots.

Every time i use h202 it seems to be hindering the growth, and when i use it in very strong concentrate 50/50 (3%) it seems to like literately kill the bacteria as i see it sizzle but the roots always become super dark and like dead also. The h202 by the way doesnt touch the slime, as i used it before the res change on my good plant with zone and the roots still pretty much look the same, it just hindered the growth a little.

I will add some pics since you did. First plant is bad one that im using the tea in, the other one has Zone, calimagic, and sensi A B. As you can see the where the water level is the roots get dark and kinda stay that way, for some reason the zone only works on things inside the water, like the splashed water from bubbles doesnt seem to work. However everything in the water stay super clean air stone etc. Although when the roots get tangled and thick those area's seem to still get darker and dingy which is why i will prob have to stay with the tea for all next time.



*Also wanted to ask your opinion on my better looking plant. If it was you're plant would you wash off the roots and change it over from the zone to the tea at this point?

i would wash the shit out of that brown one and then add tea to the other one.. since the other plants is almost healthy kinda.. it would be a a great time for a boost in that plant... but like i said about the plant with the brown stuff, wash it in 3% (not watered down).. wash it until the roots have no brown on them.. and if the brown isn't coming off.. fucking start pulling roots off.. have you poured tea over the root zone as well? remember that pouring tea into the net pot is a great method of killing scum from the inside out.. that other plant does look healthy but it looks like it could relapse into slime at any moment.. do you also keep the water cool? bc if not.. i would put the buckets into bigger buckets and start putting ice in the bigger bucket so it can feed some coolness to the bucket inside.. with tea it doesn't matter waht temp it is as long as it is at least 75 degrees or below... i have seen success up to 80 degrees but would NOT recommend that at all..

i would also recommend getting the fungi packet form fungi perfect =) it is just as needed as the ancient forest.. it is soooo soo good.. also another very cheap formula is the "hydrobact" that i linked to you.. "simple path" sells it.. it is so good.. those two very cheap products are great .. it just adds so much to the environment =)

Shexy8 said:

i would also recommend getting the fungi packet form fungi perfect =) it is just as needed as the ancient forest.. it is soooo soo good.. also another very cheap formula is the "hydrobact" that i linked to you.. "simple path" sells it.. it is so good.. those two very cheap products are great .. it just adds so much to the environment =)

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I will take note of these products and order them when/if the ZHO, Aquashield, and Ancient forest doesnt cut it.. and then after im broke and i still have issues ill throw in the white flag.

My reservoir is pretty much always 71-74max, my air pumps are in a cool room outside the grow room. I do have larger 5 gallon buckets which i plan to use when i learn how to grow larger rootballs without rot everywhere.

I think im just gunna trim up the foliage on the shitty plant and then cut off alot of the brown roots. And if need be mist the shit out of it till it sprouts some new roots.

** on the better plant when I do the next res change I will convert to tea, must i use just rapid start and tea or can i keep the normal fertilizer in?

normal ferts on healthy plant... honestly.. it may take a week for some results to show.. but.. one day.. all of the sudden.. you will see these new tiny white shoots coming out from deep within the netpot.. then you will let these little roots grow out.. only when the roots are at least 4 inches long will you add ferts to the plant and then it will almost be ready for flowering based on how large they are now.. youre cutting it close... but it'll do =)

another common mistake that people make when using the tea is expecting the current nasty roots to start growing again.. NAY i tell you.. new roots will come from WITHIN the netpot =) unless there were some roots that still had active root nodes on it.. which are very tempermental and likely disabled and/or dead

these products that i showed you are so cheap bro lol.. packets are 5 or 6 dollars and the hydrobact is 13 bucks... not bad if you ask me =P if youre gonna get something grab a packet of the myco.. bc your tea is lacking the "main" bacteria and fungi provider.. fungi perfect ships SUPER fast.. im not saying that your tea sucks.. i would use it if it was all i had and i would be very thankful.. lol.. BUT.. that packet is the same as OR BETTER (in my opinion) to great white.. a very expensive brand of bacteria and fungi.. think about it.. i like the best for my babes.. at a low price.. and these products are it..

Shexy8 said:

normal ferts on healthy plant... honestly.. it may take a week for some results to show.. but.. one day.. all of the sudden.. you will see these new tiny white shoots coming out from deep within the netpot.. then you will let these little roots grow out.. only when the roots are at least 4 inches long will you add ferts to the plant and then it will almost be ready for flowering based on how large they are now.. youre cutting it close... but it'll do =)

another common mistake that people make when using the tea is expecting the current nasty roots to start growing again.. NAY i tell you.. new roots will come from WITHIN the netpot =) unless there were some roots that still had active root nodes on it.. which are very tempermental and likely disabled and/or dead

these products that i showed you are so cheap bro lol.. packets are 5 or 6 dollars and the hydrobact is 13 bucks... not bad if you ask me =P if youre gonna get something grab a packet of the myco.. bc your tea is lacking the "main" bacteria and fungi provider.. fungi perfect ships SUPER fast.. im not saying that your tea sucks.. i would use it if it was all i had and i would be very thankful.. lol.. BUT.. that packet is the same as OR BETTER (in my opinion) to great white.. a very expensive brand of bacteria and fungi.. think about it.. i like the best for my babes.. at a low price.. and these products are it..

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I dont know what all that brownish shit was on the roots but none of the roots would pull off, they seemed pretty thick and strong.. Kinda weird but there were actually some new white roots growin off the old brown ones but i cut them off anyways. pure 3% peroxide isnt even doing anything, hardly sizzling at all.


Will update again in a few days.

hmm.. new growth eh? okay.. very possible.. but i still recommend letting the plant start to grow net roots from within the net pot.. so innoculate the root zone as soon as possible okay? pour a few cups from the top of the net pot.. ya know.. like through the rocks.. maybe even DUNK the whole net pot into the tea and move it around.. either one.. as long as the root mass and rocks are submerged.. good job on the haircut by the way.. couldn't have done it better myself =) there is still some tan stuff that i can see... but since it isn't bubbling.. i would chock it up to dead slime or something... rub it off if possible.. or else it may do something negative.. either way it is food for the tea if you dont haha.. =P

oh by the way.. idk if you niticed this.. but there are some roots growing from the bottom of the pot.. idk if you see it but they are there.. =) that means more are coming .. haha.. you will see em if you look hard.. they are tiny.. but really white.. there are two that are visible from the picture.. the bottom and sides are the first place.. then they start growing everywhere..

holy shit.. taht was alot of shit that you cut off.. lol! i looked at the pic.. there may be some serious issues with that though.. so there may be some plant death.. BUT .. hear me out.. the plant will jump into a new root growing phase.. that is why when you cut roots off.. the plant dies a little but bounces back HARD..

Shexy8 said:

holy shit.. taht was alot of shit that you cut off.. lol! i looked at the pic.. there may be some serious issues with that though.. so there may be some plant death.. BUT .. hear me out.. the plant will jump into a new root growing phase.. that is why when you cut roots off.. the plant dies a little but bounces back HARD..

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I also did cut like 50% of the foliage off, and moved it out from the light a bit. I think it may be able to sprout some roots back, either way it will be a true test lol.

you bet! haha.. i trust the tea though.. i would bet my life on it.. at least my tea =)

So the Rapid Start seems to make the roots brown, and I assume in a very bad way. They are already real dark after the clean, i think Rapid being organic is just not meant for dwc res.. Not sure how you get away with rhizotonic.

ah shiT! stop adding it.. ! lol.. rhizotonic is derived from something but is chemical.. the whole canna line is.. only add tea and water now man.. no rapid start .. remember to pour some more tea over the top of the net pot near the stalk.. ALSO.. clean roots by hand.. do not chop any more of them off unless they are troublesome.. oaky? im still reading .. give me a picture update in 3 days.. if you're doing it right then it should start having some sprouts.. also if that doesn't work (which i'm expecting it to work, but not as well as my tea does with the products).. spend the 30 bucks to get those two products... so that would b e 2 or 3 packets of myco and the hydrobact... both i recommend highly.. very cheap too.. so fuckign cheap.. so it doesn't hurt the bank..

This happens every time ive ever added tea.. Not sure if its going to end bad or what but the darkness from above the waterline when using Zone has moved down a bit after converting to the tea.


At this point im kinda thinkin fk it leave it be and see what happens. There is a little layer of slime everywhere but im not sure if that just the Aquashield and ZHO or what.

I mean the heisenberg tea clearly doesn't work Aqua Zho Ancient and molasses brewed to perfect odorless tea in 48hrs just literately gives my plant dark roots lol. I know i need to start using those other products bennies you mentioned to help, but like i thought the Heisenberg tea was tested and suppose to remove slime and dark roots not add it.

I've had more failures than any of you can imagine.

I have just replaced my entire systems aside from my guardian bluelabs. Same results. Ph drops like a rock. Mucus develops. Smell happens. All within a 24hour period. I've used the tea as a preventative and as reactionary. Same result.

Fuck ME

I think I might brew the tea without Myco's. I was going to purchase the hydrobact but i think ive decided to go with ogbiowar root pack. You ever heard of the root pack Shexy8?

I also just noticed that MycoGrow pack has everything the hydrobact has and most of the aquashield.

**** I read through this thread a bit and realized my plant is fine, I will get the mycogrow for the hell of it. Post pics in about a weekk peeeaaace.

Saddest/frustrating shit ever...my perpetual is getting smashed at the moment...lost veg tent and clones..flower dying currentlyAll I got is 420 premium beneficial bacteria and some worm castings ..and floralicious +?Would adding some organic dish washing liquid be beneficial in combating this ?Thanks...

no.. dish liquid wouldn't .. jesus man.. haha.. brew some tea.. that will help you.. if youre interested, tell me.. and ill give you my recipe.. mmk?

im telling you that there is a synergy among the products that i use.. i wouldn't recommend it unless i had tested it on my own grow.. and had cured some pretty gnarly rot and slime.. i would go with the mycogrow as well since it is so potent.. you literally only need such a small amount.. it says on the pack that that one pack will literally give bacteria to over 120 plants.. lol.. after you get the products, make a tea that has everything in it.. mmk? if you dont want as much slime then i would use half the amount of zho powder that you are using now... have you innoculated the roots? as in the whole net basket yet? pouring the tea over the rocks in the netpot? this helps to get new roots growing.. just keep up with it.. my battle was not won overnight man.. that's for sure! it took me a week to a week and a half for the tea and my cleaning habits to defeat it and for new roots to take over.. like i said.. with "my" tea.. get yours closer to mine and then we'll talk =P synergy bro.. synergy..

Shexy8 said:

have you innoculated the roots? as in the whole net basket yet? pouring the tea over the rocks in the netpot? this helps to get new roots growing.. just keep up with it.. my battle was not won overnight man.. that's for sure! it took me a week to a week and a half for the tea and my cleaning habits to defeat it and for new roots to take over.. like i said.. with "my" tea.. get yours closer to mine and then we'll talk =P synergy bro.. synergy..

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I did pour over the netpot always with new brew. And last night spray roots with ZHO and more down hydroton. There is no bad slime, rather its root rot/pythium cause i can smell it. New roots growing still plant seems ok, just need to figure out the pythium so got some reading to do.

BTW I get ur synergy reference but tomorrow im going to pick up great white cause its the same as mycogrow and i can have it now. It also 2-3x the strength so i will only need to use half the amount, plus its the same price cause no shipping. So great white, Aquashield, Ancient Forest, and molasses with a little ZHO sprayed on roots/netpot i mean we really have the same tea.