DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

Heisenberg, I just wanted to say thank you very much for all the wonderful information you've given us. I just spent the last 3 days reading this entire thread, and am planning to start a DWC grow in the next week. This thread alone has given me more information than the last 3 months of research.

Before reading this I was about to run 2 5-gal buckets off a single 4w pump with only the lucas formula. After reading I'm ready to go with a new pump for the 2 buckets with more than 1w/gal (using the old pump to brew the tea!), your tea, and liquid light + saturator when the plants are ready. I'm still going with the original recipe (Aquashield/ZHO/AF) because it's easy for me to get the ingredients locally.

So what I'm getting out of this is you can just order mycogrow for way cheaper than great white, or the aquashield/zho combo...? Is that what others are getting out of this?

I think its more what in your area to get your tea going

They were saying that mycogrow was pretty much the same thing as great white I think, only like half the price. Wish I had more time to read this stuff, but I only have so much free time outside of work, or whatever... like everyone else I'm sure.

hornedfrog2000 said:

So what I'm getting out of this is you can just order mycogrow for way cheaper than great white, or the aquashield/zho combo...? Is that what others are getting out of this?

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Yes, this is my understanding of the situation. As far as I can tell, a tea made with AF + GW, AF+Aquashield/ZHO, or AF+Mycogrow soluble is basically all the same. Mycogrow soluble seems to be the cheapest, but none of the hydro shops in my area carry it. Aquashield and ZHO are also cheap and readily available at all the shops I have locally.

shit man. have to order everything off the internet anyway.

Yes, if you have mycogrow then you do not need anything else other than maybe Ancient Forest (you can sub this out as well). My formula is basically AF + Mycogrow + Blackstrap Molasses + RO.

hornedfrog2000 said:

So what I'm getting out of this is you can just order mycogrow for way cheaper than great white, or the aquashield/zho combo...? Is that what others are getting out of this?

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I am glad to help everyone and thank you for the complements and updates on your grows.

I saw a few pages back several of you having trouble with fungus gnats. A great preventative and suppressant for fungus gnats is the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. If you use mycogrow or great white you have this bacterium. If you do not use these products, or want to introduce more BT to your tea, pick up some mosquito dunks. Break off a little of the disk and add it to the tea brew, or put some directly into the res. The larvea will still live for several days but stop eating almost immediately, get sick and eventually expire. If you can pour some tea directly on the larvae you have the best chance of infecting them. A turkey baster works pretty well. You should always have several yellow sticky traps around your garden to catch adult females and those who escape the tea. Removal of alternative breeding grounds helps alot. Keep cat boxes clean, trash taken out and left over food put away. Remove any standing water including unused drains. I find these measures are enough to keep fungus gnats from being a problem.

I would like to add a little of my fungus gnat experience as well. I had them pretty bad in an my ebb flow setup. I tried azamax, mosquito dunks, you name it. The problem I think I was having was that they were in my rez so much as in the wet hydroton on the top of my buckets. That is where the adults lay there eggs anyways. So I used a super cheap and hella effective treatment which was to dust the tops of all my containers with diatomacous earth.

A big bag was like $10 and as long as you don't get it wet, it just sits there and keeps on working. The DE is comprised of very very very fine particles that are actually quite jagged and sharp on a microscopic level. When the gnats try to land on the top or hatching larva try to crawl through the DE they get tons of tiny cuts which they then dehydrate and die from. Which is kind of sinister and cruel...an added bonus.

If the DE gets wet its no biggie either as it is a source of silica.

What a great tip definatley will be writing this down and following it to the letter !

Heisenberg, I've been reading a lot about nutrients before I take my last trip to the hydro store before I jump into my grow, I was originally planning on using GH Micro and Bloom, but have read that they may stain my roots brown in a DWC. I also read you use DM nutes, would it be possible to give a quick rundown of your nute mix during veg + flower?

Thanks!

mile.high,

Try out the nutrient calculator on the Dutch Master website - http://www.dutchmaster.com.au .

You can input and fine-tune the formula for your grow setup -- how many gallons, how many veg weeks, etc. I have been using the DM Gold line and I use the complete line. It is lovely:

Veg:
- Nutrient Grow A + Grow B
- ADD.27 Grow
- Silica
- Liquid Light + Saturator (Foilar)

Flower:
- Nutrient Flower A + Flower B
- ADD.27 Flower
- Silica
- Liquid Light + Saturator + Snow Storm Ultra (Foilar)

Note, Snow Storm Ultra is not a DM product, it is made by Humboldt County's Own, but it is awesome, and pretty cheap. I have used the GH 3-part before, and was not impressed. Hope this helps.

cheers,
mr.bond

Thanks mr bond! Do you stop using the SSU after week 4 of flower like the calculator suggests you stop using LL/Saturator?

you're welcome. Nah I keep going with all three until I am satisfied with the amount of trichs... at least till week 6, sometimes a bit longer... they recommend you stop foilar feeding due to mold potential. As long as you have good air flow then it shouldn't be much of a concern. Even if I do stop the foilar feed, the SSU can also be used in soil/hydro as well. I would do that til flush.

cheers
mr.bond

I received a cutting from the same nursery. I asked for another grape god to start over. When I got it, I noticed a lot of mottling and distorted growth. It has been quarantined ever since. It hasent been able to touch any other plants. Anyway. The mottling was really bad. It did resemble weird patterns I have seen on the cutting I previously had, same over the past year.

Further research shoes this is some form of mosaic virus. Either tmv, amv, hmv, ect. I trashed the crappy looking cutting and started to observe my plants. Its there, just not too flared out.

At the same time I saw the mosaic virus start light bleaching my leaves, my ph starts dropping. Others have stable growing conditions and run years with th virus. Just for some reason my ph likes to drop. My rez still smells great and the roots are best I've seem yet. Im just going to keep LITFA.

What a bummer though.

I had some TMV plants awhile ago. It is weird, some strains didn't really mind it, others had really reduced yields. The biggest sign in my garden was the inter-veinal banding on ONE side of the petiole and leaves that would "hook" or curl to one side. not twist, just hook.

After quite a bit of research I culled everything, bleached with hot water pretty much every god damn thing in the room, and then started over.

I just got like 12+ new strains that I've been keeping separate. Im on a mad hunt to try to find every way this virus is spread. Im not. Going to be happy if I have to kill every single plant I have. I guess only time will tell if there infected.

Did your plants only show signs of tmv, or did they have root problems as well?

can i ph adjust my tea when its in fridge its a little high?

No need to pH adjust the tea... if anything, pH adjust your rez after the addition of the tea. Make sure you are diluting your pH adjuster with water and not pouring it straight in.

cheers
mr.bond

mr.bond said:

Make sure you are diluting your pH adjuster with water and not pouring it straight in.

cheers
mr.bond

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What does this mean?

I think u mean, take some ph up or down, mix X amount with water. This is now a "watered" down ph adjustment solution?

If this is true, can u explain some doses and how effective this is?

Also, my RO water has no buffer so it takes only one drop to adjust my ph. I don't feel this would be effective for me.

Thanks

Now that im thinking, does adding ph up/down, in concentrated form, to my rez, kill my bennes? Even if it were only a few drops? OR does it only kill bennes, when its still concentrated and stops being deadly once its mixed well. If this were the case, how many bennes die while we wait for dilution?