Live or Sterile? Why I choose Live

[TheCapn]

Hi Capn,

Thanks for the reply.

I need some advice, i have had root rot again on another attempt with DWC. I have tried to pinpoint why this has happened and without giving you the entire list i have narrowed it down twhat i think it may be.

Is it possible to make a BAD EWC tea and cause root rot. As the roots were fine for a few weeks then i noticed a very thin layer of what looked like slime on the end of the roots. I thought it was the bennies but it must have been slime.

This happened around a time i made a batch of tea. I added 2gallon RO water, 2 tspoon Microgrow bennies, tsoon TNC bennies, 20ml Molasses and 5ml of roots Excel. I brewed the tea for 48hrs with a small/medium sized airpump. The main difference with this batch compared to others i made was i tossed 2 cups of EWC into the bucket then i post strained. When i poured the tea onto the roots lots of EWC come out as i didnt strain it properly, could this have caused the slime?

Id be most gratful for your thoughts as i have stopped DWC until i can pinpoint my mistakes.

Hey Gander. I doubt you have made any mistakes. In every DWC container, there is a date at which that container will get pythium. It may not be this grow, it may not be the next. But once it gets it, it will most likely be every grow after that. You can do everything correctly: 1. Use beneficial bacteria 2. use a chiller 3. tons of oxygen and water movement .... and still things can go wrong. And, I've seen stoners who have no idea what they are doing, put an air stone in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket and then grow 8 zip plants with no troubles. <<< this was me, until one day I got root rot. That is when I set out to build a new growing method that performed nearly as well as DWC, but with no risk of pythium. That grow style is now referred to as "capn Style": Do it Capn Style - Blogs - 420 Magazine ®

I don't care for straight earth worm castings in tea, if it's being used for hydro. That recipe is better for dirt. That said, one bad batch of tea shouldn't cause a slime outbreak, but I guess it's possible.

Slime or pythium are usually a results of one of two things, or both: Low oxygen levels (usually caused by water over 70F) and / or sugary additives. If you don't have a chiller, forget it. When the water is over 70F, it's not possible to keep the dissolved oxygen levels up high enough. And I don't care if you have 20 airstones in there. Read more here: Dissolved Oxygen Testing - Blogs - 420 Magazine ®

In my opinion, the only thing good about DWC is that is looks "cool". Yeah, growth rates in veg are slightly faster, but other than that, it's a pain in the ass and usually a ticket to disaster. My advice: stop wasting time and money, and switch to another grow method, and start pulling down some serious bud.

Go to the FIRST post in this article to see my reasons why I'm a DWC hater.
If you're interested in growing some one lb plants, start at the beginning of my blogs and read them all. You don't need to read all the comments, just the first article. So you won't have PAGES of chit chat to sort thru. hit me up in my Q&A.

 

[HedonsticBadWolf420]

I wanted to circle back to this article to mention some news... worth mentioning

About a month ago, I found a couple DinaFem OG Kush seeds that I got for freebees, so I germinated them. These two plants are sort of "bonus" plants for me. I mean, I don't really care about them much and they don't fit into my perpetual "capn style" grow, as I have bigger and better strains on the horizon. So I decided to do an experiment. After they were 6" tall, I put them in 10" net pots, and started DWC in 5 gallon buckets. I used the nice gen hydro air pump with 4 outputs. I used TWO coke can size air stones in EACH BUCKET. Water temps hover around 71-72F. Why am I trying DWC? I'm simply experimenting.

Before I continue, I want to remind you that I'm still using the "heisenberg tea" once a week. For those of you just tuning in, "tea" is a concoction of beneficial bacteria, that form a symbiotic relationship with your roots. They help protect roots against root disease, and DO help your roots grow faster. Brewing the tea isn't absolutely necessary. You can use pre-made mycos and other beneficial bacteria, but the tea is more diverse.

After a week, the plants were doing spectacular. Snow white roots where hanging down about 6 inches into the water. The plants had doubled in size in just a week. Then, I thought to myself... "Self, instead of using tea, let's try some DM ZONE to protect against root disease." If you don't know what "dutch master zone" is, it is a product that is advertised to protect against and cure root disease. I have already proven that is DOES NOT CURE root disease, but maybe it will protect against it. So, I followed the instructions on the bottle, and added the recommended amount of ZONE. Why did I use "zone", instead of my time proven tea? Because, zone is easy. You just add it with every nutrient change.

WITHIN 2 DAYS, any roots hanging below the net pot, turned DARK brown. Can you F'ING believe it? But let me tell you why I think this happened. I believe the ZONE killed my beneficial bacteria, and this opened up the door for pythium. I already KNOW that ZONE WILL NOT KILL PYTHIUM, even though dutch master says it does. ONLY after I added the ZONE, the roots turned black.

In the first post of this "live or sterile" article, I talk about choosing one of the two methods, and sticking to it... not changing 1/2 way thru. This experiment confirms that. I need to stick to my own rules! Ronnie... the guy with the "rainforest" aero / dwc set up... he is using ZONE and his roots are exploding. HOWEVER, Ronnie started using the zone from the beginning.

So, I cut off all the roots hanging below the net pots. I transplanted the two plants back to capn style. One, in the 6 gallon airpot, and the other in a 5gal "poor man's air pot". Both plants were a little droopy from getting roots cut, but I'm sure they will be fine. The 3 seedlings you see are new strain I am excited about. You will have to wait on these!

As I said before, some of us are successful be accident, using NEITHER method. But this is a lesson I have learned. Voltrom posted his experience with it here. Thanks for the well worded post, Voltrum. In my opinion, media-less growing (DWC / aero) is a ticking time bomb, unless you choose a live or sterile environment, and even then, it can still bite you and ruin your entire crop. Will I start another DWC grow in choose one or the other? Nah... no more experimenting for awhile. I'll stick to rockwool. I get near DWC yields, and have had nothing but white roots.

Gang of algae