RDWC - Advice Welcome!

[gangadoctor]

re: I need your help!

Quick question...

I'm going to introduce the compost tea into my rdwc tomorrow by pouring it directly into the net pots to filter into the buckets.

The first question is; is one cup per plant sufficient? My system holds approx 140 litres. Or do I need more?

Second question is; when do I start to introduce my normal nutrients and at what sort of dosage?

Sorry. Last question; how often from now should I be adding the compost tea and at what dosage?


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[Papageno]

Re: I need your help!

This is why you need a journal. You are double posting and I think I have answered most of that already.

I am working in 8 journals right now, 4 of them are almost daily back and forth. I get a bit confused. Not to mention I have a day job. But since I get to work from home I do get to get on here a lot.


The dosing of the tea is kind of variable. It depends on the res size and the strength of the tea.

If you did not add the alfalfa and kelp then it is much weaker. If the only thing you missed was the ancient forest soil it should still be strong. Next time you can pic up some Humic acid concentrate instead. There are a lot of ways to get that.

My water is 12 PPM from the tap. last time I measured the tea it was 800 PPM after filtering it and was rather strong.

If you have cleaned out your main system then put them back in it and start with half a liter in each. And if you have extra divide it out.

Gotta run.

 

[gangadoctor]

Re: I need your help!

Thanks. I'm going to start a new journal as the moderator hasn't moved this one


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[DukeO]

Re: I need your help!

If you use z7. There is no need for tea or anything else but nutes and tap water. I have done everything you are talking about and it does work. But it also a pain to do. You should try a test with just z7 and nutes. It changed my growing life. Just a few drops of it takes away the need for h202 or tea. It will keep everything clean and without any slime.I know it sounds to easy. But it is...I can grow with water temps up to 80f and everything stays clean. I just use GH 3part and z7 and tap water. Tea becomes pointless with z7.

Voodoo is basically one family of bacteria (not true it is more but mostly just the important ones). A good tea has lots of stuff. But Voodoo is good stuff...you just need to dump a bunch in there. And add some Enzymes as well.

The recommended dosing is for preventative maintenance and for doing some good stuff for growth. You have an out of control infection. So you probably need to be more aggressive. You should add a broken down molasses product for the bacteria to breed with and that will help. If you can get the breeding in the res to look like what a good tea looks like when it is brewing then you are on the right track.

So in your side setup add a strong dose of both an enzyme (wherever you got the voodoo will have Advanced Nutes Sensizyme, or the Z7 is supposed to be great! I have heard that from many people) and double down on the voodoo and add some sugars. If it starts looking like it is fermenting we are looking good. It will die down after a few days. Then inspect and see if the slime is still there. If so I would start again and start with first the sterilization you described and then flush all of that stuff out and do the bacteria again.

Run the enzyme in both stages because it doesn't get hurt by the sterilization products.

Pythoff is Chloramine from what I gathered on the web. That stuff will kill any bacteria given the right dose and enough time.

So you may want to run a res for a few days with Pythoff, low nutes, enzymes and some ice bottles in there. After 3 days dump the res, run a few gallons of fresh clean dechlorinated water through the baskets to wash out the Pythoff. Then put in a new res with low dose nutes, sugars, enzymes and or a bacterial tea.


ALSO

When introducing any of this stuff do it through the baskets. Do not dump it into the res and hope it gets up into the baskets. The Pythoff is strong so dilute it first. Make up a bucket(s) of what it you want to have in your res. Then introduce it to the res by running it through the baskets to wash out everything in there.

You don't need to update all the time to have a journal. If you ask a moderator they will move this to a journal and make a new title. It is a better place to resolve a specific long term problem not related to a general DWC question. I guess it is fine to leave it here but we should not be having ongoing conversations in the general forum.

 

[gangadoctor]

Re: I need your help!

hi. i'm in the uk and can't get z7. appreciate your input though!

 

[Papageno]

Re: I need your help!

Only pointless in so far as dealing with what enzymes take care of. Teas do a lot more than what enzymes are for. There are a lot of benefits to adding a good pile of broken down additives, ferts, Fungi, enzymes and bacteria all at once.

The best additives on the market cost nearly $100 a litter and can be made for less than $2 for gallons in a tea.

As far as rot goes there are a lot of ways to deal with that. A living tea is not really about dealing with rot at all...that is just a side affect. No one really does it to deal with pythium...

Plus it is super simple and fun when done correctly. Saves you a ton of cash too. Doubles the uptake of the res nutes and water. So therefore increases growth rates. I can run it so hard I get sap oozing out of the plant which is great to cook down.

 

[gangadoctor]

Re: I need your help!

VI, i'm about to start a journal once i figure out how to rotate pictures. in the mean time i've added my tea and you mentioned that i can also add my enzyme nute but everything i've read about teas says i shouldn't add the enzyme because it will surcharge the bad bacteria. can you please clarify this for me?

 

[Papageno]

Re: I need your help!

My tea is brewed WITH an enzyme in it to help break down the added raw ingredients. I don't just make a bacterial tea I make a complete product that replaces the entire line of Advanced nutes products. To do that I add enzymes to help break down stuff. Then you add sugars to get the bacteria count through the roof.

Enzymes are fine to add with bacteria. If you are spending a lot of money on them then it may get spendy but if you make them yourself you get it all for free basically. I wouldn't run a DWC without both.

When you brewed it if you did it right after a few hours it looked like this and those bubbles are from the bacteria breeding.

Nowa days I do a much smaller batch of about 2 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket. 2 teas back I added so much sugar that the bubbles were foaming 10 inches above the top of the 5 gallon bucket. And it wasn't much sugar...just very fresh worm castings and a little bit of sugar and I had more bacteria then I could handle.

Enzymes do different things then bacteria. Bacteria actually create enzymes. What enzymes do is break down things. Some of those things are things the bacteria wants but in general if you have a bunch of things fighting over who gets to help you they are all just helping you.

This is a good read on that.

Bacteria and enzymes

I have never heard of someone running a living res who doesn't also use enzymes. DWC just doesn't run as well without enzymes. If you are running sterile it is needed for different reasons but still very beneficial. If you are running a living res you need it for the same reasons as sterile and a few more.

I am sure you can run without enzymes. I could also drive to work in reverse. Doesn't make it the easiest way to get there though.

 

[gangadoctor]

Re: I need your help!

i've started a grow journal mate!

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[Papageno]

He has a journal for this grow. This got moved over after he started the journal. So I think this one is abandoned. As he stated a few posts up. He started a journal and then the moderator moved this.


My tea fixed all his problems. He wont go back.

 

[gangadoctor]

Undercurrent RDWC With Compost Tea Grow - First Journal