Best way to dissolve roots?

[yamaha_1fan]

I am cleaning my hydroton and I got lots of pieces of roots in it. Right now there are no plants in the system so I need something good to destroy the roots.

What would happen if they stay in the system and keep rotting when I put plants in?

 

[THENGINEER]

if you leave the roots in there along with the new plants..i do see any good happening. I mean, when plants get root rot, you need to isolate them usually so the bacteria does not spread...and I mean, you basically are going to be growing root rot in the system

But then again, maybe it would be like compost?

 

[Guest]

I think you might be looking for a product like Hygrozyme...


Its an enzyme product that dissolves roots....

 

[Haps]

Put in a call to your fairy godmother also, cause you are dreaming. Clean the dang hydroton, work will not kill ya, and I say this just having done a week of bending and cleaning and scrubbing, and that did not include the rocks/hydrocorn, which I look at as the easy work. If you leave the roots or remnants, it is like seeding root rot for your new crop. All of the root rot I find starting comes from small bits of root and leaf in the res.
H

 

[Rolling Bones]

I too tried the lazy way...will never do it again. Its worth the time to clean them. I made a screen tray that i put them on which helped me to clean.

 

[apple]

dude is cleaning 9,000 watts worth of hydroton ... good luck. that's alot of hours.

 

[ninfan77]

^ With those kinds of #'s.. buying new hydroton isn't that hard

 

[Guest]

^ With those kinds of #'s.. buying new hydroton isn't that hard

It is if you're as cheap as some of us! Thats how people get money..... they stop spending it All the millionaires I know throw nickels around like fuckin manhole covers.

 

[Jack Crevalle]

I started a thread on this and since this site is so damn immature lately, I got stupid responses usually. I agree, it's a pain in the ass. What I did was use 1/10 of hydroton I used to use when I filled the dam bucket with the clay the traditional way. Instead I got a small net pot (plastic half gallon pot with holes all over and a lip to hold it on top of the fill buckets for aeroponics systems at the hydro store) then filled only those with rocks, meanwhile the roots just dangle down into the empty pots that fill and drain every couple hours. It works awesome, I use only a tenth of the hydroton I used to use, the roots are whiter, thicker and stronger than ever, and I dump the rocks after each use. Imagine one of those cloner machines, except adapted to the buckets where the roots dangle down into aerated water and are only held in place by that rubber stopper (in this case a small net pot with approximately 4 cups of hydroton instead of filling the whole bucket).
No more time wasted cleaning, no mess, and no security breach having to find spots to set up cleaning stations........I would rather spend an extra 15 bucks every 2 months than risk loosing crops, yield or cash buying stupid chemicals that dissolve roots.....and using tons of hydroton each run...KISS

 

[PharmaCan]

Well, if you bought new hydrotron, you'd only have to do it once. The hydrotron could be rotated and thoroughly cleaned between crops. (Being both cheap and anal, that's what I'd do if I grew in hydrotron.)

yamaha_1fan - If you look in the coco section there are some threads about re-using coco, which represents a similar problem. One item of consensus is to use Hygrozyme during the grow and flush at the end or something. I'm not really sure of the exact technique, because I don't re-use my coco - so read up on it. I do use Hygrozyme in my grows. I just started using it recently and it really makes a difference in the roots.

PC

 

[Albert Hofmann]

Cleaning hydroton is my least favorite job. I use mesh trash cans filled with dirty hydroton, a 45 gallon brute trash can full of water and a 4000gph pump and just hit it with tons of water. All the roots will be pushed to the bottom and sides of the mesh. This method gets me 90-95% clean, the rest is taken care of by running hygrozyme in my reservor.

 

[Greenjag]

Jack Crevalle:

Do you have any pics of the finished root mass when removed from the bucket? I'm very interested to see how it compares to my own, grown in full buckets of pebbles.

To be able to cut down on cleaning and reconditioning the ton of pebbles I use would be very nice indeed.

In answer to the thread starter, I suggest use Canna Zym. It enables the plant to reuse it's own broken down roots. Seems to keep the root mass far more intact when shaking out the pebbles at the end, thus leaving far less root debris to seperate.

 

[PharmaCan]

Jack Crevalle:

Do you have any pics of the finished root mass when removed from the bucket? I'm very interested to see how it compares to my own, grown in full buckets of pebbles.

These aren't my roots. I saved this photo from somewhere just because the roots looked so cool.

PC

 

[yamaha_1fan]

I am not talking about all the roots. I take the root ball, shake it and run my fingers through it. But that proces still leaves small pieces of roots on the rocks. Thats what I need to get rid of

 

[Guest]

Harbor freight propane blowtorch for burning weeds out of the cracks in concrete. ?

 

[Guest]

I chatted with MTF-Sandman here a bit about his program, haven't seen him around in awhile, and pretty sure it went something like this...he was using coco and when we talked he had been recycling it for about a year. Mainly he would pull out the bulk of the roots by hand, run the coco through a screen to get out more then used Hygrozyme to clean up the rest. Probably could do something very similar with hydroton customized to deal with the 'pellet' size. Yes it was work.

Sounded like he had extra coco that he was processing/cleaning in addition to what was actually being used in the grow areas.

As for Hygrozyme I'd think all you'd need is straight up bulk cellulase enzymes which with a little research can probably be had for pretty cheap compared to a retail product like Hygrozyme.

 

[konstantgrdnr]

a couple of suggestions

If you need to clean alot, go out and rent a concrete mixer throw them all in along with something that wil break them all up such as a couple of half bricks;use your imagination. Shoot them with a high pressure washer. throw them in a pillow case and put them in the washer along with an object that will mix them all up. Beware don't overload the washer or put bricks in the pillow case.Take them down to your local message parlor and tell them they are anal beads, maybe they'll seperate them for you. Look around for somebody doing something similar as far as cleaning and adapt it to your needs.

grow safe
grow often
and grow more
peace

2/21/08 RIP Malcom X

 

[FreezerBoy]

I think you might be looking for a product like Hygrozyme...


Its an enzyme product that dissolves roots....

Before using Hygrozyme you may want to read the Infirmary thread "Strange Slime buildup on roots" Many feel it's the cause of the slime they're trying to prevent.

post#172

I'll give you my thoughts on Hygrozyme.

The product breaks down materials and makes them available to the plants. I've noticed that dead root parts and leaves that fell in my rez's in the past would disappear into a sludge like substance. This was the Hygrozyme in action, breaking stuff down. Now, from what I have previously said about being careful with organics fueling the algae, the Hygrozyme is breaking down the materials which are organic and feeding the algae. Then boom algae explosion with all the new found organic food. That is my theory on it.

I only use Hyrozyme in soil now or feed to waste only. You do not want to use it in a re-circulating rez.

I make no claims one way or the other but, these guys say they've spent years and thousands of dollars trying to get rid of brown algae (not root rot). Surely our gardens are worth the 15 minutes it takes to read the thread.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

A spin on the cement mixer idea. I think I will get a 55 gallon drum and put a pump in there with a screen. Run the pump 24/7, all the debris, loose roots etc should be sucked down to the screen on the pump?

 

[Guest]

I think you're on the right track. I'd guess you'd need good water volume with a large basket of some sort to hold the hydroton then shake things up manually. I'd also think you're gonna get some bacteria growing so maybe a strong H2O2 application AFTER the Hydroton is cleared of roots (organic matter) might help out.

Before using Hygrozyme you may want to read the Infirmary thread "Strange Slime buildup on roots" Many feel it's the cause of the slime they're trying to prevent.

I dunno about that. Bacteria will naturally exude polysaccharides and this may be confused with a Hygrozyme 'problem'. If there's lot's of dissolved organic matter floating about (dissolved dead root matter) the bacteria population will explode (living off the detritus) but also if the dissolved root matter is not used up somehow I'm sure it could gunk up the works.