Strange Slime buildup on roots

[chytil151]

ok well my brew has been going for at least 24 hrs now but there is no froth on the water at all. Is the tea suposed to be in a warm area to brew,I had mine in the basement over night and it is a little cool down there. The smell is earthy but like i said no froth maybe i need to let it go for longer thanks again for the answers ahead of time

 

[richyrich]

Cool temps may hinder their growth. Let it go 48 hours total. Get it into an environment of near 70F. Sometimes I don't get a lot of froth. Sometimes it's just a small layer on top, but you should have some. More froth equals more bene growth. That is what you want. Get into the habit of making new brew every week. And in time you can add the other things I stated above to the brew. You can also add agua shield to your rez, not in the brew; for more diverse soldiers.

More hints:
I just dump everything in the bucket. No sock or nylon hung over bucket. When done I screen the brew with cheese cloth (or you could use a cooking strainer) into a container then fridge it. Toss remaining after 7-10 days. Also, a good idea when checking your brew to give it a little stir (agitation) with a stick (etc.).

 

[chytil151]

i figured thats what was wrong. I had a bad feeling about doing it in the basement but the "ole lady" sugested it lol i guess she just didn't want to risk worm juice everywhere lol cool well i brought it upstairs now at room temp. of around 72f .I'm going to keep an eye on it for the rest of the night to see if anything changes and thanks again richy ur the best bro

 

[ItsGrowTime]

One part of the equation in the battle against this slime that is rarely mentioned is FOOD SOURCES. I was reminded tonite why this is also an integral part of not being infected with the slime. There's a lot of talk in this thread about beneficials to colonize the root zone and UV to sterilize res water. Those do work but preventing the algae/slime/cyanobacteria from thriving also involves limiting possible food sources for the critters.

My last crop, which I documented my early slime battle with several pages ago, finished successfully. My new crop was starting out wonderfully. Cloning went well and then vegging the clones under a 400w in three DWCs primed with beneficials (AquaShield and Subculture-M) for a week or so went very well. Clear, clean res water and lovely white roots. Even the transplant into my main room (NFT system) went well. Imagine my surprise when one day after transplant I go to dump the veg DWCs and discover slime in the DWCs. LOTS of it. It was NOT there yesterday and my vegging plants weren't slimed at all. WTH? After scratching my head for a moment it dawned on me. While removing the vegging plants I had some minor root tangling issues so after transplant there were small bits of roots floating in the DWCs! That is the food that the slime needed to go active in the DWCs and damn near take them over in 24 hours. See, this stuff doesn't feed on chemical ferts. It needs organic matter! This is why Hygrozyme tends to trigger it (btw I did NOT add Hygrozyme to the veg DWCs..Hygrozyme did not cause this! The organic matter alone did!). Enyzmes break down any organic matter in the water into smaller building blocks that the slime can use to propagate. The roots of a plant simply become a colonization anchor for the slime (algae/cyanobacteria) to cling to and clump up while feeding on it's newly discovered organic food source.

So what does this mean? KEEP YOUR HYDRO RESERVOIRS CLEAN OF ORGANIC BITS! They feed on any organic matter introduced into the water. I saw how quickly they can take over a previously clean res with just a little bit of organic matter to eat. I use Floranova (one part version of Lucas formula Flora 3 part) so it's all chemicals. The slime can't use chemicals alone to propagate. But it sure can use any organic matter it finds.

My crop is happily in flower and looking great. My preventative measures explained earlier in this thread continue to work well to protect my plants. I'll be extra careful in the future to avoid introducing any organic material to my water before plants are well established. You should too! Any organic matter in your water is a food source for the slime and like anything else, if you cut off the food it can't live. Those with constant and bad slime issues should consider nothing but RO water and chem ferts (Lucas formula GH Flora series) and see how that works. An organic-matter-free reservoir should be a slime-free reservoir.

 

[richyrich]

Thank you for sharing that. It is very important and it was discussed long ago; kinda got lost back there. There has, also, been talk about using a protein skimmer in a rez to get rid of floating matter. Absolutely, as I stated long ago, enzymes equal jet fuel or the opening of the buffet line, lol. Brown algae slime derives its energy from organic matter instead of photosynthesis. That is why I have constantly countered every newb comment in here about light leaks causing it. Do cover light leaks though.

 

[arewhy]

I am currently battling this algae/slime in my RDWC, I don't think using organic nutrients (Iguana Juice) was a very good idea. Hopefully I can save my girls tomorrow.

 

[Outportgrower]

After 10 years in hydro I now have my first case of this crap. What I did differently from all others was to add B1 and Hydrozyme since last round started to have a little rot. Now we know the reason to keep organic organic and chemical chemical.

Now the shitty part is tear down and sterilize the entire show. But I do not have the time to do this till Friday, so till then looks like the gallon of peroxide will get used.

I pulled three of my 5" mesh pots out today to soak them in a peroxide/water mix to get the worst ones cleaned up a little. Not like it will make too much difference since they all went back into the same res. But you could hear the bubble action inside the mesh pots all the way back to the res.

Anyone have a time frame to soak your plants in a solution of 35% and water to kill off anything that might be lurking? I am going to soak the res, lines and stones for a good couple of three hours before refilling, but not too sure how long we need to leave the planted pots soak for or with how much 35%.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

^^^^^^^
H2O2 isn't very effective against this stuff. Don't waste your time with it. Physan20 is recommended for sterilization if in contact with plants and bleach for equipment only cleaning. Use something strong!!

 

[Outportgrower]

^^^^^^^
H2O2 isn't very effective against this stuff. Don't waste your time with it. Physan20 is recommended for sterilization if in contact with plants and bleach for equipment only cleaning. Use something strong!!

Can Physan20 be used to clean the media the plant are in? (rock wool cubes and clay pellets) Really do not want to rip them out and transplant, but could if I needed to. Root system is just starting to drop out the bottom of the 5" pots so it would not be too much of an issue if need be.

 

[richyrich]

Yes, see my signature below. You, also, have to get rid of all slimed roots if possible. If not, will come back most likely.

 

[robertmarley]

Alright richy, another round done described as you have above.. going into the DWC though not the cloner... maybe the cloner, but doubt it

richy, are you still running feed to waste? only using the ewc tea for clones?

I want to supplement aquashield with the EWC, and I also wanted to add a mycorhazi( whatever it is ) to the mix but dont want to over do it in my res.. i've searched the net for a breakdown of what exactly is in the EWC but its hard to find. Reading around that root execulator is great stuff but it never says whats exactly in it, wouldnt want to over do that with a mycor sup.

thanks for the info guys

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Dont add any extra stuff in there, especially if you don't know what it is. Stick with your beneficials (tea, AquaShield and mycorrhizae fungus). Keep it simple! The slime is just waiting for you to add someting you shouldn't have! No need for root accelerators and other various junk. The plant will grow roots just fine without it. You can't really overdo beneficials.

 

[robertmarley]

Got a frothy brew.. going into the DWC tonight. Will keep thread updated

 

[richyrich]

Alright richy, another round done described as you have above.. going into the DWC though not the cloner... maybe the cloner, but doubt it

richy, are you still running feed to waste? only using the ewc tea for clones?

I want to supplement aquashield with the EWC, and I also wanted to add a mycorhazi( whatever it is ) to the mix but dont want to over do it in my res.. i've searched the net for a breakdown of what exactly is in the EWC but its hard to find. Reading around that root execulator is great stuff but it never says whats exactly in it, wouldnt want to over do that with a mycor sup.

thanks for the info guys

Yes, still doing FTW with coco. Did one hydro show with UV. EWC tea only in EZ Cloner. Others here have used the tea in hydro with success. I have used root excelurator with no ill results. EWC, I believe, contains bene bacteria, bene mycs, bene protozoa and bene nematodes. I think I put this up way back in this thread somewhere.

 

[Outportgrower]

Well I thought I better start to tear down things here this morning, and to my surprise this slime, mold and sludge is only in the res that feeds the plants. The same 30 gallons nutrient mix that has sat for a week has none of the same. So I doubt that it is caused by organic and non organic brews, but more from the decay of the root mass.

Going to run without the hydrozyme on re-fill to see how this turns out, but the poor plants are starting to show the stress and strain.

 

[spreadhead]

her richy rich...to preface i am just catching up on my reading for i have not been around for a minute. i want to say thank you for all the time and effort you have put in with your ongoing research into this problem. i understand your frustration with the same questions being asked indicating the thread has not been read. i too was guilty of this and can say in our "on demand" world we want answers and we we want them now. when i first got slimed i created a thread instead of doing any reading...you stopped by richy and pointed me to this thread and I have been here ever since. i appreciate and value your experiences and again thanks for sharing.
i finally was able to get the dreamgoddess to clone....after countless attempts with my revegged plants i got 7 to root. 1 has since died and i just ripped a root off a youngen by my frozen bottle being dropped into the 4 gallon container to control water temps.
the revegged plant are finishing flowering and i got 2 clones in separate 1 gallon containers and 4 in the 4 gallon kitty litter container...my temps are between 75 and 80 with out the frozen bottle application. the root development is slow. the roots that have developed are not fibrous and have a slimy look. i know this is from my temps and i am doing my best to control it.
my MO is that i start off with ro water from the glacier machine plus h2o2.. introduce chemical ferts..and continue applying h2o2 1oz/gallon daily. then after about a week i start with the EA and EN. i keep this going for about 7 -10 days then i replace with clean h2o. this usually has worked but again the root development is slow an not fibrous this time around.
richy..any feedback? can you direct me to this dtw coco technique you speak of? i go to soil after i have been slimed but the overall growth in soil is inferior to h2o i need a different way...and you say you get the same explosive growth as you do in hydro?? you no longer are in a dwc correct?
Thanks again richy

 

[richyrich]

You can get away with slightly high water temps by using the proper application of EWC tea. If you want to go to coco, this is the best place you can start.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=46490

 

[robertmarley]

Hey rich, how often are you storing your tea? I dont need much at a time so brewing big amounts is killing me.. tonight im going to do a one gallon brew just to see how it goes. The smaller size shouldnt really matter but I wouldnt mind storing the tea so brewing every third day wasnt a necessity.

So far your the only one I've been able to find on that net thats storing it. Was wondering how thats going for you.

 

[richyrich]

Hey rich, how often are you storing your tea? I dont need much at a time so brewing big amounts is killing me.. tonight im going to do a one gallon brew just to see how it goes. The smaller size shouldnt really matter but I wouldnt mind storing the tea so brewing every third day wasnt a necessity.

So far your the only one I've been able to find on that net thats storing it. Was wondering how thats going for you.

I find myself having too much often. You could go with brewing just a gallon or two a week. I would fridge the left over brew for 7 days, 10 days stretching it. If it ever stinks then toss it.

 

[robertmarley]

I find my tea to have almost a musty smell more so than earthy, even after only 12 hours or so of brewing, that how yours is? makes my res have a wierd musty smell too..


*edit* blah i think my first colony was wack so i just ran some h202 through the system before any roots take hold.. nothing growing yet. After 2-3 days of the h202 evaporating going to add some more ewc tea and aquashield.. think a tablespoon per gallon of mollasses is too much unless you really have a ton of air cranking through there to stop the anaerobic activity from taking hold, my mix wasn't smelling very "earthy", gonna drop it down to a teaspoon and tap into my 70 liter pump