Trichoderma fungus questions

[BongRipkenJR.]

Ok, so I have a reservoir I used for my outdoor garden last year and it housed my compost teas. It is a food grade barrel that actually held a Bio Microbe product for large scale farms at one point. Well, the barrel sat for 6 months and then I cleaned the shit out of it with dish soap and scrubbed it. Now I am using it for my indoor coco grow and using Canna Coco A+B, flora nectar, and cal mag. I clean the res every few days and fill it back up with a mixture, but after one day it smells and looks like microbes are still in the fucker. I was trying to keep a dead res for indoor purposes, but it seems like the microbes are alive and well after putting them through hell. I didnt think bascillus and mychoryza could survive, but maybe trhicoderma? Does anybody have any speculation on why no matter how many times I clean it it seems like they colonize in a day or so? If I had a microscope I guess I would have a clear answer.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Well, I will give you my thoughts:

a) Dish soap is not exactly the best choice. Bleach seems the best. So you're potentially not "dead" from the start.

b) You are working on a dead res idea, but you didn't mention adding anything to actively keep it dead. Therefore it's alive, so to speak.

c) Flora Nectar is molasses and whatnot. Perfect for bacteria growth, be it good or bad bacteria. I haven't used it but I couldn't see anything about it containing any species of anything. Just that it's food for them.

So to sum up, you have created a perfect environment for bacteria growth, and you haven't cleaned your stuff to industry standards or added anything to stop bacteria growth. So the bad ones are just doing what comes naturally and multiplying rapidly in the great environment. The general connotation behind a "dead res" is that you are regularly adding bleach, h2o2, or whatever else, to actively kill everything. Hope it helps

BTW there are millions of species of good and bad. I don't think anyone here could tell you what they are. Just as a very general statement though, bad bacteria are synonymous with anaerobic conditions, slime, stink, smell, etc.

 

[greenmatter]

smell can stay in plastic for a long time, but it does not mean the microbes are alive. use bleach on the barrel like scrub said the should do them in.

picked up a barrel from a soft drink plant, and even after scrubbing and bleaching i could never get the smell out of it. it did not effect the water but my room smelled like dr. pepper for 6 months.

 

[BongRipkenJR.]

Well, it never had that problem. It smells like my compost teas. It is weird. After the outdoor season i just couldn't clean it. I don't like bleach. My plants actually seem to love it! Not causing a problem at all. I just figured the only thing that could survive for so long with no water or food would be the trichoderma. I think the beneficials I was brewing in that barrel just never left. However they are working great with the Canna Coco, Flora Nectar, and now SNS additive. It gets a film around where the water levels are in it. Gets a little foamy as well. I was just curious about whether or not certain strains of bacteria and fungus could survive for so long.

 

[greenmatter]

Well, it never had that problem. It smells like my compost teas. It is weird. After the outdoor season i just couldn't clean it. I don't like bleach. My plants actually seem to love it! Not causing a problem at all. I just figured the only thing that could survive for so long with no water or food would be the trichoderma. I think the beneficials I was brewing in that barrel just never left. However they are working great with the Canna Coco, Flora Nectar, and now SNS additive. It gets a film around where the water levels are in it. Gets a little foamy as well. I was just curious about whether or not certain strains of bacteria and fungus could survive for so long.

don't know ....but if dr.pepper can hold out for months i'm thinking ma nature is more than likely gonna stay around for a while. if you don't like bleach go with H2O2 or physan. if it is not hurting anything enjoy the smell of the compost tea. better than dr.pepper