Using beneficial bacteria along with hydroponic nutrients

[overgrowit]

I have been reading articles about using beneficials in conjunction with hydro nutes.

Mycorrhizae wouldnt be useful because the nutes are already broken down. Also high amounts of P and K will kill the fungus.

I am not sure about the effect of P and K on bacteria.

Also i read about using molasses to neutralize the chloramine in tap water, which would give the bacteria food at the same time.


Anyone have any thoughts or experience with the subject?

 

[bench warmer]

Using beneficial bacteria along with hydroponic nutrients

I don't have any evidence to support these mixes or otherwise.
I have a tendency to mix all types of
nutes & additives & just go on hoping for the best.
For example, this morning I mixed into 1 gallon of water: AN's 3-part, some Mother Earth Super Organic Tea, Liquid Karma, Molasses, Piranha, Tarantula, Sub Culture & used Potassium Silicate to bring the pH to 5.9
The coco/perlite medium was soaked completely.
Hopefully, some good may come from the additives.
All plants look fine even 6 hours later.
I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread to see what others have to say.
Will post again if anything unusual happens as a result of my earlier feeding.

 

[Kitsym]

i wouldn't even bother with beneficial Bacteria and Mycohrizzle unless you have pure water with no Chlorine or Chloramine - which will largely inhibit their growth....

 

[Homebrewer]

I tested Great White in my Ebb-n-flow tables on another forum, documented one grow and had another grow previous to my documented grow off camera. My results were consistent in both grows. I noticed a greater sensitivity to nutrients when using Great White and because of that, I had to feed 10% lower than I normally do. I also noticed better yields in the order of 5-8%. Overall though, I consider beneficials to be for the seasoned grower, one who can read their plants and make adjustments based on what the plants are telling you. It's also not a product that you can expect any kind of consistency out of in regards to week-to-week performance. In a nutshell, it adds unnecessary variables to a growing method where things are generally super stable.

 

[petemoss]

I've read that using strong feed, say more than 1.5 EC, will harm the beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae. Sounds reasonable to me and another reason to go easy on EC and avoid using hydrogen peroxide or epsom salts. It's also my opinion that you can use a stronger feed with DWC than with E&F, where the nutes can get more concentrated due to faster evaporation of water.

 

[farmdalefurr]

S.O.S. by strata industries

 

[Hydrolized]

Aquashield is BB and has saved my ass more than once from pythium. I use it in every rez I have, 5ml/gallon, all the time. I originally got root rot from bad temps...and the aquashield is the only thing that fixed it...tried hygrozyme, DM Zone, H202, they all seemed to clean the root rot off of the roots, but it always came back. Aquashield just seemed to keep everything clean and healthy, all the time.

 

[dbird]

I find that using beneficial bacteria in my ebb and flow has kept my rootzone strong and healthy. Though chemical fertilizers are regarded as readily available nutrients for your plants, not all of the different forms, lets say nitrogen as an example, are immediately available for consumption. Meaning that certain forms of nitrogen need a catalyst/ enzymatic reaction for it to chemically change into a more useable form. Bacteria and other beneficials can aid in these reactions and make your existing nutrients more readily available for your plant.

 

[opt1c]

sea green by beneficial biologicals outa arcata is designed to work in high salt environments... used it my last run with dm base/add.27 and silica... great results far as i could tell; will be doing a side by side in the future though; this round the whole garden got it

 

[ekomsi]

EWC TEA using ZHO, and Great White, has cured my root rot problems in a 6kw ebb n grow system.

I run the lucas formula and the E.C is around 1840 atm. Plants have never been as healthy before using the ewc tea.

 

[PGW]

I'm in the beginning stages of a grow using EWC/Ancient Forest tea as an ADDITIVE. It's my belief that there are two major issues to using anything organic in DWC that have yet to be readily addressed.
1. Organic nutes as the main nutes in DWC is a no-no. Wrong delivery system for the medium in my opinion.
2. Most DWC growers don't provide a place for bennies to colonize and reproduce effectively.

So I made up a new bucket setup---RDWC--with buckets that I'm calling P.R.E. Buckets. Protected Root Environment buckets are your standard 5gal buckets with about a dozen 3/8" holes in them to allow for some degree of nutrient exchange, with a large air stone glued in place in the bottom-center of each bucket. Surrounding the air stone is lava rock. Lava rock is also the medium in the net pots with a "free space" between the lava rock in the bottom of the bucket, and the net pot.

Here's a couple of shots:

 

[PGW]

Two of these buckets sit inside a Tuff Box from Lowes. There are four tubs, so 8 plants total in the RDWC this time around. Next run will probably be done with only one bucket per tub to allow better water flow.

I'm running GH Maxi-Bloom nutes and supplementing with the tea that I described above at the rate of 1 cup per day slowly trickled into the net pot. Eventually I plan to do more tea less often. It's all trial and error right now, but my theory is that I can add a lot of tea one day before nute change-out in flower and reap the benefits of the innoculation without the negative drawbacks of having all that organic soup in my salt-based solution for long periods.

This may be an epic failure, but I don't think so. At the very least, it's something that should shed a little more light on bennies in DWC. The main purpose of this experiment is to determine a more reliable way of running DWC crop after crop with no root issues.

BTW....yes, I'm running a chiller set @ 70 degrees F.

 

[gettogro]

Sounds like a good plan. I run lava rock in in my DIY uc for Benies to collonise.

 

[PGW]

Nice to hear, gettogro! How long have you been running this way?

 

[thinkin]

VAM + Hydro

VAM + Hydro

Super Vam (liquid)
in Hydro - Hempy then DWC

First time, I am trying VAM.
Started in hempies moving to DWC in flower

Ques: How can you tell if the VAM is alive? (mid grow)

I running blind. Cant find much info on VAM + Hydro.

 

[opt1c]

using beneficial bacteria along with hydroponic nutrients is one thing... using them in a dwc or aero setup is something else all together.... it's been tried before... they were called bio buckets.... there is a reason that they've been around for years but not a single user posting on these forums today is using a bio-bucket rig or anything like one.

 

[PGW]

using beneficial bacteria along with hydroponic nutrients is one thing... using them in a dwc or aero setup is something else all together.... it's been tried before... they were called bio buckets.... there is a reason that they've been around for years but not a single user posting on these forums today is using a bio-bucket rig or anything like one.

Why would you assume that I know nothing of bio buckets? I don't have the head room for bio buckets. This design is a whole different animal from bio buckets.

Secondly, how in the h3ll do you know if no one on this forum uses anything similar to one?

Now I'm reminded of why I quit posting here YEARS AGO. The negativity here is enough to depress Mother Theresa....geez.

 

[mrrangz]

@ PGW,

can u update us with (P.R.E. Buckets) results?

Thanks

 

[cravin morehead]

it's been tried before... they were called bio buckets.... there is a reason that they've been around for years but not a single user posting on these forums today is using a bio-bucket rig or anything like one.

i realize this thread is old but i needed to say something.

check this out:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258449
ya bio buckets don't work and people who want an easy grow with great results should not use them... geez. snake oils and all kinds of crap in your rez to kill off all life is the way to go... geez again

for those who want to know the truth, read this:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=8182
and this:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=23357
actually read them to understand, not typical internet style reading.
thanks BigToke, you made my grows so simple and smooth. changed my life. they'll change yours too.

cm

 

[MikeChapman22]

I have been using beneficial bacteria in my ebb from quite some time now. The roots of my plants are in perfect shape and seem to be going quite strong and healthy. Of course the market offers various chemical fertilizers some of which are readily available for consumption, but some are not.

Clearly distinguish between the two forms as many of them would actually require a suitable catalyst to break them down into a more consumable form. You can very well opt for bacteria to aid such reactions to break such nutrients into a form which can be readily taken up by your plants.