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Coliform Bacteria killing my plants.

A

AWDTERROR

Member
Hey guys.
I pretty much already fixed my problem, but I'm checking in here to see if there are others that dealt with the same issue.
We have a well on one of our locations and from Run 1 this location never produced comparably to our others.
We had a lot of Duds as well as decreased yield and very low clone survival rate do to damping off. The problems Gru as we had more runs under our belt in that location, we were getting 10%- 20% success rate on our clones as well as .7 gpw.
We finally completed a series of water tests and they have come up positive for fecal coliform bacterial.
At my other locations I hover around 1 gram + /watt and 80% to 90% clone success rate so it has been extremely frustrating. The craziest part about it is there's only one cfu of bacteria in the well water but once it gets into the reverse osmosis it comes out 180 cfu so it's obviously growing inside of our Ro.
We've treated are well we've added multiple pre carbon filters before our reverse osmosis and are waiting 4 updated Water Analysis to come in.
If you've had similar issues or know of anyone with similar issues I'd love to hear about it thanks so much
 
A

AWDTERROR

Member
The bacteria seriously compromises the plants immune system making it near impossible to control p.m.
At our other locations PM is easily managed.
It's been a nightmare a year and it's really nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
S

Speed of green

Active member
Ive heard of UV water disinfection for bacteria.

might be worth looking into.

a simpler option might be to treat your r/o res with bleach, this may wipe out the bacteria.
 
A

AWDTERROR

Member
Speed of green said:
Ive heard of UV water disinfection for bacteria.

might be worth looking into.

a simpler option might be to treat your r/o res with bleach, this may wipe out the bacteria.
Click to expand...

we had 2 inline UV filters in place the whole time they did nothing unfortunately.

What we ended up doing was treating the well with calcium hypochlorite and now we are installing a water treatment center that consist of chlorine injection for oxidation and then the system removes the chlorine before it goes into the r.o system.

The one thing about this whole situation that really sits oddly with me is there is zero literature about how coliform bacteria affect plants online or in any book I've read even. We have even talked to plant pathologist and they had nothing to add on the subject.

We just got our tests back and it seems the shock treatment of the well has removed the infection for now. But I'm going to go one step further and install the total Treatment Center anyways.

This bacteria is voracious before we fix the problem it was getting worse and worse and it ended up taking out 700/1200 of our freshly rooted cuttings we had rooted elsewhere.
 
A

AWDTERROR

Member
Oh wow that's a big UV filter. Mine is smaller it's an add-on to the RO 1000 unit we have. So it comes after the reverse osmosis. After this run is complete we are going to flush every bit of the irrigation system thoroughly with very high concentration of bleach, physan20 and finally hydrogen peroxide through all the OCTA bubblers, drip lines and 3/4" off line.
At this point it wouldn't even be that big of a deal to replace all PVC, drip line and OCTA bubblers but I'd rather try to disinfect them for we choose to replace it all. This is been a very annoying situation for the past year at least it's almost over.
 
S

Speed of green

Active member
i think you will be set with that cleaning, if not you at least know the root of your problem so if issues persist a simple water analysis will tell you to scrap everything and start over. thankfully pvc is cheap.

i found these at a better price point, depending on your gpm requirement one may work idk.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/c-1843-viqua-tap-uv-systems.aspx

i know once you shock the system that doesnt mean youre out of the woods for good, the bacteria can repopulate over time.
 
A

AWDTERROR

Member
Speed of green said:
i think you will be set with that cleaning, if not you at least know the root of your problem so if issues persist a simple water analysis will tell you to scrap everything and start over. thankfully pvc is cheap.

i found these at a better price point, depending on your gpm requirement one may work idk.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/c-1843-viqua-tap-uv-systems.aspx

i know once you shock the system that doesnt mean youre out of the woods for good, the bacteria can repopulate over time.
Click to expand...

I appreciate all the replies bro. Take nice to talk the issue thru with others. I'll check out a more heavy duty UV light. We are gonna get the water analysed weekly from here on. This place is gonna take a serious turn around. Can't wait for it!!
 
Applesauce

Applesauce

Member
I have something nasty in my water as well. I have to dose diligently with dm zone and pool shock while testing chlorine levels. If I was to slip, I would get root rot and cloning becomes impossible. I tried going the enzyme route and it lead to disaster. If I were you I'd go completely sterile and run a consistent and proper chlorine PPM. Although I am not you and running organics is your thing. Best of luck.
 
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