Strange Slime buildup on roots

[Ns1]

your work on this subject is epic

and I got slimed today.

 

[richyrich]

Thanks for the kind word guys, but I am happy just knowing that someone might benefit from this. I don't have to share, but I felt this info had to be posted. I could find nearly nothing on this problem when I began researching 3-4 years ago. And that is 3 years of failing crops that no one should have to go through. An unimaginable amount of work to find disappointment after disappointment. There was not even a name to this problem. Everyone said it was root rot and I just knew it wasn't. Look at this sticky today and I am astounded by how many growers have this problem going on. There was only one post on this site that spoke of the symptoms of this problem and that goes to the original poster of this thread. I stumbled across it and, well, the rest has to be read and it is long.

I went away from hydro and went to organic soil and then to coco. I finally just got kick started to implement my plans to tackle this problem again with what I previously posted. We will all see what happens and, hopefully, we can put this problem to rest.

 

[richyrich]

For the heck of it I read the instructions that came with the EZ Cloner even though I know how to use it already.

There is a section called "Helpful Tips". This is what it says on one line.

"An anti-pathogen formula can also be used to help in fighting bacteria. If you are experiencing a bacteria problem the most common sign is a gray slime forming at the bottom of the cutting."

Bang, there it is. That is exactly where the slime starts. Even known to the manufacture. I can tell you that anti-pathogen formulas (sterilization) does not work in this unit. Dutch Master Zone kind of worked. For some reason the slime is more aggressive in this unit. Probably the high heat from the pump.

 

[jupiter8]

First time poster here but long time reader, especially on this thread. Richy i would like to express my gratitude over all this work of yours, you are the man.
i've been following all the ways expressed in here to fight the slime and nothing worked in a sustainable way for me. I'm working for a city in a water treatement plant so i'm aware of cyanobacterias.
Around here there have been big blooms in our lakes in the last years so it's everywhere and yes , when spores get a foot in your house you're doomed period.
I'm very glad that this thread woke up with the beneficial bacteria theory as i really think that is the only way to battle it, not letting any space for the cyanos.

The idea of primming a res with bb for a week or two and THEN plant makes sense, we have to replicate what is going on in nature, create a healty system for the plants to live in, that means good bacterias and fungi.

Now some tests i've done with a home made aero cloner:

DM zone: Seems to slow rooting even at weak doses (3ml in 40l) and the roots where thin and stop growing after 2 milimeters.

GH Subculture: got slime in 3 DAYS.

Changing water each 3 days: Got slimed.

Now this: Last time with zone added i checked the dissolved oxygen and gess what, 3 mg per litre. this is just becomming anaerobic.

This cloner did wonderfull and all my previous aero crops too before moving in this new house last summer, since then, disaster after disaster. now i'm starting to brew some tea and try this alongside you RR AND putting and extra air stone and moniroring the dissolved oxygen. And i was thing of throwing a few lava rocks in there for the bb get a foot hold.

Can't wait to see if it works, 'cos i had to switch to coco but my diy vertical system is made for hydro.
now let's see some results with the aero cloners, it's agood guinnea pig for our tests.

 

[richyrich]

i'm aware of cyanobacterias. They are the culprit.

Around here there have been big blooms in our lakes in the last years so it's everywhere and yes , when spores get a foot in your house you're doomed period. Absolutely
I'm very glad that this thread woke up with the beneficial bacteria theory as i really think that is the only way to battle it, not letting any space for the cyanos. I have believed this to be the way too, now just getting to it, but at the moment the UV seems to be working, also.

The idea of primming a res with bb for a week or two and THEN plant makes sense, we have to replicate what is going on in nature, create a healty system for the plants to live in, that means good bacterias and fungi. Exactly. As DItrY said, the elegance of nature.

now i'm starting to brew some tea and try this alongside you RR AND putting and extra air stone and moniroring the dissolved oxygen. And i was thing of throwing a few lava rocks in there for the bb get a foot hold. Excellent. This is what we need here.

Can't wait to see if it works, 'cos i had to switch to coco but my diy vertical system is made for hydro.
Coco is the thing to go to if you are slimed.

now let's see some results with the aero cloners, it's agood guinnea pig for our tests. My thoughts exactly.

Good going Jupiter.

 

[richyrich]

Update.

Day 14 UV Reservoir Sterilization:

Healthy plants and pearly white roots. No sign of slime. No raises in ph indicative of slime.

Day 2 EZ Cloner primed with beneficial microbes:

No sign of slime. Cuttings still firm and healthy.
Note: I usually would be slime already in the past.

 

[jupiter8]

I like this idea of the little uv sterilisator for the aero cloner, no need to wait and prime it with bb.

Tea is ready, will drop clones in tomorrow, I will mix 1 part of tea for 4 parts of water. Got a big lava rock from a aquarium shop and i will trow it in too but i came across a bottle of nitrifyng bacteria and i bought it for future tests. i also saw a product that claims killing blue green algea. i will test this too and post pics of it if it works.

I think we definitely have something to learn from the aquarium life and the nirogen cycle like 10k suggest. In lakes cyanos pesence is natural but they bloom crazy when the lake is depicted from oygen and has too much phosphorus from human activity. (soap, and agriculture)

Isn't what we are putting in our res? high phosphorus soup? even in a cloner with nothing but ph down witch is often phosphoric acid.

damned, i remember even thrown in baking soda wich feeds the cyanos like you guys stated earlier in this thread. They love calcium and yes they don't need light. In our water treatement plant (drinking water for 25 000 people) we used soda to regulate the ph and since then the walls of the reservyoir wich is undergroud and perfectely dark and big like a house got all slimy . We have to get down there with firemen hoses and clean this gunk. And after that for a hobby i come home and PLAY HYDRO. Where do you think the spores come from? Time after time i created the right conditions for the slime to get a hold.

foolish me.

 

[jarff]

RR great work...I may try hydro again after a year in dirt.I can,t complain as I am getting more yield now then when I was working in water....but that,s b,cause I was getting slimed and ending up with very little product for the work I had to do.
Anyhow thanx to this thread and you we all have a lot better knowledge of how to be sucessful in our hydro endeavours..Thanx again to you and others who brought this problem to a point of understanding..I tip my hat.May all your shows be good ones.
jarff

 

[richyrich]

Still looking good.



This is at water temps of 78-79F.

 

[richyrich]

damned, i remember even thrown in baking soda wich feeds the cyanos like you guys stated earlier in this thread. They love calcium and yes they don't need light.

I am glad you absorbed that from one of my posts way back. Most here didn't pick that up because I still see references being made to unblocked light as the problem. That sucks bringing it home from work. I'm pretty sure I got mine from a gifted clone out of an EZ Cloner.

 

[richyrich]

I wanted to state to folks reading this long sticky, that I do not consider this problem solved yet. We have had one person state their conquest over the brown slime algae. I would like to see a few members here document their grow and conquest over this problem before we can make that official. I have seen a recent registrar and poster to this sticky claiming that it is solved to others in the infirmary. And that he/she and I have had a considerable conversation regarding such. This thread has been going for years and I believe a few posts are not a considerable discussion. Furthermore, I do not believe it is wise to claim victory yet. If any of you are looking for recognition or glory (because I am not) then take the information from all here in this sticky by the horns and document your conquest from beginning to end and prove to us that it is done. It's an issue that I must see to believe. Not that I do not believe what a person may state. I do not want anyone getting the wrong idea and I believe there is still work to be done here. But ultimately, you all get to make your own conclusion. Anyway, that is my .02 on that.

 

[richyrich]

RR great work...I may try hydro again after a year in dirt.I can,t complain as I am getting more yield now then when I was working in water....but that,s b,cause I was getting slimed and ending up with very little product for the work I had to do.
Anyhow thanx to this thread and you we all have a lot better knowledge of how to be sucessful in our hydro endeavours..Thanx again to you and others who brought this problem to a point of understanding..I tip my hat.May all your shows be good ones.
jarff

What's up jarff! It's been a little while. Hopefully, after this testing I can get back to hydro fully. Been doing the coco thing. I finally got around to setting up one tray for a hydro show.

 

[10k]

I deleted a few posts which were argumentative in nature and had nothing to do with the topic here.
Please go pm with further arguments guys, so the thread stays clean.

tia

 

[richyrich]

I deleted a few posts which were argumentative in nature and had nothing to do with the topic here.
Please go pm with further arguments guys, so the thread stays clean.

tia

Thank you.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Damn! I just got slimed again. Even the beneficials couldn't outwork it this time. Guess Ill be looking into this UV sterilizer myself. Where did you get yours richy?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just picked up a nice all-in-one-unit 24w UV sterilizer (suitable for up to 100gal) at Petsmart for $65. Includes water pump, control box with lamp life indicator, etc. Nice deal but Chinese made so durability is a question. Anyway, Im doing a complete res change, system cleaning, and installing the sterilizer in fresh tap water and letting it run for awhile before I load the res back up and reinstall the plants. Ive already hit them with Physan to stop the spread until I can get this setup. Ill report back with results.

No I didnt try the mycostop. This slime was SUDDEN, like less than one day. Gotta try something NOW before it kills my crop.

 

[D.I.trY]

I deleted a few posts which were argumentative in nature and had nothing to do with the topic here.
Please go pm with further arguments guys, so the thread stays clean.

tia

10k, you deleted a huge post of mine with some good information on it.

sigh....

 

[opt1c]

Damn! I just got slimed again. Even the beneficials couldn't outwork it this time. Guess Ill be looking into this UV sterilizer myself. Where did you get yours richy?

did you try the mycostop? i think the sooner you add it the better; had mixed results with my ezcloners; the 120 pulled through and the 30 got slimed which was funny as it's usually the opposite.. i waited to add the mycostop until the first res change and i think that was my mistake; next time it goes in first and i'll see what happens... btw my last 3 attempts in the 120 site without mycostop were all lost to slime and what i attribute to low oxygen supplied by the airhose included with the ezcloner; put new stones in both the 120 and 30 but still lost the 30.. i'm going to try the 30 ezcloner again with mycostop and a different environment that i have more control over; had it at a friends this last go around; no reason to put all the eggs in one basket

good luck; hope the uv sterilizer works, let us know if it does

 

[D.I.trY]

maybe its not a good idea to add the bene products that have alot of food with them. I cant really offer any names of products but im talking about the brown goopy stuff. If u add to much food that the colony cant consume them the bad ones will come in to fill the gap.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Responses to your questions in edited post above.

 

[richyrich]

12-13-2008 Post #302

I'm afraid there is no cure. Prevention is a must always but once you get it, what to do? Physan20 to to erradicate what is present and then Dutch Master Zone to keep it at bay once it comes right back. All my trials led me to this solution. And to tell the truth I was still not happy with that but it was the best I could do.

I spoke of it in earlier threads but I have not tried it yet because I have semi-retired from growing. Since I moved to soil previously, more specifically organics, I learned a lot about beneficial bacteria, fungi and etc.. I have yet to try to battle the hydro herpe with beneficials in hydro the right way. I believe the way to do it would be to have your rez primed with beneficials that would not allow the slime algae a chance at getting a foot hold. You would have to seed the rez with the right beneficials, feed them properly and let it prime for 2 weeks before introducing any plants to the system. Rez change outs would be very different. I have done it in the past with success. I would probably start by just doing add backs, water and nutes. No complete change outs. You would be dumping your beneficials and then you know who's gonna come slime you. Then I would try partial change outs. Maybe dump half and add back half. That way you still have a large colony of beneficials to fend off the herp. Anyway, that is what I was thinking for my next round for when ever that may be.

Tossing a re-post at you guys. I know they get buried way back in the sticky. This is one long sticky.