Strange Slime buildup on roots

[madx]

thanks

finally something that eksplains, what keeps happening to my plants, 9 harvest´ in a row with not even enough to supply me and the ms. 4500 watts and only 300g. to smoke
my resoirs would have foam and a milky haze, a few hrs. after water change
and my roots is covered with slime only a day after startup (and in 3 diff. rooms same sh** happens), tried everything from h2o2 to changing water everyday and lowering water temp to the point where the plants stopped growing, nothing helped
just ordered 5 gal. of physan 20 today from ebay
really hope this works.
or im going back to the good old soil days

 

[jarff]

Geesh madx..it,s sickening eh man.I had a few failed grows but not to the extent you did.I guess your water is Ok and you have proper ph etc.?
I,m into my third week and the roots are snow white with no hint of slime whatsoever.Plants aren,t stretching as they used to with the additives but I know in the end I will have a good yield and the product should be better.I am tempted to add some additives (Floralicious) to one of the tables just to see if the slime shows up there.perhaps this far in I won,t have as much trouble..I always used additives right as soon as I switched to 12/12 after veggin,clones for 5 days...so maybe this had something to do with it.....I will keep this thread up to date as to my garden turn out.Hope you can get yer stuff working better for you..I also ordered a gallon of Physan 20 of Ebay last week....I guess maybe we should be buying stock in this company.
good luck to all
jarff

 

[Guest]

I had the brown alge bad. lost 2.5 crops before i figured it out. Light. Alge needs light. Lightproof eveything. Physan 20 can combat it, why not just prevent it?

100% lightproof everything. Never a problem since.

For those without access to physan 20 Get the plants out of the system and run bleach through it. SM-90 does not work, h2o2 dont work. Get the plats out and bleach everything. Scrub everything down till your eyes hurt and the house smells like a pool. Then flush thuroughly. At least, at least 2 flushes and run on the 3rd.

As for the plants, give their roots the "haps tickle method". Just get a seperate container with strait tap water. Give the roots a bath abd tickle them. The slime will wash off. Try to get as much as you can. Just tickle and gently rub them between your fingers. If you catch it soon enuf your roots may still be good. Make sure you submerge the medium and roots in order for the slight chlorine to do it's job. Works well.

 

[jarff]

I agree about light proofin Its but believe me that was my first priority.I covered my 4x4 tables with black and white panda plastic and cut holes to insert the mesh pots.Always used black buckets and covers when doin,dwc....I had air pumps that were overkill and I did everything possible to make a perfect product.btw installed a good quality RO system etc etc etc...but still slime.As I said in previous post I think the additives for some reason was causing the probs....I didn,t have a failure every show but the algae was there...some times I would finish with a good yield then next times around a disappointing yield.
I,m one who believes in additives like Floralicious LK etc but they all seemed to cause the algae.I kinda learned to live with it.I was on average getting 1# per 1K light which is OK for me.
This times goin,into fourth week without any additives whatsoever and my roots are the whitest I have ever seen.Just usin,GH three part flora..also gonna use Kol Bloom last few weeks.I have several tables in operation so I am going to feed one of em with LK just to see if the algae shows on that one table.If it does then I have to find reasons for this happenin,If alge doesn,t show then the only reason I can go on is that perhaps I was feeding the additives too early in flower.I feel I will find an answer (hoping) this time around as to the quandry that has plagued me for the past two yrs.
I do notice my plants without additives are not as big or stetchin,as when I did use the adds.......I think perhaps I am narrowing it down...
I will keep doing input with the progress of this round...I very well could be wrong but I don,t think that the algae is from not having a sanitary environment ..at least in my situation.I cannot tell you how hospital like my room is.It takes me a week to clean up before starting up again.I throw stuff away that friends grab for themselves to use in their rooms.I have a vendetta to figure this out..wish me luck (good luck Jarff).
peace
jarff

 

[madx]

wish me luck

good luck Jarff
it was 1 gal. i ordered from ebay for 35 + another 40 to ship it to denmark
anybody know a european supplyer or product i can get over here ?

 

[Guest]

I wish you luck jarff. As far a i know, nobody definately 100% pinpointed the cause of brow alge. I know for myself, that 100% lightproof has solved the problem. As i understand alge cant live without light. Well, between the lack of light and 62 digree water. I've had no problems since. But then again i've also cut out all the extra additives.
Hope you get it pinpointed. Good luck.

 

[jarff]

Started usin,Floralicious on one table yesterday.It is pretty dark stuff and usually stains the roots fast.I always like the Floralicious as it always seemed to give one big main cola on my shorty plants.I,m into fourth week and the plants are lookin,healthy but they didn,t stretch to 20" as they use to.They are at about 14" now.Obviously the additives were givin, them some more bulk,and stretch,but I am happy that I haven,t seen any slime at all.Funny thing with my plants this time is that they are almost as round as they are tall,...really coverin,the tables,with a lot of bud sights.
Will let you know in about a week if the Floralicious is startin, to produce slime on the roots in that one table.I also think I may have been introducing the addities too early into flowering perhaps.Anyhow keepin a sharp eye on them.Time will tell
It,s a great hobby for an old fella like me...spending my retirement producing something that I had spent $$$$ on for 40+yrs.
Have a good day
peace
jarff

 

[richyrich]

I started using Dutch Master Zone as a protective additive. It is a derivative of chlorine and kills all nasties from growing and lasts a long while in the resevoir. So, if you want the benefits of tap water, because of the chlorine, you can use Zone with your RO water. But, you cannot use beneficials.

 

[jarff]

Thanx RR..just might give it a try on one of the tables next time around..so far things are lookin, pretty good.Maybe talkin,about it had an affect on the slime..but I doubt it.
I got some plants in pots time around just to get the feel of soil again.I am impressed with the results and may just go soil all the way next show if the water doesn,t work out...it keeps me on my toes and something to look forward to tryin, to get to the bottom of a problem.j/k..anyhow good luck to all...
peace out
jarff

 

[jarff]

Just doin,an update.As I said before I added Floralicious to one of my tables almost a week ago.The roots are very dark brown,but they are still healthy lookin.Only thing I notice is that the vinyl air lines runnin,into my table have some slime on them......I,m about 4 weeks from harvest and the plants have never looked better healthwise .One difference I noticed is that they seem to be be a bit slower in developing buds.My bud sites at three weeks are usually developed as good as they are now at four weeks..maybe I,ll just have to let them go longer if I can.I had always used Bud Blood (AN) first week of 12/12 but didn,t use this time...so thinkin,perhaps the Blood was indeed performing well.Anyhow this is a bit of an experiment so if I don,t get a good yield I will not be too disappointed.Jus,tryin,to get a handle on the slime..will keep postin, every week ..hope it gives some insite in my own situation with the slime that always seems to show up and it may apply to some others on here.
peace outta here
jarff

 

[sandeer2]

I agree about light proofin Its but believe me that was my first priority.

I,m one who believes in additives like Floralicious LK etc but they all seemed to cause the algae.I kinda learned to live with it.I was on average getting 1# per 1K light which is OK for me.
This times goin,into fourth week without any additives whatsoever and my roots are the whitest I have ever seen.Just usin,GH three part flora..also gonna use Kol Bloom last few weeks.jarff

Eureka ....voila : less is more .

Never can figure out why people fall for all the additive~ cr@p out there , spending $100's (or more) when the life cycle we are talking about is usually less than 60days <G . But just happened to be reading an Advanced Nute pamphlet and they would have you believe that you can't live without any of that chit , who knows but sure a lot of pretty mesmerizing pics on their labels . They won't be getting any of my $$$ though...

Lucas Formula promotes the healthiest green plants & roots using GH 1-2 micro to bloom (no nitrogen= part 1 , even in veg don't need it )
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21119
....nothing wrong with a dose of GH Floralicous + to help things along and keeping things "cool" in the rez (& light tight , things clean & lots of O2 is good )

* As for products that kill the "baddies" forget the voodoo juice , lol ....anyone ever think off a submersable 40watt UV pond sterilizer ? Running 600 gph thru one has a 93% kill rate so imagine a 350gph pump would have about 100% kill rate . For a 100gal tank all that is needed is a 15watt submersable ...no additives or potentially toxic concoctions to add more stress , just good old fashioned UV light !

Bye bye brown algae bye bye .....also any other living virus or algae as well . Water is clear as a bell in 100gal tank for a few nickles worth of electrics anytime you want in the time it takes to please & electrify a lady . ;o)

PS: u DWC guys have my respect , lol...when in doubt just whip out the UV & nuke 'em !

 

[madx]

had the same idea a few years ago, when this slime thing started.
but my local hydro shop owner/idiot said that it wouldnt work, so i didnt go that way.
anybody who tried it ? since i havnt read a single post with uv light here on icmag

 

[jarff]

Sandeer...I usually agree that less is more and in my own situation I,m startin,to believe it.The table that I added th Floralicious in has very dark roots but no slime...hmmm..The other two tables with just three part GH has white as snow roots.all tables are equal in production.Gettin,some spotty leaf but I think I put too much fert in and am now cuttin,back.Also could be cal-mag def. so I added some CalMag+..waitin for a sign that it may help..but nothin,serious so far....I know that fert pushers are doin,it for the $$$ so I do usually take it with a grain of salt if a hydro shop guy says this additive is guaranteed to give you %100 more yield....He alawys says he tried it himslf so he must be tellin the truth..lol.....
This thread has def. been the best info thread I have seen to date that has actually given me a lot of info about algae and the root rot that follows..I just never put two and two together that it came out to four.I am totally happy to not see any algae like I was gettin,on previous shows.The floralicious kinda has me satisfied with it,s performance b,cause the first crop I had about two yrs ago was more yield then I get now..it was soil and I got almost .85 G a watt..which coincidentally I never achieved again.I do believe I,m goin back to soil.It is easier for me as I am disabled to the point where I need help...and the help is not always dependable.Soil I can pretty much do myself with a drip feed.....anyhow I,m ranting again,,must be my meds.
will post my progress every so often...good luck to all with algae probs ..Hope we can get it to a manageable level.
peace ouuta here.
jarff

 

[jarff]

oops sorry ...Sandder I have a whole house UV set up as well as a UV cartridge on my RO set-up.....But then again these can get bombarded with bacteria and all your plumbing has to be disinfected..which is a fairly time consuming..I need to get someone in to actually do the disinfecting part of it....It,s simple but time consuming as I guess I already said.....I tend to forget things easily so when I see a reference to something that affects my own situaton then I usually act on it.Brain fog does have it,s disadvatages..in my case for example...but I,m havin, fun and enjoying the fruits of my labour/hobby
peace outta here ...again
jarff

 

[terran2]

Sandeer...I usually agree that less is more and in my own situation I,m startin,to believe it.The table that I added th Floralicious in has very dark roots but no slime...hmmm..The other two tables with just three part GH has white as snow roots.all tables are equal in production.Gettin,some spotty leaf but I think I put too much fert in and am now cuttin,back.Also could be cal-mag def. so I added some CalMag+..waitin for a sign that it may help..but nothin,serious so far....I know that fert pushers are doin,it for the $$$ so I do usually take it with a grain of salt if a hydro shop guy says this additive is guaranteed to give you %100 more yield....
peace ouuta here.
jarff

Hey Jarrf....generally find that a run of not more than 2ec / 1000 (or 1200ppm tops ) with Lucas Formula
to give always the best results for the wide spectrum of plants and myself do add a little Cal/Mag always mid veg into first 3weeks of flower to establish a good level of presence those elements contributing to good structure for later flowering . Always use the Cal/Mag at 1/2 strength ...or actually just use a handy squeeze bottle and squirt some in ujsing the "feel" method ....gives a little nitrogen boost too

Coco is a very nice medium with perlite if u like , almost perfect light fluffiness for good roots and some Cal/Mag a must with coco. In a 2gal pot of Coco you can grow anything ! Another alternative is good old tried and true r/w which with 6x6's is a very easy medium to work with coco matts or slabs ....or stacking . Have used 6x6'x alone and they can produce some very large plants .

As for less is more idea and running 'low nutes' ....this fellow using r/w on slabs here hit the Holy Grail with WW finally by just lowering the nutes way down . And he stumbled upon this secret for these ladies after yrs of giving them too much .
(He points out that they might look decent enough in Veg and early flower , but always with too much nutes into later flower they just won;t perform as you see them in the link below )

* This is about as good as it gets for WW as i have ever seen ...just what can be easily be done with R/W & slabs for DWC just scares me to death and rocks too much work ...

(and talk about saving money on the nute bill using less nutes !!)

Check these ladies out and running only 750ppm ( like to get that cut !;o)
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=47112

 

[jarff]

Hey Terran...thanks for the advice and esp. for the link with the low ec WW grow ..truly what I would like to come close to achieving.The "gang" lol would love to see me do something as amzing as that show..btw the gang is a few friends with needs like myself for the medicine.We drew straws and I came up with shortest one and was told I was the one most likely to succeed in growing in our little circle of ppl. with needs.I,m the one who is in the right situation to do the grow with the least to lose...bigLoL.That tells you whatmy friends think of me..j/k......I,m kinda isolated in the country and have the least family to distrupt things.
I was on OG beore it closed and I kept away from grow sites until I found IC..glad I did.It has sparked a new flame.
I am now positive that I was giving too much ferts to my ladies so I am going to try to cut back ..Give it a tryI always say.At harvest my plants were always burnt badly with crispy leaf that would crumble in your hand.The product was good +++very good but I always said it should be better.I have a new mission..in my life..to perfect my growing.Man I wish I was in a trraining class with some of the ppl on here for a few months to learn first hand how to cut all the corners that takes newbies like me a long time to figure out...But for sure all the help I get from ppl here is certainly gonna work for me and the "gang".

"when you change the way you look at things the things you look at change"*Wayne Dyer
Thanx again guys for the help.
peace outta here
be safe
jarff

 

[jarff]

Just an update on my grow At day 33 of flowering,and the roots are still slime free.Seems to me that indeed introducing additives early may have been the cause of algae growth on the roots.
I introduced Floralicious to one table bout,week ago and the roots in that table still have no indication of algae or root rot.I did experience over fert and am runnin,plain water and H202 to try to rectify the problem.Guess I must have been too involved in watching for alage growth and mixed up tooo stong a batch of fert..oh well they will come around.Also noticed the buds filling out good after taking longer then normal to start bulking up.I am going to start puttin the Floralicious in all the tables at this stage I don,t think it will harm anything.I think I may have a handle on this algae prob in my case and think I will do the same thing next time around.I also mixed RO water and tap 50/50 and my ppm is under 100.
be safe
peace outta her
jarff

 

[jarff]

Running full nutes + Floralicious in all tables and no sign of slime or root rot.The slime seems to be worst the first week or two of 12/12.
I,m about two weeks from chop and I know I won,t have any root rot this show.Plants however are having an issue I can,t track down..lokks like over-fert but I tried runnin water for about five days and then low ec ferts from then on ,but still crispy blotched leaf....I have been using Cal Mag+ but no change. I am going to run 6.2 ph in one table to see if maybe the strain needs a higher ph.Dunno.I have learned a lot this time around and I am sure the next ones will be a bit better.I am runnin swc with massive amounts of air...so thinking maybe all the do could be affecting the ph altho it always shows 5.8 steady...just a thought with runnin so much oxygen into the roots...time will tell.
be safe
jarff

 

[coolx]

my 2c .. I got this my last crop and did a lot of reading .... I just had the snot in my rez, but my roots were pearly white - maybe cos I innoculated and grew e/f on a mat ..... not budrot and the snot won't kill your plants in the same way, but it does eat up all the nutes etc and can suffocate the roots I guess ....

I only got it when I used Hygrozyme .... and this grow, just added hygrozyme again 2 weeks ago, got it again. I just cleaned out my rez, air tubes and pumps and all is fine ..... as I said my roots are white and healthy. Was shooting up my PH from 5.8 to 6.8 and 7 plus overnight - and it took my ppms down from 1800 to 1200 in 12 hours too.

I think it was happening when I put in more Hygrozyme than less, cos the rate on the bottle is from 5cc to 15cc/gal, so now I'm sticking to 5cc of H and supplementing with 5cc of my H&G multi-enzyme.

 

[juggo]

hey yall,
great thread! i know its been said but i had these same probs yrs ago in dwc.i have found anything brown in the rez can and will cause probs.only nute i would consider in dwc in gh flora 3 part w/ lucas formula,and change rez every 2 weeks,and of course light cant get at the roots,a roll of alluminum tape fixes that. dwc can make monsters once you dial it in!

peace,
juggo