Dwc Water Smells Like Feet After 6 Days

[LacesOutDan]

hey guys I'm a long time lurker first time poster, first time grow.

i decided to go the dwc route and transplanted my (soil) starter plugs 6 days ago.

first i cleaned everything(net pot lids, buckets, ayirstone lines) thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide and rinsed with ph balanced water. (6.0)
second i rinsed the hydroton in a colander with tap water for about 5 minutes, agitating it with my hands, then rinsed with a light hydrogen peroxide/6.0ph water solution. very thoroughly.

something that slipped my mind- cleaning the air stones. i just hooked em up and dropped em in.

here we are on day 6 and the plants are growing, plants are doing great, look great, average temp is 70f and keeping my ph around 5.5-6.0, ppm is 100. i went in to check on them today and when i took the lid off the smell of STINKY FEET hit me like a ton of bricks. i mean like foul, you have a problem, need to see a doctor, stinky feet.

i know this is not a good thing, but what in the world could have caused it? and what do i do, other than dump my rez and clean everything and start over.

btw the roots are not coming out of the net pot yet.

thanks in advance
LACES OUT

 

[tattoojim]

What brand a fertilizer are you using?

 

[LacesOutDan]

none, just water
and gh ph up down

 

[HiGro]

What temp is your res water?
You want to keep the res cool like at a nice 68°f. Constantly

 

[LacesOutDan]

70 average, highest temp I've seen is 73, the day the smell hit.

dumped the buckets and cleaned them along with the hoses and airstones with rubbing alcohol and rinsed thoroughly with water, poured a bunch of ph'd water on my hydroton to rinse it, and started over. holding tight at 67 degrees (shut off the heat vent in that room) we shall see...

gotta say i honestly expected a little more feedback/help on this..

 

[HiGro]

Keep your res cool and you'll be ok. The smell is usually bad bacteria called pythium or however you spell it. If your not running organic nutes or bennies (good bacteria) then you can run a little h2o2 in your res to kill bacteria

 

[AzDidde]

hey guys I'm a long time lurker first time poster, first time grow.

i decided to go the dwc route and transplanted my (soil) starter plugs 6 days ago.

first i cleaned everything(net pot lids, buckets, ayirstone lines) thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide and rinsed with ph balanced water. (6.0)
second i rinsed the hydroton in a colander with tap water for about 5 minutes, agitating it with my hands, then rinsed with a light hydrogen peroxide/6.0ph water solution. very thoroughly.

something that slipped my mind- cleaning the air stones. i just hooked em up and dropped em in.

here we are on day 6 and the plants are growing, plants are doing great, look great, average temp is 70f and keeping my ph around 5.5-6.0, ppm is 100. i went in to check on them today and when i took the lid off the smell of STINKY FEET hit me like a ton of bricks. i mean like foul, you have a problem, need to see a doctor, stinky feet.

i know this is not a good thing, but what in the world could have caused it? and what do i do, other than dump my rez and clean everything and start over.

btw the roots are not coming out of the net pot yet.

thanks in advance
LACES OUT

Hi.

I'm a professional grower and I can help. Years ago when I first started to test my feet in Deep Water Culture I had similar issues. The problem stemmed from two main problems.

1.) Water temps too hot. As water temps rise the amount of air the water holds decreases. This slowly kills your roots and makes it lovely breeding ground for the pythium.

2.) Not enough air. Make sure you're getting a lot of air circulating in that system. Read above for why.


When you fix both problems one of the best things about deep water culture is the ability to using living organics. (Beneficial bactera/Fungi/etc.) Start adding a little bit of compost tea to your system. Not only will it begin to break down the old root rot, you'll see increased YIELD, TASTE, SMELL, Potency, Healthier plants and more.

Ignore the people that tell you otherwise because for the people, like myself, who use it daily and successfully... you'll beat even the best grown soil in taste and flavor when you get your system and growing skills tuned. Warm wishes.

-Someone that had hard times and living in the best of times.

 

[LacesOutDan]

AzDidde-

I think my problem was the temp being too high. As soon as I opened the lid and smelled the funk, I immediately took the temp and ph. Ph was stable at 6.0 and temp was I think 73. I assume that the temp has gotten higher than that as well, maybe 75 due to the colder weather, me running the heat more.

I shut off the vent in the room where they live, and have been holding a temp of 64 since then.

Is this TOO cold?

Also the roots aren't even coming out of the net pots yet, still very young. Should I be concerned with the roots at this point?

 

[LacesOutDan]

Also thanks for spreading a little knowledge!

Got my LED ordered-

Also I learned today to NEVER ORDER ANYTHING FROM 1000bulbs.com!!!!!! I ordered a 125w cfl from them 2 weeks ago and learned today that it was back ordered, after I called to see what the problem was. Never sent me an email or anything. So I let em have it, told them to cancel the order, THEN my bank called me to inform me that my debit card was suspected of fraudulent activity. 38 miles from 1000bulbs.com's warehouse. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[AzDidde]

AzDidde-

I think my problem was the temp being too high. As soon as I opened the lid and smelled the funk, I immediately took the temp and ph. Ph was stable at 6.0 and temp was I think 73. I assume that the temp has gotten higher than that as well, maybe 75 due to the colder weather, me running the heat more.

I shut off the vent in the room where they live, and have been holding a temp of 64 since then.

Is this TOO cold?

Also the roots aren't even coming out of the net pots yet, still very young. Should I be concerned with the roots at this point?

TEMP:
73 shouldn't be too high, as long as it's properly aerated and as long as you stay in the 60s you'll be fine. The temperature probe that controls my water chiller slipped out one day and kept the water chiller running until it hit the mid to low 50s. It didn't do any permanent damage to the roots and only caused the plant to heavily droop and heavy leaf curl in the top of the plant. Approx 12 hours after the temps came back up to the 65-69 rage you couldn't tell anything had happened outside of some slight leaf curl that went away after a couple of days.

POSSIBLE FIXES:
As for the smell, try adding more air stones. Before I picked up a Vortex brewer, several times I had tried to make some compost tea with a poor air pump. After 24 hours the bucket smelt like rotting fish and what happens after you forget to take out the trash before you're on a 2+week vacation.

Also, add some compost tea. A friend of mine was having severe root rot and a similar odor. The beneficial bacteria and fungi solved any issues and help the plant rebound at an incredible rate. Wish I still had those pictures.

My GUESS is that the temps of that bucket had gone up a lot higher before you caught it and you may have something nasty circulating within the plant's roots or soil. That compost tea should take care of that.

WHY YOU NEED COMPOST?
Also when you run a sterile system and have a sick plant, when you kILL off the bacteria you kill off BOTH GOOD and bad bacteria. (Remember all those pro-biotic commercials selling yogurt...) With that plant still being sick it becomes a breeding ground for BAD bacteria with no beneficial bacteria to fight off these invaders and keep the plant healthy.

This works the SAME way in humans. When people are in the hospital and are on antibiotics, MRSA is a common disease that comes about due to all these people having no "good" bacteria in their stomach/body to fight off such diseases. It's also why hospitals actually take poop from a healthy family member and insert it into a sick persons body so GOOD bacteria can be introduced into their body.... My dad is a doctor of natural medicine so his description was a lot more troubling.

Also, when you're making COMPOST TEA you're taking bacteria from earthworm castings (Poop) and old growth forest. After millions of years these bacteria have evolved to work in a symbiotic relationship with the plants they feed on. If the plants they live off DIES, so does the bacteria that lives off of the plant. When people try to run a sterile system they are not only screwing with MILLIONS of years of evolution, you're also exposing your plants to easily avoidable diseases. I hope this explanation helps. I tried to keep it as simple as possible.

P.S. There is a great Ted Talks on Netflix regarding fungi you should look up. It was amazing to see these beneficial fungi turn Diesel fuel and other toxic waste into healthy carbohydrates and food for plants and mushrooms.

 

[3N1GM4]

Maybe your feet just smell like res water

 

[LacesOutDan]

I've found some recipes for compost tea, but not sure if its for hydroponic or soil, or is that a stupid question? haha.

TEMP:
73 shouldn't be too high, as long as it's properly aerated and as long as you stay in the 60s you'll be fine. The temperature probe that controls my water chiller slipped out one day and kept the water chiller running until it hit the mid to low 50s. It didn't do any permanent damage to the roots and only caused the plant to heavily droop and heavy leaf curl in the top of the plant. Approx 12 hours after the temps came back up to the 65-69 rage you couldn't tell anything had happened outside of some slight leaf curl that went away after a couple of days.

POSSIBLE FIXES:
As for the smell, try adding more air stones. Before I picked up a Vortex brewer, several times I had tried to make some compost tea with a poor air pump. After 24 hours the bucket smelt like rotting fish and what happens after you forget to take out the trash before you're on a 2+week vacation.

Also, add some compost tea. A friend of mine was having severe root rot and a similar odor. The beneficial bacteria and fungi solved any issues and help the plant rebound at an incredible rate. Wish I still had those pictures.

My GUESS is that the temps of that bucket had gone up a lot higher before you caught it and you may have something nasty circulating within the plant's roots or soil. That compost tea should take care of that.

WHY YOU NEED COMPOST?
Also when you run a sterile system and have a sick plant, when you kILL off the bacteria you kill off BOTH GOOD and bad bacteria. (Remember all those pro-biotic commercials selling yogurt...) With that plant still being sick it becomes a breeding ground for BAD bacteria with no beneficial bacteria to fight off these invaders and keep the plant healthy.

This works the SAME way in humans. When people are in the hospital and are on antibiotics, MRSA is a common disease that comes about due to all these people having no "good" bacteria in their stomach/body to fight off such diseases. It's also why hospitals actually take poop from a healthy family member and insert it into a sick persons body so GOOD bacteria can be introduced into their body.... My dad is a doctor of natural medicine so his description was a lot more troubling.

Also, when you're making COMPOST TEA you're taking bacteria from earthworm castings (Poop) and old growth forest. After millions of years these bacteria have evolved to work in a symbiotic relationship with the plants they feed on. If the plants they live off DIES, so does the bacteria that lives off of the plant. When people try to run a sterile system they are not only screwing with MILLIONS of years of evolution, you're also exposing your plants to easily avoidable diseases. I hope this explanation helps. I tried to keep it as simple as possible.

P.S. There is a great Ted Talks on Netflix regarding fungi you should look up. It was amazing to see these beneficial fungi turn Diesel fuel and other toxic waste into healthy carbohydrates and food for plants and mushrooms.

 

[AzDidde]

I've found some recipes for compost tea, but not sure if its for hydroponic or soil, or is that a stupid question? haha.

Not at all. There are various things added to tea, but in general the BASE things for a good compost tea mix is;

1.) Forest Humus
2.) Worm Castings
3.) molasses (don't go too heavy on this. Only a couple of teaspoons are needed per 5 gallon brew.)

Add an air-stone and brew 24-48 hours until there is a nice froth/foam that has formed on top of the bucket. You only need a couple of cups for every 5 gallon of tea. However, there is no such thing as too much compost tea if it's brewed properly.

Later you can add a little rock dust, Hydrolyzed fish oil, Sea Kelp and more. But those 3 ingredients are the most important. The rest is just a bonus.

 

[ken dog]

Next time, clean with bleach... It is the best thing to clean with.

 

[sixstring]

Maybe your feet just smell like res water

i was gunna say keep your feet out of the res haha

 

[LacesOutDan]

i was gunna say keep your feet out of the res haha

What can I say I kept hearing that I needed good bacteria so i thought it would help to just dip em in once a day.. lesson learned.

Not at all. There are various things added to tea, but in general the BASE things for a good compost tea mix is;

1.) Forest Humus
2.) Worm Castings
3.) molasses (don't go too heavy on this. Only a couple of teaspoons are needed per 5 gallon brew.)

Add an air-stone and brew 24-48 hours until there is a nice froth/foam that has formed on top of the bucket. You only need a couple of cups for every 5 gallon of tea. However, there is no such thing as too much compost tea if it's brewed properly.

Later you can add a little rock dust, Hydrolyzed fish oil, Sea Kelp and more. But those 3 ingredients are the most important. The rest is just a bonus.

Ok so when you say "molasses" you mean the same molasses in my kitchen? My local hydro store has this compost tea made by humbolt county's own called Killer Tea, you know anything about it? Guy at the store said its awesome (of course) and the only medicinal grade tea on the market?? dunno can't find many reviews online. Im real small time and was trying to keep startup cost as low as possible (ill get into brewing as time goes by) and don't want to have to track down a shit ton of ingredients and also have to buy a lot more than i need for my scale. Im running 2 buckets right now but will more than likely flower only 1.

One other question and I think Ill be set for now-
So once i get a the tea dialed in, all i need to do is determine a nutrient schedule and go from there? I originally planned on using GH flora trio only.

 

[sixstring]

if your having res issues i dont think adding a tea is a good idea right now.you really need to be on your game to introduce bennies into hydro imo.i would start over and clean everything like you already did and use some nutes this time.but dont skip the airstones lol

 

[3N1GM4]

Grandma's unsulphered molasses or any unsulphered molasses from your local grocery store will do. Just make sure it is unsulphered, it should say unsulphered on the lable.

 

[AzDidde]

What can I say I kept hearing that I needed good bacteria so i thought it would help to just dip em in once a day.. lesson learned.



Ok so when you say "molasses" you mean the same molasses in my kitchen? My local hydro store has this compost tea made by humbolt county's own called Killer Tea, you know anything about it? Guy at the store said its awesome (of course) and the only medicinal grade tea on the market?? dunno can't find many reviews online. Im real small time and was trying to keep startup cost as low as possible (ill get into brewing as time goes by) and don't want to have to track down a shit ton of ingredients and also have to buy a lot more than i need for my scale. Im running 2 buckets right now but will more than likely flower only 1.

One other question and I think Ill be set for now-
So once i get a the tea dialed in, all i need to do is determine a nutrient schedule and go from there? I originally planned on using GH flora trio only.

-Never dealt with killer tea, but also not buying the "medicinal grade" he was selling you.

-Regarding the molasses, yes it's just the regular old molasses you find in your kitchen however it needs to be SULFUR FREE.

-The cost of the earthworm castings and Humus can be expensive, but a little should last you for a very very long time, as long as you keep the humus and castings moist and room temp.

-Also, the basic idea behind compost tea is this... You're taking the great beneficial bacteria and fungi you would find in humus and castings and breeding them. So adding water, lots of air and food (molasses) creates the perfect environment to breed these beneficial bacteria/fungi. That's why you get the best results by Freshly breeding them vs. buying them in a bottle. Also, you only need maybe a 1-2 cups of good compost tea per 5 gallon pot. I typically add tea 2 times a week. If you're looking to go on the cheap you just need un-Sulfured molasses and you can hold off on the castings and breed the beneficial bacteria using the humus.

 

[AzDidde]

if your having res issues i dont think adding a tea is a good idea right now.you really need to be on your game to introduce bennies into hydro imo.i would start over and clean everything like you already did and use some nutes this time.but dont skip the airstones lol

He's using a deep water culture, so the heavy amounts of air makes it a perfect environment for for beneficial bacteria. However, I agree it would be a bad idea if it was an ebb/flow drip system. My ebb flow table I use for pre-veg I avoid using beneficial bacteria due to too many areas within the tubing/table/pump where water can be stagnant and not receive enough air.