Sterilization vs bennies to fix root problems

marihuana said:

Hey! I'm fairly new to rdwc and Ive pumped out one successful crop, but on the veg plants for my next run I seem to be having some problems with the roots. Now I definitely wasn't as preventative as I could be as far as keeping my res clean and I'm definitely paying for it. My water clouded up and my roots started to look sickly but not slimey, that's when I was running bennies. Since then I seemed to have slowed what ever was happening with h2o2 and have managed to slow whatever was happening plus coax some new root growth out. The growth I'm having seems to be yellowing though and isn't moving as fast as it should. Now my question is should I stick with cleaning and trying to sterilize with h2o2 and physan 20? Or should I go with teas and bennies to try and fix the problem? From what I've read around the web most people seem to believe teas are the best bet to solve this, but the people on this forum(who by far have some of the most amazing results I've seen) seem to lean towards sterilization, but I really do like the idea of using a tea. Some pictures will be attached down below. Any help would be amazing Thanks!View attachment 387003View attachment 387004 View attachment 387003View attachment 387003 View attachment 387004

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It seems that your problem is in the net pot the beginning of your root zone you must sterilize that area also, teas work fine but can get messy if not applied correctly! I no longer use benes I feel they're no use since I'm using synthetic fertilizers and supplements and I've had my best grow yet. Her is a pic of one of my ladies and the roots, by the way what is your pH, ppm's, nutrient line-up, and res temps maybe we can zero in on your problem but from the visual they look healthy to me!!!

vek11 said:

It seems that your problem is in the net pot the beginning of your root zone you must sterilize that area also, teas work fine but can get messy if not applied correctly! I no longer use benes I feel they're no use since I'm using synthetic fertilizers and supplements and I've had my best grow yet. Her is a pic of one of my ladies and the roots, by the way what is your pH, ppm's, nutrient line-up, and res temps maybe we can zero in on your problem but from the visual they look healthy to me!!!

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My pH was 5.7 ppms just under 300 using cutting edges ratio with general hydro's calmg, res temp is 68 with a chiller. Although there were a few days when I didn't have the chiller I don't believe it the heat was the cause. Also I did start seeing problems in one system then moved them to this other system and that's when I got my cloudy water. I think it was the second night I added orca and in the morning it was cloudy. I did have some cocoa soir on my plugs when I put them into the system and its washed though into my system so I'm thing that's what brought the pathogens in. In theory I'm thinking the tea might work better in my specific situation because its got more medium that's extremely friendly towards hosing bennies(root riot plug, and said cocoa soir) and I feel as if the physan 20 and h2o2 may not be able to penetrate enough. I am running a sterile grow right next to it and I want to do a side by side I think.
The tea will be a mix of ancient forest, zho power, aquashield, hydrogaurd, and orca if I decide to do it. The sterile grow is following desert squirrels post from a couple of years ago. The sterile system has jet fuel from cuts, and the other system I'm running plushberry cuts.

I would clean and sterile everything, if the physan 20 did not work I would try another product. I like running bennies as a protector for shit happening in the future and for other purposes. I would right now get up and go spray the roots with a 20% solution of H peroxide wait ten min and rinse.
I think putting a lot of bennies in the res is not the way to go but I would throw in some BS.3 and 7 with some T.H. if that does not help keep it away I would nuke the system and start over. Because more then likely it will come back and kick ass around week 4. JK

Jalisco Kid said:

I would clean and sterile everything, if the physan 20 did not work I would try another product. I like running bennies as a protector for shit happening in the future and for other purposes. I would right now get up and go spray the roots with a 20% solution of H peroxide wait ten min and rinse.
I think putting a lot of bennies in the res is not the way to go but I would throw in some BS.3 and 7 with some T.H. if that does not help keep it away I would nuke the system and start over. Because more then likely it will come back and kick ass around week 4. JK

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Hi I'm not familiar with those three products what are they? And a 20% solution with 29 percent h2o2?

Those are strains,I will look up the spelling for you. I get 35% h Peroxide, since your girls are so young I would delute it down to 20%. Just had 1/3 ro water to your 29% and that would put you in the ball park. If I for get ask Cap. He must use them in that biological soup he sells. I gotta go the tide waits on no one. JK

Alright so here's what I'm going to throw at them as far as an initial sterilization. I sterilized some 5 gallon buckets and am going to fill that with 29% h2o2 at 30 ml for 6 gallons then I'm adding physan 20 .6ml per 6 gallons. After that Im filling the buckets to the top snapping the lids shut and letting them soak with an air stone for a couple hours. Then I'm going to bleach and physan 20 my main system letting it soak as well. Then I'll drain my main system refill with tap then give it an a heavy heavy h2o2 run. Drain and rinse thoroughly then I'm going to rinse my girls stones with tap water and replace them into they're natural habitat with a healthy dose of h2o2 and physan 20 at 1ml per 10 gallons. After that I'm going to see where they're at and decide whether or not to add the tea or shoot for a sterile enviroment

Yep. Sterilize first, then you may add tea @ 1-2 cups per 5 gallons once a week at res change out.

Be super careful with physan. 3ml/25 gallons and don't let it sit in the system for more than an hour at most.

Do you think I should run sterile from here on out or go with a tea?

Ok surf was good yesterday. Trichoderma harzianum is a fungus and Bacillus subtilis3 and
Bacillus subtilis7 are bateria strains. I would buy them separately if Cap sells them I do not know as he does not tell you what you are buying,some kind of trade secrete I guess. I use this with my tank system and it must work well because most who use them are still on their learner's permit. I might add a N fixer as well. Nutri tech offers this as well as a floral. JK
That's my trade tip of the year.

Alright after everything I've put them through they're still alive lol. It actually kind of surprised me. But as of right now I'm doing a top feeding a few times a day and running a sterile res. If anything happens again I'm going to proceed with the tea and bennies. Any tips on brewing your own tea? And id like to hear from anyone that runs bennies in they're hydroponics. I want to get a general sense on who prefers what. So sterile vs bennies who wins? Also I'm running 8 bulb t5s over my 6 bucket 40 gallon veg and then I have 130 6 bucket system that I'm moving it to that will be under 4000 watts. Am I going to be able to get the roots and height I need to utilize those watts if I do a 4 week veg?

Hello there I just ran into a Root Rot Problem myself I started my buckets using H2o2 and it did not prevent or cure the root rot. It did turn the roots froma redish brown to white, but left a slimey clear mucus. I switched 1 of my buckets to Voodoo Juice and it eat everything up all the mucus and red chunks were gone in about a week. I made a video on it