Chow mix- sterile or Bennies FTW?

[SweetTooth]

Hey fellas, just in the mix of building a new set-up and I'm going to be running a SOG with Chow mix in 2 gallon pots top feed drip recirculating. I will be feeding 4-6x/day and I am wondering if it is better to run a sterile res or bennies with this setup? Everyone seems to be going DTW so I am curious what you guys are doing that are recirculating with the chow mix? Thanks

 

[kushtrees]

im doing dtw but bennies will outdo sterile for sure. Compost tea once a week kills it, and coco works quite well bennies and mycos. might not want to add tea to the res, but a once a week application works wonders

 

[SweetTooth]

Yea tea in the res could get messy in a hurry! I will be running FN bloom no additives and my gut is telling me sterile. I know that the chow mix is just starting to gain popularity but there has to be someone on here recirculating with it?

 

[justsomeguy]

coco mixes generally aren't recirculated because the coco interacts differently with different ions. the runoff coming out is usually a bit different from the what is going in. so even if your res still measures the same ppms after several feedings, chances are it is not the same ratio as you started with. and with dtw, feeding for 20% runoff, you only mix up 20% more solution than your plants eat. with recirc, it's more like double just to keep it balanced. running water once or twice a week saves even more solution.

as for your original question, microbes all the way. microbes can stimulate and protect whereas all sterile solutions do is protect.

 

[SweetTooth]

I know a few growers recirculating coco and there killing it. Run your res at 1.0ec and swing it 5.6-6.2.

No offence justsomeguy but I was looking for experience not opinion

 

[Resinable]

I have run coco/perlite with recirculating nutrients and hit two per. I plan on recirculating with chow mix on my next run. When recirculating it is always nice to have the option to switch to DTW at the first sign of trouble. Also keep the res. extra clean and filter out debris. Mostly have had comparable results running DTW or recirc.
I've run coco/perlite sterile at times and with bennies and teas others. Both work well. Still have not been able to make up my mind if the bennies are really worth the expense and hassle (as always when growing there are so many variables); sterile with DM zone or fatman's bleach is cheap and easy.

 

[SweetTooth]

Cool, thanks for the input man. I think for me that cost and time savings are a big factor so I think I will go the fatman bleach recipe.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

i would go sterile with H2o2 if thats the way you're already leaning...

 

[SweetTooth]

Cool, thanks for the input man. I think for me that cost and time savings are a big factor so I think I will go the fatman bleach recipe.

FYI for anyone thinking of going recirc with coco... I added the Fatmans Bleach to the res at 1ml per 10 gallons and my plants hated me for it! They started twisting up like a ph issue but I recalibrated my meter and all was fine. Stalled them out for a couple days. FUCK!!!! I ordered some caps bennies and will be top feeding tea 1x a week as soon as it arrives.

 

[dankworth]

Coco should be used in a dtw application. Perfect food every time. No exudates. Nothing that lives off of exudates.

Recirculating solutions leads to more problems than dtw. Get your 20% runoff, use bennies, call it good.

 

[Resinable]

SweetTooth: that is odd about fatman's bleach not working for you, could you have made an error when mixing or measuring it? Fatman's recipe as I remember it is to take 100 ml of regular clorox bleach and dilute that into a one gallon jug of water, then on day one add 5 ml of the dilute bleach solution per 1 gallon of reservoir water; thereafter add 2.5 ml of dilute solution per gallon of res. daily to maintain chlorine levels. I've doubled that with no ill effects. I am currently using it and my plants are thriving.

This is the first time I've run a sterile grow in a long time usually I use tons of benes and teas, honestly I don't see much of a difference but the run is only half done so we will see.

Dankworth: I agree that in theory and if you are not carful to keep your plumbing/res clean recirc could be a problem; however, I've run recirc. many times without issue in coco. Currently I am draining to waste because I didn't get the recirc. system on my new room dialed before flipping. When I recirculate I keep my res topped of with fresh water via a float valve and add nuts and adjust ph daily. This way my tank seems to stay "fresh."

When using dry nuts their cost isn't such a big issue but recirculating sure saves a lot of water.

 

[deep buddy]

heres what i do with coco cause it can be a lil bitch i just use root zone mantinence and re innoculatefwiw

 

[SweetTooth]

SweetTooth: that is odd about fatman's bleach not working for you, could you have made an error when mixing or measuring it? Fatman's recipe as I remember it is to take 100 ml of regular clorox bleach and dilute that into a one gallon jug of water, then on day one add 5 ml of the dilute bleach solution per 1 gallon of reservoir water; thereafter add 2.5 ml of dilute solution per gallon of res. daily to maintain chlorine levels. I've doubled that with no ill effects. I am currently using it and my plants are thriving.

From what I gathered from reading through pages of his text you can use clorox strait from the jug at a rate of 5ml per 50 gallons. I'm running a 100 gallon res so I added 10 ml to the res and started noticing problems almost instantly. Could be the strain, I'm running Swerves PK or gaberville purple kush as some people know it. They recovered from the dose and are kicking ass again with no more twisting...