looking to achieve rapid root growth in rdwc

[marihuana]

Hey, does anyone know the best ways to achieve rapid root growth in rdwc? At least some method of stimulation? I'm running 6 plants in a 50 gallon sterile system(tap water and 2ml of 34% h2o2/gallon) under an 8 bulb t-5. I'm basically following cutting edge to a T just cutting it down to a quarter strength to keep my ppms low.
Micro: 6-0-0 2ml/g
Grow: 2-1-6 5ml/g
Bloom: 0-6-5 1.25ml/g
PH is 5.7
Temp 67
Any suggestions? I see other people filling buckets in a month and would like to to :D

 

[mastacheeser]

Are you planning on doing a whole rdwc grow under a t5?

 

[marihuana]

No I have a room they'll be going in with 4k watts

 

[marihuana]

These plants have been in the system for about a week. They were initially planted and very very well rooted in coco and just put the hyroton around them and above in the basket.

 

[angry monkey]

Stop using a t5 is a good start to faster growth. I'm not knocking them at all. Still use them as they serve a purpose in my station rotation, but under a 600w horti blue, or even a regular sylvania 1000w mh is when my growth really explodes.

Also your roots are barely out of the basket, a little soon to be expecting any amount of serious growth. Seems like there isn't a lot of root growth happening if that's a week. I've seen faster root expansion in clay.

And the last thing 67 degrees?!?! Even in the winter at night my temps don't drop that low. Seems like the plant would be far better adjusted to a 5-10 degree jump.

 

[dieseldawg2480]

Sterile system's u could try IBA's for explosive root growth? Changing your light intensity like angry monkey said will make a big difference also.

 

[marihuana]

Lol 67 was for the res. I'm not sure what an IBA is either? I've seen the root growth happen under these t-5s, and I know that's not 100% of the problem. What about maybe running higher p - k? I'd also like to bring up the question of whether or not I should stay sterile. I just went through a veg where I tried to go sterile after the roots were already harmed and the only thing that brought my plants back were a tea (also rdwc).

 

[dieseldawg2480]

Do u have a ec or ppm tester? If so what are your nute levels at? I also run a uc system. I started veging under a t-5's and switched to 1-kw mh that's really made the difference. The nute strength was around 175-200ppm at that size of plants when I made the switch. Forget the IBA indole 3-butyric acid

 

[angry monkey]

I never feed with water below 70 but that's something I do and have no real rhyme or reason. Just what I do. But that's better than the room. Haha. Running a higher pk for what? I recall reading an increase of P like previously believed doesn't promote root growth. An increase of K before the 2-4th week of flower(strain dependent) serves little purpose to a plant, even one in coco. I prefer to stay sterile as I like to control every aspect of my grow and I find teas and organics serve no place in my hydro grows personally. That is more a decision for you from your own experiences. I however may change that stance after this last run. Finding the botanical teas foliars I have been making are helping the hydro plants more than the organics. A taste and yield difference for the better will have to be noticeable in order for me to change that though.

For the record I use dyna gro foliage pro from start to finish and I rarely go over 700ppm with even my heaviest feeders and that's starting with 180ppm tap. I have a bottle of protekt and cal mag. For the few strains the N is too much for I will run the bloom or grow instead. Whichever I have on hand. Nothing else.

 

[marihuana]

Have you ever tried a fresh brewed tea in your res? I think its the Heisenberg recipe that I used on my sickly plants and it worked great. You just have to have fresh tea on hand to redose the plants to get the best results. I'd give it a try but I just always liked being well rounded. And my ppms are just over 300 right around 320

 

[angry monkey]

I have not. Can't imagine leaving a tea in my res as most teas are useless after 1-4 hours and continuous bubbling after can lead to anaerobic bacteria and we usually don't want that. Maybe between res changes, but definitely not something I would circulate beyond a few hours. But that's me. I have seen others do it with success.

 

[marihuana]

Yeah not trying to argue your points at all just trying to get an understanding. How does aeration lead to anaerobic bacteria? The mychorrizae, trichoderma, and bacillus are all microbials that are hardy to most conditions, plus they only die without aeration, constant movement, and a lack of a food supply. I'm not sure but I believe they feed off of bad microbials and attach themselves to your roots living in symbiosis as a protector from pathogens until they run out of food.

 

[marihuana]

The first two pictures are what the tea has done to the roots and the second two are the plants that stayed stunted for two months along with the roots that kept dying on me. The tea worked pretty well but again I keep it freshly brewed and on tap at all times for those plants :). The brown on the roots in the first picture by the way is just stuff from the tea and washes off to reveal pearly white ones!

 

[angry monkey]

Teas will over ferment and that can lead to different bacteria or fermentation to the point alcohol is created. Depending on how long you brew depends on the bacteria you produce. Temp and oxygen levels also factor into this.

These things are food if you brew too long. Bacteria have a love hate relationship in an organic environment.

Sadly not everything works the same for everyone as we all have different environmental factors. If it works for you then continue to do it. But speeding up my roots growth has never been a side effect of teas for me.

Not arguing it doesn't or won't work. But if you took proper care of them to begin with you wouldn't need to be worrying about making a tea. Something is clearly wrong with your environment if you need to keep adding this to your plants to keep the roots healthy.

I would honestly suggest using something along the lines of cannazyme to see if your root health improves. Not really a fan of hygrozyme as it has sludged a res often on me.

 

[marihuana]

Yeah, I had a few problems I caused mostly from being new to rdwc (I used a coco coir soil mix in my hydro system) which put some nasty pathogens into my system. Then I tried to disinfect with physan, h2o2, or pool shock in several different ways trying to go sterile when I had already compromised my environment. The harsh chemicals just never seemed to work, and we're talking I kept going over a few months only to get slimed every time I would get fresh root growth. I think the plants were just to weak to handle the abrasive chemicals causing them to wither every time I would finally get root growth. A bunch of my faults, but the tea definitely helped. Sorry if I sound a little biased I come from a world of fish tanks :P beneficial bacterias are imperative to keeping a fish tank in check so I'm just used to being on their side! I do really want to understand both sides of the spectrums though. Is there any chance you have some material your reading off of for the information you provided on the teas? I'd really like to get a better grasp on whether or not I'm wasting my time on them!

 

[angry monkey]

If the teas have helped you in any way they are not a waste of time. However I feel a better control to not need them is in order. But that is me. I can foresee me continue to use them as a foliar in my system, but not in my res.

As for links, I surf and browse from my phone and rarely bookmark anything. I can offer looking up Capulator's posts on this forum and I am not positive but MicrobeMan. Not sure how much he posts here but he is prominent on other forums. A good book to start with is, Teaming with Microbes but I can't say it truly applies to your situation. More of a how it works and why type of deal for your average soil. I'm sorry I can't offer more insight as I have just started delving further into what and how and why with teas myself. I have been using them and making them a certain way for years only to come online and found what I do works, but wasn't the best way to go about it for the results I wanted.

I've noticed many of us farmers are quite biased in what we do. I bear no ill will and only offer insight as I see it or how things have worked for me. Please never take anything I say as definitive as I find things I have been taught are wrong. I am here to learn and offer what little I do know to be a better farmer myself.

 

[marihuana]

Haha most definitely! Very well said. Now would you think the root ball in coco core may be slowing down the spread of root growth? This is something I didn't really go to much into when I said it. When I rooted these plants I made sure they basically filled a small foam cup with roots in coco. Then I planted the coco underneath the hydrotom, with the hydroton filling the remaining space around it as well. Do you think the already established root ball may be happy just sitting in and growing in the coco, with no real reason to spread? This is something I've never done before so I'm not really sure what to think. You can roughly see the center ring is the coco area and is filled with the original roots.