Using Tea to Prevent Brown Algae

[MonsterRobot]

Just wondering if you guys got root discoloration while using the tea to prevent brown algae?

The roots don't have slime on them at all, but I have a few spots where the roots are turning brown... They aren't mushy or anything, just turning brown... The tea is brown, so I could see it staining the roots but I don't know..

Just seeing if this is bad or not...

Thanks,
MonsterRobot

 

[GeneticFreak]

I used it for a short time but I noticed really white roots. It does have a shelf life so it your letting it go too long it may go bad.

 

[crossouttheiis]

I wouldnt use the tea until you are actually having problems. If you they are not mushy or damaged I would just leave it. Try using aquashield before the tea. I would use it as a back up for when things start really going south

 

[dirk d]

you talking about AACT?? if so a properly brewed AACT will help you considerably. donwside is that you need to do 100's of hours of research to brew properly. good luck.

A crappy brewed tea will do nothing for you. a lot of people dont understand that. Also the tea will not discolor your roots, most likely one of your nutrients or some other factor is responsible for the discoloration.

 

[MonsterRobot]

I had the start of slime so I started using the tea... It cleared up the problem so I just continued to use it... It is EWC tea... Not sure if that is the same as AACT... I will do a bit of research when I have time but I think they might be similar based on the fact that one is earthworm tea and one is compost tea... not sure tho...

 

[dirk d]

i like a nice mix of microbes in my tea. i use EWC, Alaskan Humus and some other inputs. basically a bacteria dominant brewed AACT. key is to have plenty of air so the beneficial aerobic bacteria can multiply and the damaging anaerobic bacteria will not survive.

 

[Capulator]

I wouldnt use the tea until you are actually having problems. If you they are not mushy or damaged I would just leave it. Try using aquashield before the tea. I would use it as a back up for when things start really going south

I disagree.

I use a tea at least bi weekly from veg-----> 6th week on a 9 week strain.

One of the key roles tea plays is PREVENTION. You dont want to battle with the beast when it already is shitting on your lawn. Put that fence up before it gets there.

 

[crossouttheiis]

Just by using aquashield or cannazyme on their own I haven't gotten shitty roots unless it was from transplanting. In my case I meant I wouldn't use the tea until something happened...

 

[Capulator]

Just by using aquashield or cannazyme on their own I haven't gotten shitty roots unless it was from transplanting. In my case I meant I wouldn't use the tea until something happened...

I understood. My point is that we can never take enough preventative measures in our grows. No disrespect meant at all. Not to mention lots of good shit in the teas... helping plants activate their own SAR, creating beneficial enzymes, hormones, etc, vitamins, minerals... yadda yadda yadda..

 

[dirk d]

the thing that most people dont understand is that plants form a natural symbiotic relationship with beneficial microbes and fungi in nature.

these microbes help protect the plant and fungi considerably increase the roots ability to search and have access to food. the plant feeds the microbes and fungi and in return they convert nutrients into the best available form for the plant.

withouth this symbiotic relationship a plant can not be healthy and is susceptible to disease and nutrient deficiencies.

 

[PButter]

Sure enough... I got that Brown STD everyone's been talking about. On a whim I decided to take a look at my filters and see what had tried to come through. Other than on the filters you cant really notice any funk, although I'm certain the pipes are nasty now. I guess I was being lax and optimistic about my prevention method(H2O2@1ml/gal). Anyway... I'll give a bacterial based AACT a go and let ya'll know what happens.

BTW How often do you guys check your filters?

PB

 

[MonsterRobot]

I have been cleaning my filter every week or so, but I have been doing change outs about once a week due to the slime and trying not to let any dead microbes build up so I just check and clean it then... I did notice that some slime built up on the filter and I was using the tea so maybe I didn't brew it right...

Thanks for the input guys... After using the tea for a while I did notice that the plants are growing a lot better and the slime isn't on the roots, just the filter, but the slime like stuff I found on the filter might just be where the bacteria chose to colonize since I don't have anything for them to live on except for the roots...

 

[PButter]

Monster, What is your plan going forward? Are you going to continue using tea at lower rates as a preventative or will you go back to whatever product(i forget if you said)?

It seems like a pain to do change outs every week but it also seems like a pain to worry about slime... Just looking to figure out what my plan should be. Seems the community is divided seemingly down the middle; use it throughout, stop once healthy and go back to whatever product...

Also, If doing change outs every week are you using more nutes in this process or does it boil down to about the same amount of nutes?

Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

PB

 

[MonsterRobot]

I have been using more nutes this way for sure... But since I am using half strength and have been used to ebb and flo where I would drain my res once a week anyway it is nothing new really...

I was using zone and h2o2, but that didn't work... Was using zone @ 1ml/gal every 4 days or so and it still didn't keep the slime at bay when used in conjunction with the h2o2...

Dumped my res last night because the slime was mostly gone and I wanted to change up the nutes to GH from Ionic because I wasn't happy with the results that Ionic was giving me and the slime came back overnight... It is either that or root rot...

When I switched things up I tried using Aquashield @5ml/gal (added an additional 5ml/gal today) and Cannazyme @ 5ml/gal (it calls for 9 so today I added an additional 4ml/gal)... I am going to ride with that for the next few days while the tea is brewing and see where things go...

So now I plan on using the tea and am currently brewing up some more... I will probably continue using the tea at least for this run since when I was using it things looked better than they do now...

I will keep you posted tho... This slime is a bitch for sure...

 

[PButter]

Shit.

The slime is a bitch.

I'll let you know how things go down here. My Tea is ready in a few hours and I will promptly have to brew another....

PB

 

[crossouttheiis]

cannazyme doesnt mess with my ph or ppm. I usually run full strength while running it.

 

[woodsmaneh]

If I was growing in dirt I would agree with you on teas ect. but I don't see any need for it with the UC. If it's your style of growing go for it and let us know how it grows. I use Zone and have not had an issue in 16 months, my res also runs at or below 67 all the time which is a key factor for root health.

I was an Organic Snob for 10 years and than switched to the UC and one thing I did was stop letting my old ways influence my new RDWC grow, as soon as I did that, things started to go very well. Just my 2 cents....

 

[nebulius]

Sure enough... I got that Brown STD everyone's been talking about. On a whim I decided to take a look at my filters and see what had tried to come through. Other than on the filters you cant really notice any funk, although I'm certain the pipes are nasty now. I guess I was being lax and optimistic about my prevention method(H2O2@1ml/gal). Anyway... I'll give a bacterial based AACT a go and let ya'll know what happens.

BTW How often do you guys check your filters?

PB

I made this mistake for a few weeks before figuring it out so thought i would pass this on in case you didn't know but mixing H202 with any type of tea will kill all bacteria good and bad, so defeats the purpose of using a tea. When using organic nutes you never want to use h202 (peroxide).
can you post pics of your roots?

 

[PButter]

No worries on mixing H2O2 and tea- I did an RO flush and refilled with just tea so far. I think I am going to just use the tea until root health is back and pony up for some zone.

I have the issue of coming to UC's after growing 'very' organically for awhile so there are definitely some old habits I'm trying to kick.

No. I cannot post pictures at this time as my camera is stuck in 1992.

The plants have been in the UC for ten days and for the first five the roots were growing like crazy then just slowed and stopped. Two days later I checked the filters and found the slime. I did a pretty good cleaning of the system before putting it together but had a breaker trip while I was water testing and I think something took hold then...

Well, its twelve hours into tea and the roots, now for the first time, I have a slight brown slime on them... Hmmm. Hopefully I caught it with the tea just before things got shitty? I don't know.

PB

 

[PButter]

I may just keep doing this tea thing. New roots all over the place @~18hrs

How long did you guys run the tea before things were cleared up for you?

PB