Ok.
So, as luck would have it my water pump running to a 3x6 flood table had failed damaging my roots extensively.
I knew 50-70% of the roots were dead and were going to rot. The entire root mass was BONE dry and shriveled. Only took 24 hours.
I was running a sterile res with H2O2 up until then but I KNEW that wasn't going to cut it with that much dead organic matter in one flood table.
The scrog net was already down so there was no taking each plant out to clean up the roots.
Luckily I had already ordered Mycogrow Soluble, and picked up some Earth Worm Castings from a local worm farm. Had some molasses so I was ready to brew.
I mixed 3 tablespoons of molasses, one scoop of Mycogrow and some water in a 2 liter bottle and shook it up until all the molasses was disolved and everything was mixed.
I grabbed up a spare aquarium air pump, stone and bucket I had laying around and cleaned everything with bleach, and rinsed VERY well.
Poured the 2 liter in the bucket and added water leaving 2 inches at the top of the bucket for foam.
I put 2 handfulls of Earth Worm Castings in a pantyhose, tied it in with a knot and threw it in the bucket.
Hooked up the pump, put the stone in and let it bubble. After 24 hours it smelled a bit sweet and started to form small bubbles.
at 48 hours it was foamy with a earthy sweet smell.
To get the roots ready I ran a strong H2O2 solution for about 5 hours before draining, and rinsing the entire system.
I then added the whole 5 gallons of tea to my 50 gallon reservoir, and another 5 gallons every 3 days for 2 weeks.
To be honest, I was scared shitless to put the stuff in my res. I've tried using molasses before and it was the only time I had rot.
This was a shared reservoir between two tents also so if it went bad, I had A LOT to lose. Shit got REALLY SERIOUS for a few days, lol.
I never smelled good tea so I wasn't sure if the tea was good, or bad. I just went with it.
The plants with root damage showed deficiencies for the first week, wilted badly and quit growing for a while after the initial shock to the roots which was expected.
The Result
Within 2 days of putting the tea in the reservoir I had new roots growing.
I could see my yield was going to be hurt, but I was going to get through it.
Within a week I had healthier roots than I had before. Not as many roots, but all the roots I had were HEALTHY.
The growth was explosive over the next couple weeks and now almost 30 days later the roots look like nothing ever happened.
The root's in BOTH tents are SUPER HEALTHY and continuing to grow at a crazy rate.
The plants are doing great and only look to be about 1-2 weeks behind the other tent.
I also have NO ALGAE in my reservoir. I don't go all crazy about light leaks into the reservoir so I generally have a small bit that builds up inbetween weekly res cleanings.
My reservoir, pumps, air stones, air lines, water lines and electrical cords that run to the pumps are COMPLETELY clean.
What I learned
Well, I'm never going to run a sterile res again.
I will ALWAYS run Tea from start to finish.
It makes your roots bullet proof. It takes so many things that can go wrong in hydro totally out of the equation.
I don't run perfect res temps. I don't get all crazy about blocking every light leak into my res.
For me it just makes sense.
I can't say enough about about this Tea.
The benefits are rediculous, and I HIGHLY recommend it over a sterile reservoir.
Changed how I will do things from here on out.
Peace.
Tav
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