So I began last week researching and comparing beneficial bacteria. However, like the article on foliar feeding, in order to understand all the potential benefits microbes offer, first we have to talk about how plants eat.

When a plants life begins, it cracks open its shell, and sends it’s first set of leaves called cotyledons out to look for light, and it sends down it’s first root to anchor it into the ground. Although it appears the plant is sending out little straws to look for water, it is the structural role of roots that is important.

A tree mirrors it's roots

A tree mirrors it’s root structure. This is what makes your rooting time so important, in order to maximize yeild, you have to grow alot of roots in a small amount of time.

I am not a fan of big plants. They are inefficient, they compete for light, and anything below the canopy becomes susceptible to mold.

Using small plants is much easier, the pots can touch, so there is no wasted space. However these small plants are limited in their production by the size of their root structure.

When a clone is first placed into a new medium it undergoes transplant shock as it’s roots make a new home. This rooting period is basically all the vegetative time necessary. However, since it is so short, lets discuss some ways to minimize shock, and maximize root growth.

1. Chemical Root Pruning – When a plant is placed in a pot, the first thing it does is find the borders. Roots run straight down, and around the sides of the pot. However this causes the stems to likewise stretch out, increasing the distance between nodes. Certain chemicals, such as SpinOut contain Copper Hydroxide which causes roots to die on contact. By spray coating the inside of your pots with Copper Hydroxide, it sets up a barrier for the roots, so they instead grow denser root balls within the soil. Denser roots mean denser plants.

2. Avoid Transplant Shock – Adapting to a new setting is always tough on a plant. First off, and most importantly, be mindful of the roots. Try not to touch any of them as your finger oils will kill roots on contact, as will too much air, so try to minimize transplanting time. Anytime a rooting plant looks dry, it is ready for more water. Transplant shock will occur anytime you change the plant’s growing media, however the quicker you can get past it the healthier your plant will be in the long run.

3. Feeding – Once the plant is in its new media, water with a small amount of dissolved Sugar and a few drops of a rooting hormone (IAA, IBA, and NAA are readily available in comercial cloning gels and liquids, I personally recommend Dyna’s K-L-N). Also trimming off a few of the lower leaves will signal the plant to begin growing roots to support new growth.

4. Ascophyllum nodosum – Also known as Norwegian Sea Kelp, Ascophyllum nodosum is a form of algae known for its agricultural benefits. It is full of plant hormones, and amino acids that get your baby off to the right start. It helps to stabilize chloroplasts for more efficient sugar production. It also increases amylase production which helps the plant break down its food into useable sugars. Ascophyllum nodosum contains large amounts of cytokinins which are hormones your plant already produces that tell it to stay bushy and node closer together, preparing the plant for a strong flowering phase. It is found in many available products including B-52 (a blend of Norwegian sea kelp and water soluble B-vitamins) and Roots Excelerator (which mixes Norwegian sea kelp with beneficial micro-organisms).

5. Beneficial Bacteria – I think advanced nutrients phrased it the best by calling their blend of beneficial bacteria “Voodoo“. Micro-organisms are all around, and have evolved a symbiotic relationship with plants. They have a multitude of different effects ranging to more efficient feeding to fungicides that keep your root zone safe. I will break it down in a little more detail in my next post, but lets suffice it to say this stuff is great!

6. Pinching – The old school way to grow more roots is to stop upward growth, and let the plant fill in some more. The top of the plant is where most of the growth is happening, if you tell the plant that its top is gone, all the branches around it will fight for dominance. But no one wants to lose a perfectly good top node… Place your forefinger and thumb around the stem right below the top set of new leaves, and squeeze slowly until your feel the xylem pop. When you remove your hand you will see the node fall over limp, it’s ok, it’ll grow back. But in the meantime, the branches below it will shoot up to take it’s place. Make sure to feed it Ascophyllum nodosum during this time, as the cytokinin rush will greatly increase the number of heads that come up to become tops.

This past week has been a mess. I have been running all over the state helping a couple of friends get started. Unfortunately, in my absence, we developed a bit of a mold (fungal?) infestation. All of us were out of town over the weekend, and when we got back our plants were looking a little more yellow than usual. Upon further investigation, the pH and ppm had skyrocketed! When I first saw something slightly furry growing on the circulation pump, I asked a friend who told me not to worry, it was just nutrient residue… He was wrong. The next day when I checked the ppm it had jumped from 1800 (1200 food, 600 hard water) to 2400 (…?!). The pH had jumped tremendously as well from its usual 5.5-6 up to 7.5-8 (using the liquid test kit this is the max range on the bottle… could’ve been higher). It was in the middle of feeding, and with the res level low I could see the pump completely covered in white fuzz. In a knee jerk reaction, i grabbed a bottle of lemon juice, an began to pour it onto the pump. To my amazement, lemon juice killed it on contact, and washed it away clean. This when I realized I was definitely growing something unwelcome.

We originally believed the source of the problem was the clear reservoir. We cleaned everything out with soap, tap water (yum…chlorinated), and an entire bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is used as an antiseptic, it is H202, basically really unstable water, when exposed to air and water, the Oxygen shoots off leaving behind water. How does this kill germs? Imagine feeding rice to a pigeon… it goes in, then pop! (sorry if the metaphor was a little grim, I got nothing against pigeons, really, I just get frustrated when my plants are aren’t healthy)

Once exposed to the peroxide, the white stuff would turn brown and dead, and wash away easily. After we had scrubbed everything as clean as we could, it took abut an hour, we put it all back together, added food and 1.5tsp hydrogen peroxide per gallon, and crossed our fingers.

Two days later… back to ground zero. pH-8 ppm-2500 white chunky stuff floating in my reservoir. I pH the water back with lemon juice, and vinegar. This time it takes a ridiculous amount of acid to return to a safe range (I didn’t measure, but I would say about 5x as much as usual). The next morning we took a trip down to The Home Depot, we figured that since the bottom tub was infected, and the top tub wasn’t, we figured the pathogen was probably really enjoying our 600w sun, and decided to switch to a black reservoir.

Once again, we removed the entire reservoir (pumps, tubes, air stones, et al.), soaked it with dish soap, tap water, and a whole bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide, and scrubbed till our hearts were content, then threw away the clear plastic Petri dish.

With the black reservoir in place, and armed with our new friend hydrogen peroxide, and a couple of fresh lemons, we mixed up a new batch of water for the girls. They got mostly sugar and B vitamins to help them recover, and I took off to hunt down some Revive from Advance Nutrients. I picked up some Revive for a friend, and got to see it in action. He had had a tough week, he underfed his plants, then overcompensated, burned them, and created nutrient lockout. He was flushing when I got there, we added a couple hundred ppm of revive to the water, and mixed up a foliar spray for the particularly sad girls. Over the next half hour we watched as all of the yellow leaves began to return to green. Of course when I need some, its not that easy, the stores around me don’t carry it… I end up adventuring far and wide, and just gave up and crashed at a buddy’s pad.

Two days later… Its Back!!!! Finally, it’s time to consult a professional. It’s been almost a week now, and my girls are still yellow. I took a trip down to the hydro store, I described my symptoms, and how I had attempted to solve it… They were about stumped too. None of the guys there had ever seen a mold matching my description. The roots have no signs of rot or decay, its not spreading into the grow medium, it only lives in my reservoir, it makes my water super alkaline, and it won’t go away!!! Since we are in flower, using a chemical fungicide is out of the question, so the only recommendation they had was to kick it up to some industrial strength H202. Mad Farmer’s Oxygenator is a 35% aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution.

So this time we disassembled the reservoir, took everything into the shower, and poured in half a bottle of bleach and a gallon of water, scrubbed everything, and let it soak for half an hour. When you rinse it out make sure you do so thoroughly, take it into the shower, and rinse it way longer than you think you should… bleach kills living things. Once we put it all back together, I mixed up some fresh water with 1.25tsp/gal of the Oxygenator, and got the pH to 5.6 squeezing in a fresh lemon (note-possible source of contamination: unrefrigerated lemon juice can grow bacteria). Oxygenator is the business, we gave them a short 15min feeding with the water peroxide solution to clean out the root zone (just in case). I took a peak into the top table while they were feeding, and it looked like club soda, every surface was covered in tiny scrubbing bubbles, and the water was remarkably clear. I wish I could post a picture, but it wouldn’t come out.

Hydrogen Peroxide is great for killing bacteria, however it kills beneficial bacteria as well, not just the bad ones. However beneficial bacteria probably would have stopped it from taking hold in the first place. We just bought a reverse osmosis unit from ebay this week. I’ll post an article on setup, and that will open the door to a series on the benefits of using bacteria offensively

Also if we the plants were still vegetating, we could have used a mild dose of commercial fungicide. I have had good results with Physan 20. It is a disinfectant, fungicide, virucide, and algaecide, so the only living thing is the plant. Be careful, too much of this stuff will kill everything! I recommend 1tsp/gal or less, and reapply if necessary.