My DWC disaster

Neme · May 1, 2017

I wanted to try hydroponic growing since I was child. Finally, few moths ago I started my first DWC system. It was going pretty well I would say till one day. I had 2 days electricity blackout and the nutrient solution did not get aerated. The next day the air pump started working again and leaves of the pepper plants were little bit odd but I didn't pay an attention to it. Evening of the same day my plants looked totally dried and damaged.

When I checked the nutrient solution I got frightened. The roots were slimy and moldy (see pictures). Whole my box got moldy and disgusting as hell. I started washing it all with hydrogen peroxide and it seems better now, no plant died yet but some are very close to it. Now I will see what will happen.

Altho I'm not sure why this happened I guess my advice for others is to ensure the proper aeration.

moruga welder · May 1, 2017

AND NEVER GIVE UP !

Mr.CtChilihead · May 1, 2017

Sorry for your power outage...But welcome aboard..

willard3 · May 2, 2017

Looks like slime mold, a feature of municipal water systems with old pipes.

Neme · May 2, 2017

Thank you, if anyone have advice for me I would be really grateful.

Now, several days after the accident, some plants look like they got over the mold. To few others, the mold is coming back again and again. I will probably try more concentrated hydrogen peroxide if I won't find something better.

willard3 · May 3, 2017

The slime mold is in your water supply. You will need a continuing regimen of hydrogen peroxide to control it.

Neme · May 7, 2017

Update: I'm still trying to save the plants, but one has already died and it's not looking good for the others either. I used ton of hydrogen peroxide but that mold is always coming back. Now I'm probably going to try copper based fungicide.

willard3 said:
The slime mold is in your water supply. You will need a continuing regimen of hydrogen peroxide to control it.

Well, I'll try using rainwater. Thank you for the tip.

solid7 · May 7, 2017

If you're doing hydroponics, you should start with RO water, for exactly reasons like this. If you don't start with a neutral base, you have lost the benefit of doing hydroponics - which is to have control over all of the parameters of the process.

mrgrowguy · May 9, 2017

I've run more than a few different versions of hydroponics in my time and I have come across this before, too. In my situation, when the air stopped pumping into the water because I punctured the line and didn't notice for two days, the roots started to rot, releasing material into the water as they decomposed. This resulted in two things: one, a brown nasty slime looking mold, and two, a huge PH swing. Both mold and ph swings were able to be controlled with close watch, but it's really just too much work. The problem was the lack of aeration, the result was decaying root matter which caused a chain reaction of other problems.

PS: I have also grown hydro outdoors with nothing but hose water and GH Floranova (literally), and the plants lived for two very healthy years without any problems. So I do think that good, clean water is important for the grower that wants 100% control, but hose water (I get sludge in my house pipes, so I know it's present) worked perfectly fine for me for years, and I enjoyed great production and fruit flavor without any sludge building on the roots, ever. (not to go against Solid7's advice specifically, he is a very talented grower and knows his sh*t, this is just what I have experienced)

PPS: I have also used many different types of water, RO is my preferred, but find that if you don't worry about the particulars and just enjoy growing plants in general, hose water works just fine. I actually prefer using tap water for my bubble cloner because the city's additives (chlorine and chorlamine) actually protect against some molds as well as offer a very small mineral supply (calcium mostly). I tried RO and tap in my cloner side-by-side and find the tap actually had better results.

PPSS: try not to use PH down - the GH stuff is basically an algae magnet/factory. I get grey algae in my bubble cloner everytime I used it in the past. My tap is about 7.5 or so and I just leave it be. I get about 95% success rates.

Disclaimer: everyone's tap is different depending on location

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