hmmm.. drip system seems to be my next improvement.. its true. in my previous runs, the hydroton net pots i sprayed with a bottle rooted way quicker, and it was because the rockwool kept drying out.
how do you apply the GW or bennies in general to DWC... do you sprinkle it over the hydroton and rockwool cubes? or do you just straight up mix it in a bottle and top feed?? and in essence, is the colony of bennies forming and colonizing in the rockwool/hydroton net pots? or are they thriving in your reservoir. A LOT of mixed opinions on bennies dying or thriving in the water. and im not a chemist or biology inclined enough to have an opinion.. just kinda relying on the threads and a little trial and error.
So, what ive heard as far as mychs in DWC
* They like a higher pH (5.5-7.5)
* They don't need carbs- they'll only breed when colonized on the roots, and the plant is exuding organic acids. You can't manually breed them without synthetic chemicals. Humic/fulvics i guess also help 'release' organic acids (exudates) from the roots. Not sure why or how tho...
* They go dormant during high-P levels (above 70ppm, some dwc schedules/recipes will push you above that, looking at you Lucas Formula)
* They like an ideal DWC temp- 68-72 F
* Can live in well-oxygenated solutions
* They can live in water culture, but they're very physically delicate and don't like much water motion.
So from that, it seemed to make the most sense to me that inoculate top-down: the the colony at the root crown is far more stable and likely to survive, plus the timed drip will help inoculate from the root crown all the way down the exposed roots. I really don't know what happens in the res at that point... but i have definitely noticed that the exposed roots look really myceliated- a bit fluffy and pasty white.
As far as inoculating- I'll mix up a squirt bottle with distilled water and either a) bennie tea + great white or b) floralicious+ + great white and distilled water, then use it all right away: soak the root balls then poor the rest in the tank.
Using the great white top down also gets me a few other benefits-
* Trichoderma which should hang around at at least the root crown and ward off pyth and other bad fungus. We probably want this at the root ball and grow media the most.
* Endo-mychs: this is the important thing to start with early! These live in the roots and are most likely to be successful. They're also very good at protecting the germ while it develops (fun fact, some plant species can't even germinate their seeds without mychs). I've also read it's much harder to introduce them to plants when they're older and the roots are more developed (to not let in pathogens). Probably no point in adding these to older plants, but it all comes in great white anyways. It really isn't an efficient product lol All these bio life have really different requirements and characteristics...
* Exo-mychs: the root hair ones, probably live to some degree or another in the tank- but probably don't myceliate well. Eventually once you get a root ball/knot/cord of roots they can probably colonize better.
* Bacillus strains: These are probably the only thing that freely float around the rez and keep it clean. They'll just eat any leftover organics floating around before other pathogens do. Some might live in the root ball or crown, but we mainly want these in the rez.
also, after the seeds show me the first set of leaves.. is it better to remove them from the warm environment and give them a cooler space??
not sure when warmth will hinder the root development. trying to be cautious as to not set myself up for root rot.
i didn't have to account for any of this in promix, so now im just trying to cut my days down in terms of getting them to root quicker.
Once they're in a water culture, you really don't want to get much above 72 F. Even if the roots aren't in the solution yet, you're still asking for trouble by breeding a live soup underneath em. Every time you top-water the plants, water with plant organics (exudates, other stuff) will leach into the rez. That said, I've rocked 80 F temps and survived.
Honestly, the kelp+humics+great white inoculant worked amazingly for me this run. 8" root drop (about 10" total), 3 weeks from first 'true set' of leaves. When the kelp breaks down (the great white does this), it releases a bunch of plant hormones that can encourage root development (this is basically what superthrive is), plus it encourages bio-life in the immediate area. If you suspect there's root rot already, don't use kelp/Fplus- this only works because you're providing the food directly with the biolife, plus Trichoderma is really good at blocking root rot. Floralicious+ on its own has definitely given me root rot (as well kelp extract on its own).
And for the water, use dechlorinated tap water, or if you use distilled or RO you need to add something to water- adding straight great white to it will probably kill everything. Water with nothing in it (hypotonic) is really hard on biolife. So make sure to add stuff to the water, add the great white last. I usually just use the F+- it has enough ionic traces to keep things going, but if you don't want to get humics or kelp involved, just use some micro or cal/mag at the recommended strength. It is good to add *some* organics to the inoculant tho- if your plant crowns are clean, the biolife might stay dormant and just wash out of the crown/media/net-pot. Mix the solution really well, room temperature, and let it sit for a few minutes only. Container should start to puff up a bit with released CO2 (biolife eating).
Kelp really is an amazing component here- it's just liquid plant! All of the biolife in great white survives off of some kind of plant waste, so you're getting a big slurry of bio-food, plus organic acids (natural chelators, like fulvics/humics), and hormones! Neat.
EDIT: and don't try to store the inoculant, or keep it out too long. You're not trying to breed anything here (its not compost tea), you're just trying to wake/activate the microbes and start them feeding so they get a running start when they hit the root crown, plus giving them a bit of food to get started. If it sits too long, the fungus will die (and most of the bacillus), and anaerobic microbes will start to move it.
(this is my fool proof way of getting any seeds to pop surface, dont forget to presoak them seeds! 24hrs for me, they shud sink after 3 hours, so give them a poke)