DWC, 6 week old seedlings, no roots growth, sadness

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
I have 5 plants, diff stains, in 2 gal dwc tubs. I have read every post i can find on root health 2 or 3 times, cos I delt with root slime a few months ago.

I discovered DM root zone back then and found it cured my root slime problem very fast and very thoroughly.

Months later, I have been successfully cloning and growing in my DWC tubs with the dutch master gold line of nutes. I use a light application of DM Zone continuously cos without it the root slime takes over quickly. I found that with the DM Zone, my roots become thick and cord-like, and stay pristine white. I received a bottle of H&G roots excelurator in the mail. My google research suggested this product was hormone based, not microbial, so I decided to try it with the DM Zone. I had 5 seeds from greenhouse that just showed their first roots so I was excited to get them beefed up and on their way.

The result was not only did DM Zone appear to cancel the effects of the excelurator, the combo actually had the effect of killing and stunting my roots. After a week or so I stopped using the roots exc and for a couple days I saw nice root growth...until the root tips grew into the water and started collecting slime. I caught this right away and immediately upped the amount of zone to twice the recommended dosage. I also spray off what little roots are hanging every day with h202. The root slime goes away for a day, then comes back, then goes away... meanwhile the roots are not growing at all. These plants are about 6 weeks now, with only a few roots coming out of the net pots (dollar store plastic cups with lots of holes), inside the pots, the roots are growing and circling around, but they just dont seem to want to grow out and into the water. Meanwhile the canopy on top looks very healthy and is growing, although very slowly. The way they are growing, they appear as if they are root bound.

So now my problem is, DM Zone is not killing off the slime this time, and neither are the traditional treatments, (h202, cold res temps, lots of bubbles, light proof, ect), and no matter how healthy my plants look, the roots avoid growing into the water, and stunt when they do.

I have a bottle of psyhan 20 on the way. Any other advice from experienced DWC growers is appreciated.
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply,


I use iced water bottles which keeps the temps around 68, occasionally as low as 65 and as high as 70. I have a 1 inch air stone, and 5 inch, and a 2 foot flex tube, and a total of 3 6wt air pumps for this one tub alone. Of course I also change and scrub the res and air stones daily while there is slime present.
 

honkeytown

Well-Known Member
clean your system thoroughly and get back on it with the roots excelurator...isnt the best product on the market for no reason
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
clean your system thoroughly and get back on it with the roots excelurator...isnt the best product on the market for no reason
I think its a product that works well for a lot of people, but doesnt fit well with my grow method, which is a sterile DWC.
 

honkeytown

Well-Known Member
are you using ro water? i run a 2 gallon dwc for cloning...never had a problem with roots excel in it
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
are you using ro water? i run a 2 gallon dwc for cloning...never had a problem with roots excel in it
I use my tap water, which comes out at about 7.2ph and 340ppm. I have been using it with success for several months now.

Do you use beneficials? Sterile res? I don't think my problem was roots excel itself, but the fact that I used it with DM root zone, which is a sterilizing conditioner. I have found that for whatever reason, the place I live and the set up I use, I must run a sterile res or else the root slime will take over. I decided to try roots excel because it wasn't suppose to be microbial. The roots excel seems to have triggered a nasty round of the slime, and this time it shrugs off my sterilizing agent. For months DM root zone kept my res smelling great and gave me fat white roots, and just after I started using roots excel things went south. That isn't to say roots excel caused it, could be coincidence. And im not saying it isn't a great product, just not something I can use.

Guess what I was really wondering is do other DWC growers use DM zone and roots excel in the same res with success.
 

honkeytown

Well-Known Member
are u using any kind of ph down with that water? ph is way too high for dwc.... i have never used dm zone with roots excel so i dont have an answer for ya on that one... but i do recommend using ro water...you can fill up a 2 gallon rez for less than 2 dollars :)
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
are u using any kind of ph down with that water? ph is way too high for dwc.... i have never used dm zone with roots excel so i dont have an answer for ya on that one... but i do recommend using ro water...you can fill up a 2 gallon rez for less than 2 dollars :)
ya I use GH PH down
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
Sterilized with physan 20 and now running DM zone at 5ml per gallon. If this doesn't work im going the bennie route with EWC tea and roots excel.
 
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