I think I may have stumbled upon something.. my plants are growing an aggressive mold, but the mold seems to be very beneficial to the root system. I've been trying to find similar stories online with no luck so far. Am I crazy? I'm a first time grower so I'm a little unsure and looking for some cofirmation that this could be a viable strategy/ should I let it ride or change out the reservoir again? I've been using hydroguard throughout the grow so I'm aware use of beneficial bacteria, which gives me confidence it might actually work. the mold seems to work in a similar way, except that it has colonized the whole bottom of the net pot as well as the surface of the solution, where the roots rise up to meet the fluffy white film that has formed. I attached pics of mold and a shot of the buds to show that the plant is healthy and flowering fine so far. The roots are healthy and full and the solution is clean and clear. please let me know if you have any insights or advice. thanks
Man that is pretty scary looking to me . What has been the perceived benefit? Have you introduced anything besides Hydroguard? Best case scenario would be that it turns out to be harmless to the plant and possibly out compete any bad bacteria that may be present (root rot). The benefits that beneficial fungus like some of the mycorrhizae products give are things like drought resistant and help with breaking down organic sources of Phosphorus stuff we just don't need in hydro. Also in these symbiotic relationships there is a give and take and if we don't need what they give then they're only taking. Up to 30% of the energy created from photosynthesis by some accounts. So with all that considered I would be looking for a bottle of 35% H202.
thanks for your advice! yea I was trying to troubleshoot the possible issues with beneficial fungus and it seems like if there is a particular nutrient or compound the mold produces that the plant doesn't consume, could lead to a build up in the bucket, could throw off the ph over time leading to nutrient lock-out. Maybe a CO2 build up as well? My plan for now is to monitor the ph, ppm, and any other metric I can and for now just make sure the levels stay stable. I'm too curious, I need to know if this is for real. To give some extra context, this process started midway through veg when I encountered some root rot. I was fighting it for weeks, constantly changing out the water and rinsing the roots in the sink. more and more hydroguard but it kept coming back. finally I tried neem oil because I heard it was a fungicide, mixed a couple tablespoons in the solution. This worked great, except for the dead roots floating in the solution which had to be changed yet again. But after a few days, a mold (white fluffy mold in pic) would start to form around the basket just above the water line. I instinctively rinsed them out again, wiped the visible mold off with alcohol etc. and changed the water AGAIN. after a few weeks of this process repeating itself, I ran into a busy week where I just didn't have time to change them or even check. When I came back a few days later, my biggest plant had a ton of mold growing in the reservoir which freaked me out, but when I looked at the roots they seemed healthier than they ever had been.