Im geeky myself, and did a boatload of research as well. Sometimes it can be a bad thing if you take advice without knowingg the reasons behind the advice. I think your problem with losing your trichoderma would have been avoided had you added your own afterwards, but that's neither here nor there.
I really don't think beneficials are as overwhelming as people act. In fact, I would reccomend all beginners to use beneficial teas in both coco and dwc. The health of your plant is dependant on your root system, and the main advantage soil has over hydro is complex microbiology. So why not add your own?
Bacillus and trichoderma give a new growing ALOT of cushion to make mistakes. With a healthy rhizosphere the plant will be invincible. You could feed it 2000 ppm s and it would barely burn it. I know because I have tried it on a guinea pig plant myself.
If anything, I think beneficial may be even more important to a new grower than an experienced one. It is a huge safety net.
Even in DWC I would reccomend weekly applications of bennie teas as long as you change / clean your res every week or so.
Liquid Composte + ZHO + Wormshit + Molasses. Bubble it for a day or two, and that's it. You don't need to know the complexities on the micro level at all, and its very difficult to 'over do it', and it only costs pennies per dose. I had a pythium outbreak on my first grow, and beficials saved me. It is a great treatment, but an even better preventative measure... and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say.
Thats all Skatter, apart from that I totally agree with you!!
