Root/Leaf problems

[DarthHerbage]

What type of medium; soil or hydro? Hydro, DWC/Bubbleponics

Indoors or outdoors? Indoors
What strain? Dutch Passion Strawberry Cough Feminized
How old are the plants? maybe 2-3 weeks from germ
What type of lights and how many watts? T5, 234watt
How far from the lights? 6 inches, dunno (it's not too hot)
What, how much and when was it fed? A little Lucas formula (GH micro and bloom)
What is the medium/runoff pH? 5.65
What are the temps and humidity in the room? 83F under the light, 75F relative, Humidity 25
Any other pertinent info? PPM 450, Water temp 75F

15 gallon homemade DWC/bubbleponics set up with water pump pumping water to rockwool cubes in netpots surrounded by hydroton. GH 4 hose air pump powering 4 oxystone airstones

Story:

I had to go out of town for a few days, and I came home to brown spotting on the leaves, those same leaves turning crispy, and browning roots.

Not sure what the problem is.

Water looks clear. No smells. Rockwool is pretty wet but not falling apart.

Possible suspects:

-Looks like the lids on the netpots let some light through and the cups are so small that the hydroton can't block it all... I'm going to figure out something to keep the light out

-Water temperature. Despite keeping the ambient temperature at around 75 in the room and 83 under the lights, the water temperature has been hovering around 74-75F for the duration of the grow. I have no idea what to do about this at this time.

-The water pump has been pumping water to the cubes nonstop. Perhaps oversaturation of the cubes? I mean, the roots can't get too much water can they? (as long as there is enough oxygen in it)


Not sure what else could be causing the problem. I will consult the sick plants threads in a bit, but I wanted to go ahead and post this in the hope that someone would have some ideas.


I'm not sure what's wrong, but when roots start turning brown I start to worry.

I'm considering putting the UV sterilizer back in there.

I'm also considering just throwing these out and starting over.

Looking at the roots, you can see that the main roots have turned brown but the newer younger roots are unaffected. Looking at the leaves, you can see it starts on the bottom/older leaves first, and is now starting on the tips of the newer leaves.

I looked through the sick plants threads w/pics and what not, and the only thing that looked similar was a phosphorus deficiency...(no idea)

Other than that, the roots definitely appear to be heading towards root rot.


Plant 1:

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Close up of bad leaf:

1.JPG

Close up of Plant 2 leaves:

2.JPG

Plant 1 roots:

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Plant 2 roots:

4.jpg

Close up of Plant 1 roots:

5.JPG

Here's what they look like without the lids on:

6.jpg

7.jpg



Anyhow, any help/advice/suggestions are appreciated.

[maverick69can]

In my opinon....on my first grow I had the same problem!

I say ditch the pump system, fill the res to within 1-2 inches of the bottom of the net pot and get a backup air pump that runs all the time with your other one. As you start flowering reduce your res levels to 4-5 inches as your roots can take more oxygen in (needed for flowering) from the ambient air than the air you pump into the water....unless of course you go over kill on the air stones and pumps then maybe...who knows could be an experiment right there

But those small steps worked great for me, try a little hydrogen peroxide to clear up the root rot you have now and you should be clear sailing.

Also is your res also covered with foil tape?? Notice any algae in your res? And how are you measuring your res temp?? Digital probe?

[DarthHerbage]

Originally Posted by maverick69can

In my opinon....on my first grow I had the same problem!

I say ditch the pump system, fill the res to within 1-2 inches of the bottom of the net pot and get a backup air pump that runs all the time with your other one. As you start flowering reduce your res levels to 4-5 inches as your roots can take more oxygen in (needed for flowering) from the ambient air than the air you pump into the water....unless of course you go over kill on the air stones and pumps then maybe...who knows could be an experiment right there

But those small steps worked great for me, try a little hydrogen peroxide to clear up the root rot you have now and you should be clear sailing.

Also is your res also covered with foil tape?? Notice any algae in your res? And how are you measuring your res temp?? Digital probe?

Well, I've been soliciting opinions in my grow journal as well, and I think you're about the 5th or 6th person to say there is absolutely no need for the water pump or hoses once the roots hit the water. So, I turned it off last night and will take it out of the res sometime soon. Only problem I see is that at least one of the roots is wrapped around a hose, but it shouldn't be a problem.

I've already got the water level about an inch or two under the cups. That's where I like to keep it. I have another air pump I'm not using at the moment but I'd have to drill some holes for it and then rip everything back out once I start flowering, because it's the pump I was going to use for my veg chamber (I'm trying to have 2 separate cycles going at all times, 1 flowering, 1 vegging).

I thought that one GH 4 outlet air pump with 4 oxystones would be enough air. Are you thinking it's not enough?

Instead of H202, I put some SM90 in the res. It's supposed to be really good at killing root rot, so I thought I'd give it a try. I also have a Sunleaves UV Sterilizer which is for the same purpose, but I'm having trouble getting the tubing for it to stick right. As soon as I get it together I'm going to throw it in there in place of one of the airstones. It is supposed to kill any bacteria in the res.

The reservoir is covered with 2 layers of duct tape and then 1 layer of aluminum foil tape. No algae in the reservoir. It's clear and smells fine. I'm testing the water temperature with my Hanna combo meter. It does PH, PPM, EC, and temperature.

After adding back water last night and getting some more cool air into the room the water temperature dropped to about 69-70F.

Thanks for the suggestions, man. +rep

[maverick69can]

Glad to hear your ditching the pump, you should notice a minimum 5 - 6 degree F change in the water temp. I find the pump works well for soaking the rockwool cubes while germinating.. but once the roots touch the water it is not necessary. Also the air bubbles exploding should be enough to keep the bottom of your rockwool cube moist.

Thought maybe you were measuring temps with a laser gun or something and might have been getting a low surface reading. 75F is a little high but wont cause damage over the short term. 66 - 70 F is ideal!

As for the second air pump, I recommend it simply because if your skookum super duper 4 port pump fails and you dont check on it for a while you will have serious root rot problems.....or death of the plant!

Anyway....good luck...hoping you should see some positive change within the next day or two!

[DarthHerbage]

I'm going to check my set up every night, so hopefully I'll be able to catch any pump failure before it kills my girls.

Thanks again for the help, mane.