Grasscity - Cyber Week Sale - up to 50% Discount

Possible root rot in aero/DWC

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by johnnyoutlaw, May 19, 2010.

  1. Has anyone had to deal with this lately? I think part of the roots on a few of my plants have root rot but I'm not sure. Can anyone tell me what it looks like? And if present, what to do to keep the plants healthy. Thanks!
     
  2. dark brown or black roots
     
  3. If it is root rot, the roots will be slimy and smell terrible. They'll look something like this

    [​IMG]

    **keep in mind that nutes can make the roots look a tan /brown color and their can be some hydroton dust on them if that's the grow medium you're using**

    You can add some H2O2 to the res, and/or cut the rotting roots if needed. Cutting the roots will stunt them a bit, but it's better then losing the plants IMO ;)

    What are ur res temps?
    What kind of circulation do you have in the res?

    Good luck! :smoke:
    Doin'
     
  4. "**keep in mind that nutes can make the roots look a tan /brown color and their can be some hydroton dust on them if that's the grow medium you're using**"

    i was wondering if this is brown/tan color is a problem. I have just started my first dwc system and have some slightly yellowing leafs, but i think they needed more nutrients.
     

  5. If the tannish-brown color on the roots is from nutes and/or hydroton dust, it's NOT a problem IMO.

    Slightly yellowing leaves could be that they need more nutes, or ph could be off. How old are they?

    do you have a journal? or have you posted pics?
     
  6. Thanks for your input..........I have figured out that it's algae on the roots. They were a dark color stained from the nutes (just part of the roots though) and were a little slimy. Well, the algae was also stained from the nutes. Roots dark and slimy? Root rot! No, thank goodness. My res temps stay at a steady 74 degrees. Circulation is aero sprayers, dual air pump/w stones and there's also a fogger in there. I didn't light proof my tub/res before I started so hence the algae. I have transfered the plants into Bubble Buckets on 12/12, thoroughly cleaned all the veg equip. with bleach/h20 and have now light proofed my res for the next go round.
     
  7. bio-films are a build up of beneficial microorganisms, like bacteria, and fungi (as long as u have plenty of aeration in the water they will be beneficial). and not enough beneficial predators like protozoa and nematodes to eat them. u can clean it off with h2o2 and use products like dripclean, but if it keeps coming back get some nematodes from ur local hydro store
     
  8. The information that you've posted is conflicting, IMO. You state that bio-films (which includes algae) are beneficial and then you say to clean it off and take further measures if it keeps coming back. :confused:

    a bio-film, such as algae is not beneficial in a hydro set up. The algae consumes the vital nutrients intended for the plant, thus shorting the plants food supply (amongst other things). Algae is a lose - lose situation in a hydro set up regardless of aeration.

    If it were beneficial, hydro growers would not bother to light proof buckets/res to keep algae at bay. :smoke:
     
  9. I added 7 oz of H202 to each of my 4 bucket set ups. (14 gal of H20 nute solution ea.-approx. 1/2 oz per gal) The plants seem to be doing well. They grew from 1 to 2 inches in 2 days. No signs of anything wrong at this point. Again, a little bit of algae (which I thought might have root rot when I first saw it) was on some of the roots on a few plants. Hopefully the H202 will help and the algae will die do to no light.
     

  10. Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that your plants are doing well!

    the H2O2 and no light should do the trick. Keep us posted :smoke:
     
  11. #11 janemba, May 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: May 21, 2010
    algae and bio films are distinctive... u can tell the difference if it looks like slim its a bio film, if it looks like u have little colonies of plants growing in ur rez its algae, i was telling him what to do if its a bio film, because he said slim on his roots, not little tiny plants growing all over his rez, and the amount of h2o2 u need to kill a bio film, will not kill algae (the amount that will kill aglae, will also harm ur roots), if ur doing DWC it should be dark in there so algae would not grow, this is why i said bio-film. dont be quik to try and discredit me
     

  12. Algae IS technically a bio film. Algae is green, slimy build up on the walls of ur res when present and doesn't tend to look like a colony of plants from what I've seen. Although it may look like that under a microscope, or if let go too long, I haven't seen it.

    H2O2, was suggested to clean the roots because they were a tanish-brown color, and possibly dealing with root rot. It was NOT suggested to kill algae.

    I've seen you giving lots of advice - I'll admit some of it was good advice, but there's been bad info given as well.

    I've given advice based on personal experience from the grows that I've been involved in over the past 5 years, as well as grows of my own. You have yet to produce pictures of an mj plant and show that you know anything about growing first hand - yes, I've seen your thread.

    I'm not going to argue with you, but I will continue to follow up behind you where I see that you've given advice that's not helpful and going to cause the growers here more stress over their gardens then what they already have when there are issues.

    Hey OP, I apologize for hijacking your thread :smoke:
     
  13. #13 janemba, May 21, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: May 21, 2010
    algae and bio films are not the same thing, algae are plants, and produce energy from light.
    bio-films are a collection of micro organisms, such as bacteria... and if u want some pix ill send u some play girl...
    ive seen ur info too u do know a thing or two

    u said bad advice... what bad advice
     
  14. i'd like to jump in here if i may being that it's along the same lines. im having a problem with what i thought was root rot too.but im starting to think other wise.first i moved to a place that has a well with no filter at all.turn on the tap and you can see dirt and so on in the water.so i went and bought a sediment filter.i put it on the spout that i draw water from.anyways at the same time i moved in i also bought some clones to get a jump start on a grow instead of seed.every one of my clones started dying off.then i would notice this build up around the edge of my buckets"i have pics".

    i thought at first it was the dead root matter that was breaking off then becoming mush."my rez's are light tight for sure btw".i felt it and it was not slimy maybe right when you touch it but then feels like mush.i dumped everything out and at the bottom was this clear stuff with a lightish brown tent to it.

    so then i setup a new system and ran 1 bucket with just the filter water with no nutes nothing dwc style.then another setup with 1/4 nutes as i was going to start sum cuttings i had.i did'nt put anything in either rez 2 days later the one rez with light nute dose started the same thing this build up of what i thought b4 to be dead rotted roots.the bucket with no nutes just water and an air stone has been going for almost 2 weeks now and it's still clean no build up of anything. back to the roots i had b4 they did'nt have a bad smell they smelled like organic type roots with and earthy smell to them but not rot.

    i had a big plant going that went limp on me i cut it down and broke the root ball open to see cause the outside roots looked really good.there was rot in the middle with also this white fuzz.i think what happened was the root ball was so big whatever this is thats going on cut off oxygen in the middle and looked to be root rot but i don't think it is i think whatever this is in the water is causing this? maybe to much of a mineral? maybe when i add nutes this causes a reaction?

    reason i say this is because the the rez with just the nutes with no plants is doing the very same thing the water becomes murky alomst like a muddy river look with this build up around the sides and builds up a foam on top of the water.

    i also would like to ad that i have been taking alil water from the filter side and putting it in the cap of my ph pen.i change out the water every nite. so i went in last nite to test ph and took the cap off and smelled the water in the cap just to see if i could smell anything off and it has this kindda shit type of smell.now i know the diffrence between sulfer and this and it is far from the same smell.im from fla so i know the smell of sulfer.but up here where i am now 10k feet it is not the same.

    also lmao as if that was'nt enough i have been dosing with h2o2 to keep things from getting worse.my ?? first b4 i go into that is can root rot feed.grow on just water?i know it sounds like a silly ?? but thats the only way i could see it being root rot because of the rez with no roots doing the same thing??

    ok back to the h2o2 i took all air stones out of each bucket and put them in the sink and topped it off with h2o2.right away now only did it start to bubble alot it also started smoking as in smoke being released into the air.like it was about to catch fire lmao. smoke/vape.

    then i took alil of the roots and cut them off the bad parts and poured the h2o2 right on them and it was even worse the smoke vape.like a cloud of it lmao no lie.

    so i hope im giving enough clues here to be of some use trying to fig all this out.

    opps also i keep ph between 5.8 to 6.2 and there has been big ph swings going up not down.i ph to 6.0 the next day it will be 6.7 or so.that leads me to believe some type of bacteria??

    anyways i have a ro on the way that should be here tomarrow.it's a 5 stage with a 1 stage di system.im really hoping it's something the ro will take care of.any input here would be great.
     
  15. opps pics

    the bucket you see is the one that had no plants in it yet.what you see here is around 2 to 3 days of the air stone and this is what i get???
     

    Attached Files:

  16. where is ur water coming from? well? municipality? what are u adding?
     
  17. well water.all i have added was some st,micro,grow ,,a/n nutes.
     
  18. Well water presents a diverse set of challenges to over come in hydroponic gardens. Expect different veins and deposits within the earth to leach into groundwater, creating a very large range of possible outcomes to occur within your reservoir. Heavy metal or scale deposits can cause your nutrients to fall out of solution resulting in dramatic shifts in reservoir health. More malevolent elements like boron can wreak total havoc and be costly to correct.

    Is there any distinct smell?
    How do the home water fixtures look? Green, black, red or blue discoloring?
    PPM or TDS reading from water source?
    When was the last well water analysis? if so, specs?

    This information will help me better recommend the correct solution. I rely on over a decade of actual professional hands on water treatment experience.

    If none or partial of this information can be gathered I would recommend finding a water testing kit or facility to assist you. Until that time switch to bottled water. Hopefully you will be able to off set the cost with a beautiful harvest.

    ~cheers
     

  19. right off i don't smell anything,but as i said in my post above i put water in the cap of my ph pen to keep the probe good and every day when i go to change out the cap full of water it smells nasty like shit or something def not sulfer.so right out of the tap no smell but about 8 hours sitting in the cap yes.

    i will post a pic of what the water leaves behind.also i talked to someone that lives about 4 miles away and they say there is alot of problems with water up here. they had problems with heavy copper. this was an old mining area too back in the day.

    my tds was 350 to 400 and with the cheap filter it brings it down to around 220 to 250.

    i just moved here and the land lorads was like we have lived here for 8 years with this water with no problems.but they did say they used bottled water to cook and drink with.

    so im guessing they have not had it done in a long time.:eek:

    i was going to have it tested but for one there is so many tests out there and they cost alot of money. a basic test cost 150 for a basic hardness/ mineral type test.i know i have hard water. but everything else is a per test for that 1 item type of thing.so if i don't know what it could be i could see spending alot for tests.the ro system will be here tomarrow so i hope that will be that.it will bring it down to 0 tds.so i guess a ?? would be could anything get past the ro and also be under 0 tds?
     

    Attached Files:

  20. looks like everyone is as stumped as i am?:wave:
     

Share This Page