You guys warned me... but I stunted my autos

[Kayjan]

I have two Hulkberry Autos in 5 gallon dwc buckets that are 24 days old and have root rot. I’m trying to kick it, but it’s been at least a week since they’ve shown any kind of growth at all. I know patience is necessary, but we’ve been without for a few months at this point. I have an intensely painful disease that makes sleep impossible without help. I’ve begun falling back on my Oxy, but my doctors won’t renew it this quickly, so a friend told me to try Benedryl. I’m just pissed off and frustrated that I’m going to have to go that route instead of this natural one. It sucks so much. I know a lot of people are probably in the same boat, I’m just venting because of course this grow is a big secret. At this rate, I’ll be happy with literally any amount if these ladies flower at all. I was warned, too late, that autos are a bad starter grow because they’re easy to mess up. My next grow I’ll jump to photos. Ugh. So disappointing.

[dphipps1020]

Even photos can run into root rot easily so don't beat yourself up too bad about it. The main cause I see for that is an environment that's too warm. I've had it on a few myself and it sucks when it happens because it's a 50/50 chance the plant comes back from it usually. You want lots of bubbles, make sure there's no light leaks in the reservoir, and keep temperature 70 or under. Then you'll want to add something to help protect the roots, similar to Hydroguard. I think hydro is probably the hardest to start with because there's so many ways it can go wrong. I started with hydro myself and have since gone to soil because it's way easier. I've even considered trying coco because I hear it's very similar to hydro, but harder to mess up and less chance of root issues. Maybe one day in the near future. I do still have one hydro plant I'm growing right now though. I was doing multiple hydro plants but it was hard for me to keep up with them and my soil plants so I went down to just one. Just keep an eye on your roots and if you start seeing new growth there, then you should be good to continue.

[BakedMoose]

The only time I've been able to fix that was with a worm casting tea. I wouldn't recommend that for a recirculating system though. That's what I use to fight/prevent it.