Saving my new grow

[Brood]

Hi everyone, I started growing for the first time about a month ago with a dwc and clones. my plants have root rot, or I think so with the leaf signs and the brownish roots. The plants are surviving but not thriving. I can't use products like hydro guard because I am in South Africa and I did increase the amount of bubbles in my water and also the air gap. I have a top feed system but only on for 15min every hour to prevent from over watering.
what can I do to help my plants?
I am busy trying hydrogen peroxide but don't really want to seeing it kills the beneficial bacteria.

the nutrients I have been using are these in the link: https://hydroponic.co.za/hydroponics/ehg-nutrient-kit/ they are the best I could find here.

also I did try to go cheap on lighting and got a 50w led but don't think it's sufficient... can it work?

[POKEDSMOT]

Are the roots snotty. Does the reservoir smell? You said brown roots. Could just be stained from the nutrients. Need pictures of the roots. From the pictures it looks like it could be nutes burn. You definitely need more light.

[Brood]

So less nutrients? and would a 250w hps work?

[dontknownuttin]

This is interesting! my DWC roots always looked white and were not clumped together. Roots newt. stained?

[Brood]

So it looks like nutrient burn for you? What about the clumpynes?

[POKEDSMOT]

250w with the LED would be.fine.

Now a few questions.
1. Does your reservoir smell bad.

2. What size is your reservoir in gallons.

3. How many gallons of water are in the reservoir.

4. How much nutrients from each bottle are you adding.

5. What order are you adding them (micro,flora,bloom,?)

To me it looks to be nutes staining of the roots and burn on the leaves. But to be sure I need those questions answered. In the meantime I would drain the reservoir and add pH water.

One other thing post a picture of the leaves under regular light and the root with the top feed system off.

[Brood]

1) No it doesn't smell bad
2)reservoir is 10.57 gallons approximately
3) water in reserviotr about 8.72 gallons
4)nutrients at moment is 7ml in total of each nutrients
5) nutrients added in order: grow. Micro, bloom
My pH is 6
Will post pictures

[Brood]

[POKEDSMOT]

Looks like you do have root rot. Don't panic. Here is the root rot guide. From your set up it looks like you have a lot of light leaks in to the reservoir that need to be addressed, also I would run the top feed system 24/7 as well as your airstones if not already. You can save this grow. Pick a treatment and see it through.

What are the grow room temps and reservoir temps.

[POKEDSMOT]

Since you can't get hydroguard I strongly recommend this.

1. Mix a batch of nutrients with the Trichoderma and Ph it and let it stand for 24 hours in the dark at room temperature. (this allows for the Trich bacteria culture to grow)

2. Fix the light leaks.

3.Disinfect everything with H2o2 and rinse thoroughly with water.( And I mean everything. Top feed manifold and supply lines, water pump, airlines and stones, roots and media, and of course the reservoir tub and lid.

4. Add nutrient mixture and restart system. Monitor reservoir temperate 68*-72* F keep Ph in check.

[Brood]

Thank you very much! I'll try it and will hopefully be able to fix it.

[POKEDSMOT]

Also make sure you have adequate areation. Post pics or video of your bubbles. They should be running 24/7. Also did this happen quickly. If so this will help identify the type of root rot. I'm from what you already stated I have my suspicion on the exact type. It is very important to run the top feed and areation 24/7.

[alltatup]

Hi everyone, I started growing for the first time about a month ago with a dwc and clones. my plants have root rot, or I think so with the leaf signs and the brownish roots. The plants are surviving but not thriving. I can't use products like hydro guard because I am in South Africa and I did increase the amount of bubbles in my water and also the air gap. I have a top feed system but only on for 15min every hour to prevent from over watering.
what can I do to help my plants?
I am busy trying hydrogen peroxide but don't really want to seeing it kills the beneficial bacteria.

the nutrients I have been using are these in the link: https://hydroponic.co.za/hydroponics/ehg-nutrient-kit/ they are the best I could find here.

also I did try to go cheap on lighting and got a 50w led but don't think it's sufficient... can it work?

Hello Brood, and welcome to the forum!! I had a terrible case of root rot about 5 weeks bak (just harvested), and what really worked for me:

1. I had light leaks. I sealed the first, discovered the second, and sealed it.
2. I used GRAPEFRUIT SEED EXTRACT powder (which is famous for keeping algae out of ponds) and it really did the trick.
3. But first I had to take each of my four plants out of the reservoir and spray in kitchen sink to get off all the brown gunk. It worked well; the plants didn't seem to mind at all.
4. Result for me: the algae started around week 4 flower and it definitely stunted the growth of my plants. They turned out very sticky, but much smaller than I had wanted...

[Brood]

Thank you for the advice alltatup.
What do you mean with spray in the kitchen sink? Did you just rinse the roots till it was clean?

[Brood]

I plugged the light leaks and my air pumps have been Going for 24/7 I will adjust top feed as well to 24/7. the root rot happened pretty quick started in the first week and been struggling since with it.

[POKEDSMOT]

What water are you using. Stay away from tap water an especially well water. Use R/O with U/V sterilization or distilled. Your region is known for phytophthora.

[alltatup]

Brood
A couple of pics below: that wasn't even the roots at their worst, but they kept looking good on top! Here's what I did: First I did the H2O2 2 days--which I wouldn't do again, because the H2O2 is all gone within 24 hours, so what good is 2-3 days of that? Algae came right back after H2O2. I had added Hydroguard, but I think the algae was just too abundant by that time for the Hydroguard to overwhelm it. More like the algae overwhelmed the Hydroguard.

That's when I took them out, and sprayed and sprayed with kitchen sink sprayer. The amount of brown gunk that came off was amazing, but the roots looked pretty good underneath, so they had not suffocated!!! I even got in there with my fingers, separating and gently shaking the roots, to remove as much crap as I could. Then I put all plants back in reservoir with pH balanced water, nutes and around 3 tsp of pure GSE powder for a 5 gallon reservoir. I had no more root problems after that. I did a lot of research on GSE, which I know is a great fungicide and bacteria killer. I won't ever mess with the H2O2 again for root rot: I will use it to sterlize equipment, though.

[Brood]

Would the grape fruit seed extract work in capsule form? Can't find the powder here?

[alltatup]

I would imagine so. I ordered a bag on amazon... I can never find anything where I live.

[Brood]

I have been using tap water but I am trying to organize clean water.

[alltatup]

I looked up phytophthora and this mold is found in irrigation water--not tap water. Where I live, my tap water is quite soft, and I've had no problems using it for my hydro system. If you have very hard water--lots of minerals etc. in it--you might want to look for an alternative...

[Brood]

So I am looking at new lights and led of 250w is to expensive for me I can get a hps setup for cheaper Wil be able to run 250-400w, that should be the right amount of light right?