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Root Rot!? Please help!

U

Urbanfarmer

New member
I have grown in soil but this is my first time growing in a DWC bubble bucket. I am very detailed oriented, did a lot of research, and can't figure out what's going on. I ran into what I am pretty sure is a root rot problem, then I took some pretty extreme measures to resolve it, all was good for a week or so then the problem came back. Any help with this would be very helpful!

OLD PROBLEM: I believe was root rot. Gross slim started growing on my airstones so I am pretty sure the problem was root rot. Please let me know if you agree.

img_5056-jpg.4548487

img_5053-jpg.4548489


SOLUTION: I did everything under the sun to stop the root rod (H202, Hydroguard, Enzyme Komplete, trimming infected roots) but nothing worked so I went to the extreme measure of cutting the roots all the way to the rooter plug.
img_5080-jpg.4548499


RESULT: I then cleaned the hell out of my equipment, nets, buckets, airstones, and airlines in bleach for 24 hours, then H2O2 for 24 hours, then rinsed in RO water for another 24 hours. I also bought new hydroton, double sealed all points where light could get in (even put my cellphone on video and put into the bucket to ensure no light was peaking through), and switched to RO water. I then manually top fed the plant till the roots were poking an inch or so out of the net pot. In a week the root mass exploded from the pic in the plug above to this below, and looked extremely healthy.
img_5270-jpg.4548504

NEW PROBLEM: I thought all was good so I put my nutrient solution into my bucket and filled until it was 1.5 inches from the bottom of the net pot. The next day I checked on my roots and saw the below. Am I going crazy, or is this root rot again!? Or is it just Nutes staining my roots? There is dark brown matter on my roots that I did not see with my first root problem at the top of my post. Please help!
img_5290-jpg.4548516

img_5291-jpg.4548518

From what I can tell the top of the plant appears to be healthy:
img_5297-jpg.4548524


PLEASE HELP! I really appreciate your feedback!

MY SETUP:
Air Temp: 75-80F day, 70F at night
RESERVOIR Temp: 68-70F (I have insulation around my bucket to keep it cool)
Humidity: 25-50%, this is low but I live in CO and is hard to keep above 35% even with a humidifier
Nutes: General Hydroponic main trio, Cal Mag, Hydroguard, Superthrive (I've heard GH Micro can stain)
Air Stones: I have 2 air stones on full blast pumping from two different air pumps (in case one breaks)
Air Temp near air pump: 70F
NOT LIGHT IS GETTING IN THE BUCKET, I even checked using my cell to take a video from inside.
 
Looks like your doing many things right but.. none of the pictures showed up.
when I did hydro, my reservoir temp never made it to 65 but I had isolated heat generating pumps and air pump outside of that room even though your not too high. Maybe the pictures show a more complete story?
how many gallons is your reservoir?
what is your changing frequency on the reservoir...weekly? 10 days? 2 weeks?
i assume your nutes are fresh and new
what is the ppm of the starting water or tds before adding nutes
are you mixing individually
I only used Hydroguard and it must have worked well, my roots were near pure white
what lights are you using ?
Just grasping at straws but maybe one would stick
 
Just out of curiosity, you didn't mention nutrient strength. How much are you using? Sometimes too much can cause weird bacteria and algae to grow. If you're using the correct amount, you may try upping your Hydroguard a little more. Like Farmall said, roots should be pretty close to white. Hope you get it figured out.
 
I think its the water temp. I can't upload my nute schedule onto this website which is annoying. but General Hydroponics Trio 2.5ml per gallon of each and some cal mag and hydroguard (3-4ml per gallon)
 
Howdy Urbanfarmer, Keeping the water temperatures between 61°F and 70°F, the water well aerated , and blocking out ALL light leaks will help to keep the root rot down. The use of hydrogen peroxide with any of the 'organic' beneficial bacteria will render them useless as the H2O2 will kill them off as well as the rot. I have found that the smallest light leak will cause the root rot to bloom, I even cover over the tops of the net pot and clay pebbles with aluminum foil to block out the light.
Good luck with Your problem.
 
i just made a post about this, you may have pythium, dont know if thrichoderma harzianum can be used in reservoirs but do some research i think it might work
 
Unfortunately a chiller in my case would be impractical. I don't have a RDWC system and I don't really have the space for a chiller. I do agree I think the temp has something to do with my problems. I am first going to experiment with the temp in my apt, lowering it to see if these resolves the issue.
 
Urbanfarmer If you can keep the room at 70 during flower, the reservoir should be fine. That's the challenge though, I can't afford to keep my whole darn house at 70 degrees.
 
My water temps are 67-70, each 5 gal bucket is heavily aerated with 2 airstones each. I double sealed for all possible light exposure and also checked for air leaks using my phone to video record the inside of the bucket to ensure no light leakage. I only use the H2O2 as a simi last ditch effort to kill the rot, I do not use hydroguard with the H2O2 because the H2O2 will kill it, so I use Enzyme Komplete with the H2O2 because they are compatible.
 
Thanks 9fingerleafs! Can you provide more information on the treatment? How much to mix with water, how long to soak in the solution? Any brand of thrichoderma harzianum you recommend?
 
Weird I think my water is warmer and I'm not having issues lately (not since I started using Hydroguard). I tend to neglect them a bit so maybe I'm not the best for advice lol they are healthy and happy though so I guess I'm doing something right. Just an add-on, I use 2 tsp for each 5 gal bucket of water with that and CalMag and with the GH trio I do 1.5 tsp increments depending on the stage (Micro 3 tsp, grow 4.5, bloom 1.5 for example in veg) for each 5 gallon bucket.
 
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I have a Nest Air Conditioning system in my apartment and can time everything with my lights. When my lights are on, my tent is about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of my apartment. So I am thinking of jacking down my apt temp to 65 so the temp in the tent is around 75 (air pumps are on the outside of my tent, so the water temp should be around 65-67 degrees with lights on). Then when the lights are off, Ill have my apt temp set at 69 degrees so the tent is about 69 degrees and the water temp should stay around 65-67 degrees. This might work. I live in a one bedroom so I dont have much space and have to grow in my closet. If I had a house I would have my grow tent in a small room with a window ac unit.
 
interesting... how many gallons of water do you usually have in your bucket? I have mine currently at a little more than 3 gals in my 5 gallon bucket. That gets the water level to 1.5 inches below the bottom of my net.
 
Why not just try 1 bottle of frozen spring water.... keep one in the reservoir and 1 in the freezer. Every day when you check your plants, rotate them... if it is high temp, you knock a few degrees off and your average is still lower
 
well, 2 grams per liter is the usual dose, once a week, but for a heavy dose i used 5 grams per liter, i only did this once, i grow in coco so i kept giving 2 grams per liter the next week, you being in hydro need to do a soak treatment (dont know really how long) but i guess you can repeat as much as you need to. i dont think there are many branded choices to buy from, just google the name and youll probably find some locally packaged ready to use, dont buy the one already in water because they go bad fast, you want the dust spores that you mix with water
 
I actually started doing that yesterday, if definitely helped bringing down the temp, but hasn't helped get rid of the root rot problem yet.
 
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