Is this Root ROt ?

[Guest]

if so now what do i do? my res temps are usually 59 - 65. i let my ph drift between 5.6 - 6.8. i am using the botanicare line. i used 5ml a gal mix of hydroguard. should i add more. do i need to change the res right away? would love a little help thanks.



little more info

i also have hygrozyme in the res and i heard it stains roots. also liquid karma calmag+ bpbgrow . i was advised by someone to take off the airstones and just let my air line bubble out instead. could that have anything to do with it? the plants seem to be fine and are growing at a good rate i would like to try and solve this before its too late.

 

[Guest]

are they slimey?

 

[Guest]

not really slimy. i rubbed the roots a little with my fingers then rinsed the spot in the feed line spray and it seemed to rinse off. weird thing is it looks like it comming out of the netpot.

 

[bartender187]

What kind of nutes are you running? The PBP will stain roots a light brown, so will EA/EN and other nutes. If it rinses off to white, doesnt smell like rotten funk, and isnt slimy/mushy then I wouldnt worry about it.

bartender187

 

[MTF-Sandman]

That's just a little staining from the nutes...LK especially does that to roots, but it's nothing to worry about.

 

[Guest]

now the bottom leaves are looking funny. i am changing out the res tomorrow.

 

[-VT-]

Hey....I agree with the others....you're roots are stained (osmosis causes this...nutes literally stick to the roots as osmosis is a powerful process)

While there are some pythium that have a wider host range than others (i.e. some pythium proliferate in cooler temps than others), I never had root rot with root zone temps in that range....

my res temps are usually 59 - 65

In fact....you may wanna heat up that rez a lil' bit....

good luck

 

[Truth]

65 seems perfect to me. I'm sure it is caused by the nutes though, how much are you adding? you mixing it well? When you have black gunk build up on your roots, it can become a problem. first of all, anything that stains your roots, may not hurt them, but it is logical to assume that since they are stained, that means the surface is covered with what is staining it. when you have root surfaces covered by gunk, those areas will not get oxygen like they should, meaning less oxygen to your roots. Plants usually respond to this by growing more root mass than is needed to make up for the areas that are stained. so although your plants may seem to grow fine, and roots 'healthy' you are causing your plants to spend more energy developing roots than is needed. obviously, having to put more energy into developing roots, will take away from the canopy development and final yield. also by blocking oxygen to the roots these areas can die off, causing root rot from lack of oxygen. if your upper roots die off and rot, this will affect the roots that grow from them, even if the roots that grow from them are healthy looking. so any problems at the upper roots, will affect the plant more badly than problems at lower roots.

I would run some h202 mixed with water down the netpot, being sure to soak all the way through. use a half a bottle per gallon of water, slowly pour until the gunk breaks away, if it still doesn't come off, you can try putting the same h2o2 and water mix into a spray bottle, and spray the affected areas, if it still doesn't come off, get some q-tips, dip them in the h2o2 straight from the bottle, and gently run them on your roots, to get the gunk off. after doing this, take some PH 6.0 water, and pour it down your netpot to clear away the h2o2 from the rocks in the netpot. change res right away. this should clear up the current problem, but I would suggest using less or mixing it better, to keep from further build ups. I don't like nutes that leave any kind of stain or gunk like this, because of what I have stated above. So I would suggest a nutrient change, but you already have money invested in those. plants may still grow fine with buildup on their roots, but the problems that arise, and the possible reduction in overall growth potential are very real. Oh, and stop using the hydroguard, see what happens.

 

[bubbaKu]

If your bottom leaves are showing signs then it could be root rot. I would run some hydrogen peroxide. Change the res and run just your major nutes with the hydogen peroxide. Then after 24 hours add your supplements. Good luck.

 

[Truth]

if your nutrients or additives are organic in any way, do not use h2o2 regularly mixed with your regular nutrient regime. the h2o2 will destroy beneficial organics in the res.

 

[lil dro]

that root rot h202 will help run it 4 a day r 2 then change the rez
u should c new root in about 4 5 days