Ph of 3% hydrogen peroxide, cleaning burn?

[TheAfficianado]

Ph of 3% hydrogen peroxide, cleaning burn?

Hi, I developed some brown jelly-like algae stuff on my seedlings roots in a small bubbler. Now I have to say it didn't look like the stuff in the Root Rot/Brown Algae section or the pics in the sticky post. In fact, looking back I believe they may have been beneficial because my plants had no burns or problems on the folliage and they were making good progress. But they seemed to have slowed in their growth which is why I checked what was happening with the roots. Of course I freaked anyway.

When I began to try and get the jelly off the roots, it really didn't want to come off under room temperature tap water. I didn't use soap, but I would alternately dunk the seedlings in 3% hydrogen peroxide and let it fizz away for awhile and then put them back under the gentle tap.

I think I managed to clean them well and was surprized at the sturdiness of the roots-- they were not mushy but had I broken one I would have called it freshly crisp, and they were still white or light green. They held up quite well untill 24 hours later, when they were burned and I lost one.

So my question is: how does one tell the difference between positive beneficial bugs and horrible root destroyers. I had been using MaxiCrop seaweed extract and I read at another board it could have been a form seaweed growing and was actually beneficial.

The other question is: how much damage can 3% hydrogen peroxide do? I thought it was relatively weak compared to what is usually sold at hydro store at 20% or 35%. Does it change the Ph in some way I did not take into account, as I thought it was basically Ph neutral in such a light solution?

Anyways, the damage is done, they are recovering, two seedlings which never got the root funk are thriving having undergone everything the others had to go through. One guy said if you burn the leaves it is bad, but if you save the roots you can grow new leaves so it was worth it.

Any thoughts are appreciated, and sorry for the length of this post.
The Afficianado

 

[MynameStitch]

slime does not come off to well even if you try to put the roots in the water under running water. Yes, that is root rot starting.

It all depends if a problem persist's it progresses, but if the problem to start root rot is there but lacks all it needs to the growth slows down but still moves along at a much slower pace.

Dude there is no beneficial slime/ you had to of had root rot just the start of the slime before the rotting.

You had to have either light leaks, warm temps in your water. Warm to cold and warm to cold etc...could contribute to it too.

h20 does help keep roots perly white and help stop it but just using h202 does not singly handly prevent it all the time... you have to stop what caused the issue first h202 is good to use... it helps give more o2 to the root zone and helps clear out bad bacteria.

 

[TheAfficianado]

Thanks. I patched light leaks and got some GH SubCulture and some Hydroguard. I hope to get positive bugs established before getting any more negative rot situation. Weirdly, some plants were not affected. Is there a space between plants roots, even at the seedling stage, that one needs to preserve in terms of oxygen in the DWC resevoir? That is: do we have a minimum space needed between various pants roots like we need air space between various canopies? In any case, I will also make that change and give each root zone more space.
Thanks,
The Afficianado

 

[MynameStitch]

positive bugs? I am not sure what you mean........
Do you mean benifiscal stuff like hydroguard and other products to keep the bacteria out?

There is space between roots at seedling stage, because there is hardly no root system yet.


How do you have your setup? Do you have multiple plants in a tub?
I have seen people use a small piece of PVC pipe when the roots get very long and have higher chances to tangle with the other plants roots.

as long as the roots are not filling up the bucket to a point where the root hairs are clogging the air stones.. if this happens you need a bigger bucket/tub.

It also depends on how big you veg flower your plants too. Bigger plants need bigger root systems and this depending on how many plants you can get in a certain size tub.
So there is a certain amount of space needed for roots; but not a huge amount..
It all depends on system, stain, the way your setup is.... like using a Bucket or tub.. how many plants you want in a tub.... etc.....

 

[TheAfficianado]

Right, I am just saying Hydroguard and SubCulture a beneficial lifeforms that keep the baddies in check. There is plenty or room and plenty of oxygen, they are still very tiny sporting only the first set of leaves after the cotilidons (sp?)

It will take some time for the results of my new res to work, but i think the algae is gone for now and I simply need to see if the plants survive.

But I was wondering if it was the 3% hydrogen peroxide which burned the plants or the nutes I put in after cleaning the plants that caused the burn on the leaves.

Thanks.

 

[MynameStitch]

I would say the nutrients on would burn the plants before that % of h202.

Also are you using tubs?
When you are done with your grow since you have algae and root rot; you want to scrub down really well before reusing to ensure nothing survived the cleaning and thus carry over to your new grow.

Using hot water and soap and scrub down everything that came in contact with water... pumps, hoses air stones and tubes..... some people use small amount of bleach and water.. but I have heard to many people complain about residue left over.

 

[TheAfficianado]

As I had just started my grow it was easy to lift the plants out, scrub them individually h2o2, and bleach the resevoir and everything that came into contact with it. SO if the algae/rot is not defeated and is only dormant, i have included both SubCulture and Hydroguard to combat it should it reappear.