Green_Farmer

Hi guys & gals.

This is the first time I’ve posted here and I would really appreciate everyone’s experience & knowledge to help with these problems.

I have some major problem and am not sure what is causing it – though I do suspect the problem is right under my nose…

This is a long story, and has been very frustrating for me. My last experience was far too easy compared to this.

I have just returned to this hydroponic game, out of a 2 year retirement, after 4 years of successful growing experience under my belt.

I’ve now set up in a new area, in a brand new room and a new strain that has never been hydroponically grown before, though the strain has been very successful years in the bush and is grown for its hash making properties (an unknown mix of Indica & Sativa).

The problem is root rot. I suspect ph may have something to do with it, as the ph has been rising steadily.

I had problems initially with some little ones (brought/bought from another room) and eventually lost them. Got a new strain, but it happened again.

So I blamed my water supply, as I was using spring water (from the mountains where I live), and I thought that this problem was being caused by micro sediment in the water (the water had a cf of 6-9, depending on the weather). I filtered - that didn’t work. I went to the crystal clear, clean creek to harvest water but that didn’t help. So I changed to town water (chlorinated & treated) and started carting water home a few times a week - and thought I’d fixed the issue (for 2 months), until this morning when I looked at the plants roots (because the plants looked sick). This is a different plant with a new root system 1 week into flowering, though I suspect the problem started before now. Rrrrr…

The roots normally hang out of the basket (that sits in the pot, drainage pipe to tank at bottom of pot) all white and glistening….mine are mostly deadly or going brown and very limp and starting to decompose. About 25% live roots remain at this moment.

Here are my questions & answers:

1. Are you growing from seed or clones? CLONES
2. How old are your plants? 6 weeks in veg, 1 week in bud.
3. How tall are your plants? < 10” tied down
4. What size containers are they planted in? 30cm dia pots
5. What is your soil mix? Clay balls
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? Town water
7. What is the pH of your water? 6.8 untreated from the tap, 5.7 in nute tank
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? tba
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything? yes
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? HPS600, side flouro lighting
11. How close are your lights to the plants? >10”
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? 1.5m x 2.m
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? Max: 36, Min 24
14. What is the pH of the soil? Keeping ph in water below 6.0
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? no
16. How much experience do you have growing? 4 years.
17. Growing System? Hydroponic, recirculating.
18. Nutrients: Dose tank with Silica 1ml per 10 L. Adjust ph. Using organic grow and bloom formulas, 1 part. Supplementing with vitamins/booster/tonic – under utilised. Prefer to under fert than to over fert.
19. Foliar Feeding: weak silica & grow/bud nutes & tonic, ph’d.

To be honest, I have been a bit distracted of late with other issues, and the ph in that tank snuck up to 6.5, 6.7 about 4 days ago. I changed the nutes & water, and ph is sitting constant (4 days) at 5.7. Nutrients are stable at 14, even though water is dropping a little.

Humidity is not a problem. Ventilation is not a problem. Temperature is not a problem.

I am now about to flush tank and pots and roots, add Root Repair and some more tonics and possibly even a hydrogen peroxide solution flush. Will post photo’s and specific nute descriptions soon (once I’ve flushed…).

Thank you for reading & Help! ???

Just Yak

whats the temperature of your rez? some strains are more succeptable than others, right now im battling some gunk on one plant but all the others are showing no signs of it.

__________________
I'll grant you I've had more than my share of poignant moments. Life passes most people by while they're making grand plans for it. Throughout my lifetime, I've left pieces of my heart here and there. And now, there's almost not enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent.

Originally Posted by OldPhart
Basic cheat sheet:
Ec goes up, PH goes down=plants require less nutes.
Ec goes down, PH goes up=Plants require more nutes
Ec stable, PH goes up=Equilibrium=Good thang.

The Spotted Dog

Indman

Tricky situation. One observation that I saw was when the pH rises it might not be the cause of the root rot but merely a symptom of the extra dead matter contributing to the overall pH, though that's just a theory...

Good luck!

__________________
The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized, that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?
John Lennon

1st Grow - Finished

2nd Grow - Neville's Haze and Papaya

VooDoo Chile

Have you been using anything to safeguard against root rot like Hydroguard, Hygrozyme during your grow? Only way to prevent root rot is low water temp say 62-68 get a chiller.

Green_Farmer

Hi Theblueyak,

Temperature of my rez? Not sure what you mean by rez...
however
revised room temperature = min 17C max 34C over last 24 hour period.
solution at 21C
I live in a sub tropical zone, currently averaging 28C-34C daytime temps...although room is well insulated.

Is this what you asked?

And yes, I am starting to think it may be the strain or at least, the strain has some particular need and/or requirement that I have not yet discovered...I have a "White ???" waiting in the wings (another location) to grow and multiply and am hoping this may be more "at home" in a hydroponic environment. However, I do want to grow out the time investment I've put into this strain already (4-5 months)...and if I do make it work, well, the results will be well worth it (seeing past results outside). Here's hoping...

Although, I am toying with the idea of upping the nutes to 20 just to see if this helps... I've kept them low, assuming this plant would not be a heavy feeder (looks closer to sativa than indica). ???

Green_Farmer

Thanks.

Yes, that's been playing in the back of my mind too... but I just flushed, soaked, cleaned up dead matter and on closer inspection, the dead matter was not as dead as I'd originally thought...only a few days, if that.

Currently have a strong feeling that ph has something to do with this problem, though in what way....??

Just Yak

by rez i ment the temperature of ur water where your roots are.

__________________
I'll grant you I've had more than my share of poignant moments. Life passes most people by while they're making grand plans for it. Throughout my lifetime, I've left pieces of my heart here and there. And now, there's almost not enough to stay alive. But I force a smile, knowing that my ambition far exceeded my talent.

Originally Posted by OldPhart
Basic cheat sheet:
Ec goes up, PH goes down=plants require less nutes.
Ec goes down, PH goes up=Plants require more nutes
Ec stable, PH goes up=Equilibrium=Good thang.

The Spotted Dog

Green_Farmer

Hydroguard - from memory, that's colloidal silver and hydrogen peroxide? I did at first, but ran out. (tried to get by without buying colloid silver to save $$ - sad - but at this rate I might go out and buy some) I continued using hydro peroxide periodically throughout the grow, but have eased off in the last few weeks...maybe I should keep adding??

Just used a product by Nulife, AU60 Root Repair, (gee I wish they'd give more specific details about what's in a product) - I quote:

"The benefits of AU60 far outnumber that of anyother organic supplement.
Increased root mass
improved plant health
stronger stems and leaves
cleaner system
natural reistance to pathogens
disease control.

to be used as an additive to nutrient."

and:
"The root system is the organ most vulnerable to attack and the organ last able to defend itself.
Soil grown plants defend themselves via a corky covering which is absent on hydroponically grown plants. AU60 provides an extremely effective mechanism against these attacks."

BUT, that still doesn't tell what's in it. However, I bought it and am blindly using it upon advice of my local shop.

(revgised) Water temp is low, at 25-28C

Green_Farmer

Just had a thought...could the temperature dropping below 28C cause this root rot over time?

Temperature control is one of those little things...I had fussy, fiddly thermostats on my water heaters, so when the milder weather arrived I started to rely upon the heat from the lights to keep the temperature where it should be and took the heaters out.

Maybe this has contributed to the problem? I didn't have this problem before...it is common to dump the heaters with the warmer weather. However, with increase climate change, we've been having some cooler nights (10C) (& days) and every now and then having a 38-40C day. The room is insultated, but I draw my air direct from outside, and have relied upon the temperature outside to help inside, this could have fluctuated the temps in the room. ??