Ouch, my first ever run in with root rot

Mostly anyone who knows me knows I prefer DWC for one reason or another. Mainly because its fast, consistent, and yields well.

Well, this I guess is one of the downfalls of hydro in general. One small problem can spiral into something big in a pretty rapid fashion.

Let me start by saying in several years of growing DWC, I've never had this happen or seen it happen to anyone in my circle. Talking about root rot.

Last week, I came home from work to discover that the GFI on my A/C unit had tripped and been off for anywhere from 12-24 hours. Room was about 95, it was one of those really hot days we had. Either way, turned it back on and went about my business.

Got home tonight, went to do my regular feeding and found this. At this point its only 1 plant so its not a big deal, I'm just more surprised than anything. This grow room is pretty dialed in so it just goes to show 1 small mistake can lead to the death of a plant.

Luckily these are still small, maybe 10 days veg. I'm thinking about just killing them all even though theres a standout thats a nice sized bush. I don't know how hot the water really got so every day I let these other ones live, they could be developing the same issue.

Pretty shitty if you ask me

@Motorbuds sorry to read about your misfortune. Are you running Hydroguard or something similar in your setup? If you aren't I'd recommend giving it a try. I ran into issues during my first grow, and cleaned reservoir added half nutes & 3ml hydroguard per gallon. Within 48 hours had new snow white roots & effected roots recovered also. This is just my 2 cents, and good luck.
-Shifty

I've been down this road before. Tried all the products. The only on that works is dutch master zone. Got rid of the rot over night and never came back as long as you treat any water you add to the system.

Yeah, it's not too big of a deal. Never happened before so I probably wont be using any type of products for it, I try to keep it as simple as possible. If they were further along I might try something but I already have others that can move right into the space.

Just wanted to share my bad experience with you guys

Looks like DM Zone is copper sulfate. Common fungicide. Hmmm..

Root rot or algae?

Huel Perkins said:

Root rot or algae?

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Thats root rot for sure, I know its hard to tell by the picture though. I've seen it before, just not in person, mostly online in other peoples gardens.

Grey slime that looks like someone hocked a loogie all over the roots. I've had algae plenty of times, mostly when I didnt fill my net pots up to the top and some light could escape into the buckets. Green slime, stuffs pretty benign with the exception of giving other bad stuff a food source.

Bleach. Up to 3 ml per gallon I believe.
Or in Michigan? O Max... Organic tea

NurseNancy420 said:

Bleach. Up to 3 ml per gallon I believe.
Or in Michigan? O Max... Organic tea

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I've actually heard this before. I know they use bleach in the water in a lot of agricultural applications to keep diseases and fungus at bay.

I dont really know if its worth trying with these little ones and hopefully I never see this again. If it was a bigger one I had some time invested in I'd probably try the bleach idea before the others.

I could tell something was up so I kind of had a heads up. Looked like N deficiency on the bottom leaves so I figured she wasn't taking up the proper nutrients. I've got one more showing the same thing so I'm keeping an eye on it.

Never seen O Max tea, whats the deal with that stuff?

O natural cure:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/dwc-root-slime-cure-aka-how-to-breed-beneficial-microbes.361430/

CashCrops said:

O natural cure:
https://www.rollitup.org/t/dwc-root-slime-cure-aka-how-to-breed-beneficial-microbes.361430/

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That, my friend, is a great idea. The thought of using teas for my DWC grows has gone through my mind many times but I wasn't really too sure how to apply it, or if it would work well for DWC.

I've seen a lot of people on different forums who have tried to introduce organic products to their DWC and caused a lot of problems with slime, etc. and I didn't really want to make something designed to be easy into something complicated.

I could always give it a shot and see what happens. Not like theres any real risk. Actually theres a store right by me that gives away stump tea every Tuesday for free. I think up to 2 gallons per person. Maybe that'll work, I'll go pick a couple up tomorrow

NurseNancy420 said:

Bleach. Up to 3 ml per gallon I believe.
Or in Michigan? O Max... Organic tea

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I'm with this too, pool shock I think I was using a gram a gallon of RO water, then 3ml of that solution to each gallon of res water, but don't quote me. Chlorine is an essential element responsible for cell division. To do it right you'd test for free chlorine, but personally I was just dosing every three days and it goes without saying you can run bennies too.

Motorbuds said:

That, my friend, is a great idea. The thought of using teas for my DWC grows has gone through my mind many times but I wasn't really too sure how to apply it, or if it would work well for DWC.

I've seen a lot of people on different forums who have tried to introduce organic products to their DWC and caused a lot of problems with slime, etc. and I didn't really want to make something designed to be easy into something complicated.

I could always give it a shot and see what happens. Not like theres any real risk. Actually theres a store right by me that gives away stump tea every Tuesday for free. I think up to 2 gallons per person. Maybe that'll work, I'll go pick a couple up tomorrow

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There's a store on Groesbeck that gives away free stump tea that I use as well
Are you using tap water or RO?

CashCrops said:

There's a store on Groesbeck that gives away free stump tea that I use as well
Are you using tap water or RO?

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Always tap water. I suppose I'll have to let it sit out overnight bubbling if I attempt to start using tea. I might use it on a few plants only and see if the results are even worth the trouble. I might foliar feed it too.

Motorbuds said:

Always tap water. I suppose I'll have to let it sit out overnight bubbling if I attempt to start using tea. I might use it on a few plants only and see if the results are even worth the trouble. I might foliar feed it too.

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No thats fine, I have been using tap since I started DWC a while back. I'm convinced that the chlorine and fluoride are what help keep the system clean since we use chelated nutrients.

CashCrops said:

No thats fine, I have been using tap since I started DWC a while back. I'm convinced that the chlorine and fluoride are what help keep the system clean since we use chelated nutrients.

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Yeah I've been using it for years and never had a problem of any kind. I used to use the Lucas system with 1 part Floranova bloom and only change my nutes once per cycle. Impossible to get any easier than that and it worked like a charm lol.

CAN NOT RUN BENNIES, sorry...typing from a phone I hate it.

cephalopod said:

I'm with this too, pool shock I think I was using a gram a gallon of RO water, then 3ml of that solution to each gallon of res water, but don't quote me. Chlorine is an essential element responsible for cell division. To do it right you'd test for free chlorine, but personally I was just dosing every three days and it goes without saying you can run bennies too.

Click to expand...

Lol

Just got in from grabbing a couple gallons of stump tea. Gonna give this a shot on that nasty plant later on tonight when I get back in. If its not fixed within a few days I'm gonna cut her with a samurai sword

I'm not sure what I'm looking at or for in that picture. Never experienced root rot. What would one look for? If I ever did get it I'm going to assume I would notice as soon as the plant looked unhealthy?

What are good preventatives one might add to their regular feeding schedule? I don't DWC exactly. I use autopots but I'm pretty sure I could still be at a greater risk for it.

What's everyone's thoughts?