Hey guys, my plant is root bounded. I transplanted but I didn't separate roots. Now the plant smells like rotton eggs. I read that it could be a root problem. That is the problem I was under the impression I was facing. Now what do I do to reverse this? Will I kill the plant if I slice into the roots with a razor and then go inside the plants roots to loosen things up, flush with water? The entire plant basically grew its own pot. The roots took on the design of the fabric of the bag and its a pretty solid bag of roots. I need to completely wash out the roots bc if the plant smells that way its got to be coming from inside. Supposedly roots don't have oxygen??
Plant smells like rotton eggs
- Thread starter SkEE87
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Tolerance Break
Well-Known Member
More water will make the problem worse. I would take a stake and stab around the plant, when roots break up, they grow more from the shoots, much like topping a plant. Dont get too crazy with it, youre not trying to kill a vampire, youre trying to break up some roots.
I would advise letting her dry out and then adding some beneficial bacteria to the mix, and make sure you dont over water her. I believe this is a root rot issue, not a rootbound issue.
Phytoplankton
Well-Known Member
My guess is the rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide. The smell is the result of anaerobic bacteria that thrive is airless environments. Your plants has either been sitting in water or your media isn’t draining. You need to transplant it, the roots may or may not be rotting, but the soil is pretty much toast! Break the roots up, the plant will recover. Don’t overwater and make sure to elevate the pot above the drip tray.
What's strange is I never smelled bad run off water. The roots are so compacted in that there has to be that draining issue. I transplanted it earlier and then I noticed the smell so I'm going to take it out the soil cut into the sides and u guess the bottom, right? Should I cut a straight line through at the bottom and then try to open it up some ? Drillsmall holes in the bottom? It's all enclosed in to the point where you can't pick of the roots really
Phytoplankton
Well-Known Member
In another life I was the head Gardner of a private college (St. Mary’s), and we transplanted a lot of store bought shrubs/trees, they were almost always rootbound. You need to basically tease or tear the roots away from themselves and open up the rootball, youll find that once you get a bit pulled away, it gets easier. Oh, you’ll break roots, but it will recover..
If you don’t open up the rootball, and just plant it as it came out of the pot, the roots will fake forever to spread out (if they ever do), and you’ll continue to have drainage/rot issues.
If you don’t open up the rootball, and just plant it as it came out of the pot, the roots will fake forever to spread out (if they ever do), and you’ll continue to have drainage/rot issues.
Thanks man, I appreciate it. I was worried about damaging the plant past recovery, that's all. I'll be careful with it but also root out the problem, lol.
Tolerance Break
Well-Known Member
My last flower, I took scissors to the bottom of my rockwool and removed quite a bit of root mass before transplant, after 2 weeks of recovery in veg and 10 weeks of flower, here's what I had. All of this is to say you can cut roots without killing the plant.
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TCH
Well-Known Member
Take it out, rinse all the dirt out of the roots, or most of it anyway, just grab and pull the roots apart a bit. Roll the rootball between your hands to loosen it up. You don't have to untangle them completely, just get them un-compacted. Then repot the plant into fresh, damp soil. I just repotted one of my mothers the other night to prep her for flower. The next evening, she was showing no stress and looking as happy as ever.
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
you can shave the roots with a scalpel. very easy very low stress ime. i just take a scalpel and cut about 2 centimeters thick all around the rootzone then plant into fresh medium.
also if you have compacted soil which prevents aeration and its too late to do anything about it you can use small doses of h2o2 to introduce oxygen deep into the rootzone and kill the anaerobic bacteria. plus that peroxide will fuzz and create pockets around the whole medium.
just dont use high concentrations because if you do the soil will definitely spill over the pots. if you are gonna use bennies do h2o2 for a couple of times and then start with the bennies. dont mix them up.
also if you have compacted soil which prevents aeration and its too late to do anything about it you can use small doses of h2o2 to introduce oxygen deep into the rootzone and kill the anaerobic bacteria. plus that peroxide will fuzz and create pockets around the whole medium.
just dont use high concentrations because if you do the soil will definitely spill over the pots. if you are gonna use bennies do h2o2 for a couple of times and then start with the bennies. dont mix them up.
