Roots rotting in DWC in **empty** bucket

Hi,

I have a 3 week plant. Northern lights auto.
It’s inside a peat plug inside a 6 inch basket with clay pebbles.

I was nice and healthy 2 days ago.
Now I noticed it started yellowing and the tips of the roots are mushy (turn into slime if I touch them) and starting to brown. It also stinks kinda moldy.

I was top feeding it only once every two days. I was about to start the bubble bucket (save for the runoff from the top feeding, it was empty all this time—I was waiting for the roots to poke through the basket before filling it up and starting the bubbler).

What is happening with this girl, and can I still save her?

Fill the bucket and get it bubbling. The roots are coming out of the net pot into dry air.

Yep, time to fire it up.

Add 3% peroxide to reservoir
1ml per gallon

You don’t have enough bubbles in there

I had the air going as soon as i put them in their buckets. I wanted their solution as oxygenated as possible the moment their roots touch it.

Is it not too late? Will it recover? Like I said, if I touch brownish root tips right now, they turn into jelly on my fingers. I read that damping off is impossible to stop once it starts, no?

Lpena007 said:

You don’t have enough bubbles in there

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Right now there is no solution in the bucket. Just some condensation from the runoff. I was waiting for the roots to poke through before filling up the bucket and starting the bubbles. And now the roots are brownish and slimy at their tips.

PurpleHaze777 said:

Right now there is no solution in the bucket. Just some condensation from the runoff. I was waiting for the roots to poke through before filling up the bucket and starting the bubbles. And now the roots are brownish and slimy at their tips.

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You blew that one pal. Easy to search around the hydro section and find out how to do it. DWC = Deep Water Culture yet you had no water in the pail.

Everybody wants it all spelled out to do the simplest things when it's easy to find.

Stick that sorry plant in soil to save it now and once it gets a little bigger get cuttings to clone and try DWC again if you've read up on it a little bit first.

Sorry to be so cranky. But I spend so much time helping people who could avoid the problems they create by learning the bare basics before jumping in the deep end.

Better luck next time. I mean that.

OldMedUser said:

and try DWC again if you've read up on it a little bit first.

Sorry to be so cranky. But I spend so much time helping people who could avoid the problems they create by learning the bare basics before jumping in the deep end.

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I did read a lot and watch youtube tutorials.
I was also told by a local hydro store owner to do it this way. I did my due diligence, man. But it’s my first time and it’s hard to sort info and tell whose advice is good and whose is not.

Can adding solution to the bucket with peroxide save it?

OldMedUser said:

get cuttings to clone

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it’s an auto. I read they don’t clone well.

you have nothing to lose by trying to save it, and likely will learn a ton. Dunk it (including the starter cube) in full strength 3% h2O2 for 2-3 minutes several times a day, then flush roots under the faucet. You should see new roots within 5-7 days

Do not raise water level above the net pot

hth

Growing cannabis 101

Don't listen to the dude at the grow shop.

Youtube videos are not necessarily made by people that know what they're talking about. Anyone can post a video on youtube. It doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. I refuse to even look at youtube videos. The few times I have it was some know nothing with some crispy fried plants that looked like crap or some hydro shop pushing high margin products.

You're better off getting one of the many decent grow books or listening to people on the forums that have actually posted pictures of healthy plants and have been growing for years.

PurpleHaze777 said:

Right now there is no solution in the bucket. Just some condensation from the runoff. I was waiting for the roots to poke through before filling up the bucket and starting the bubbles. And now the roots are brownish and slimy at their tips.

Click to expand...

Just leave the solution like 3 inches below the net pot

PurpleHaze777 said:

Can adding solution to the bucket with peroxide save it?

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It could. If you fill the pail to the bottom of the net pot with a light dose of nutes and add peroxide it could bounce back. Can you get strong food grade peroxide at a health food store or somewhere? 2ml/L of 35% daily could do it and I've recommended 4ml/L to people with full size plants and bad rot with success.

Can you take nutes out of the pail and pour back thru the net pot say with a turkey baster or something? Cut a hole in the lid if you have to then cover it with anything to block the light. I always have a 2" hole in my tub lids just to make it easy to get water in and out or take samples for testing etc.

Then you can top feed with the 'medicated' nutes to get any root rot nasties that may have made their way into the pot tho if it's just at the very end of the roots it could be OK to forgo that step.

I do not recommend dunking the roots into drug store peroxide. Just the bottom 1/3 maybe and then just for a few seconds. Lift up and examine for bubbling action then maybe another dunk then rinse with a spray bottle. You can fry all the root hairs off pretty quick with even 3%.

Normally at top up you want the water level just an inch below the net pots and refill when it gets about 4" below. I prefer tubs for stand-alone grows as you have such a larger volume that your ppm and pH change very gradually compared to a pail where the water level drops so much faster. Pails are great tho for RDWC.

Again I'm sorry for being bitchy before but my oldest little sister died last Wed. and I think I'm channelling her personality now.

Good luck!

Two awesome authors, Ed rosedthal and Jorge Cervantes. Both are absolute gurus.

No hydrogen peroxide in any stores around me. Our free and brave citizens are hoarding that too now. Just last week, I remember, shelves were full of it. Jesus. I hate humankind so much.

PurpleHaze777 said:

No hydrogen peroxide in any stores around me. Our free and brave citizens are hoarding that too now. Just last week, I remember, shelves were full of it. Jesus. I hate humankind so much.

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Same thing with ISO at the feed store. Was lots a couple weeks ago but all gone now. I just got a new litre of 35% peroxide a couple months ago and haven't even opened it yet as I still have about 250ml of the last one left. Got a fax machine so I can send you some?

Some guys use bleach and even pool shock instead of peroxide and it does work but you'd have to do some searching here or on the web for how much to use.

Maybe just snip the bottom 1/3rd off the root and get it in a pail of nutes. If it survives it'll grow lots of more roots fast. 300 - 400ppm or so is good for her atm.

PurpleHaze777 said:

No hydrogen peroxide in any stores around me. Our free and brave citizens are hoarding that too now. Just last week, I remember, shelves were full of it. Jesus. I hate humankind so much.

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If you can find a Beauty Supply open, they carry it for bleaching hair. It comes in different strengths. I buy the 40 and dilute it 1:10. FYI, they are not allowed to call it hydrogen peroxide anymore

I recommend 3%

why? I’ve experienced with it many times.

Also promotes root growth.