These root look ok?

1st grow. 4 weeks on this hydro plant, and about it switch over to 12/12. I havn't opened this pot for a while since it's been going well, but wanted to check before the switch. These roots are getting a little brown and wondering if I should give more Hydrogaurd, change air distribution, or just leave it?

The 8 inch air stone is at bottom and getting covered by the root ball now. Usually I leave the seconardy air pipe for the water level tube at 40% pushing 160% to the air stone. Should I also switch that to 100%/100% and give bigger bubbles via the tube that might penitrate that root mass?

Nutes-

GH Flora
Advanced Nutrients Sensi Cal-Mag
Hydrograud.

Plant doesn't seem to be stressed. Just remember to keep your reservoir full and not leave it almost empty, because i got root rot like that in the vegetative state. i got lazy and didn't keep my reservoir full, and just kept refilling when it was below 1/3 to 1/4th full. now i always keep it full of water and refill when its half full.

Mr_X said:

Plant doesn't seem to be stressed

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That's what I was thinking. Just cut yesterday and she seemed to bounce right back. Just don't want to fall behind. I lost 9 plants to rot root a couple weeks back.

I have a cam in the tent now, and do time a lapse on it. It really shows how the plants respond when you can actually see them move their leaves/steams up or down. Guess I'll just keep a close eye and see what she does.

Honestly I don't know what nutes you use but they kinda looksketchy to me. I'd get rid of that clear tube that's letting light in your rez. You want a blue tube (they say blue don't let light in) I don't trust anything as far as that goes. Public enemy # one is light in your rez.

the bottom part of your roots submerged in water seem fine. the top part seems to be a bit brown. try not to leave big air gaps.

once you start seeing wilting, then you have a problem.

one of my grows had algae grow on it in early veg due to a light leak. i knew it was the roots when i noticed wilting but no discoloration in the leaves. i used hydroguard and that didn't get rid of the algae. i then used a solution h202 and water for 2-3 days and all the algae was gone and roots where white again. i went back to my regular solution of nutes and hydroguard after fixing the problem.

a bit something about hydroguard and root rot.

the bacteria in hydroguard helps the uptake in nutrients, but it does not kill the bad bacteria such as those found in root rot. the hydroguard bacteria is trying to outcompete the bad bacteria, but won't kill it. H202 will kill all bacteria because it breaks down the cell wall of micro organisms by a process called oxidation. h202 steals the electrons in the bacteria's cell wall and will convert it into h20 (water) and 02 (oxygen). use h202 sparingly. so if you see wilting and early signs of root rot or algae, use a small amount of h202 and water 1-5 days to kill all bacteria, until you see signs of white roots again.

Mr_X said:

try not to leave big air gaps.

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added a couple gallons to bring the level up closer to net pot. Like you said most of the brown is parts that are in air and water is not reaching (bubbles blocked to root ball)

coralreefer999 said:

added a couple gallons to bring the level up closer to net pot. Like you said most of the brown is parts that are in air and water is not reaching (bubbles blocked to root ball)

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if it gets worse over the next few days, i'd use a solution of h202 to get rid of the bacteria colonies causing root rot.

Mr_X said:

i'd use a solution of h202

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Do you have a mix you prefer? Would it be a matter of mix a couple ml in water and then adding that to res?

Gotta say I've read about adding H202 but extremely hesitant. Just doesn't sound good, lol but know it is.

i think of it as a sick patient about to get surgery.
symptoms are analyzed and you come up with a diagnosis, treatment and surgery happens, then recovery happens.

diagnosis is root rot
treatment is surgery by killing the bacteria with a solution of h202 and nutrients, sterilizing the bucket itself to get rid of dead matter with hand soap and water.
recovery is a new solution of hydroguard and nutrients

coralreefer999 said:

Do you have a mix you prefer? Would it be a matter of mix a couple ml in water and then adding that to res?

Gotta say I've read about adding H202 but extremely hesitant. Just doesn't sound good, lol but know it is.

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doesn't matter. i got my h202 from the bodega across the street.
applying h202 is like surgery vs treatment with medicine, meaning surgery is last resort if the medication for the patient doesn't work.

And get rid of that dammed clear tube letting light in your rez! No point doing all that if your not going to fix the problem that potentially caused it. I've had rez temps up to 80°. no h2o2, no bleach, no pool shock or hydroguard or gff. But I have absolutely no light getting into my rez. I don't recommend my method to anyone I know the risk I'm taking.

what i think happened to your plant was that the bucket reservoir wasn't fully filled, so the good bacteria in hydroguard wasn't able to compete against the bad bacteria in root rot. under right conditions the bacteria colonies where able to form and multiply on the upper parts of your roots. those conditions are oxygen, temperature, and food. the air gap gave the bacteria oxygen, air temperature was warm, and your roots are its food. the bacteria started from the top portion of your roots and started to colonize downwards for more nutrients.

im no doctor, but my diagnosis is early stages of root rot. my treatment plan would be: sterilize and clean the reservoir bucket with hand soap and water, make a solution of h202 and nutrients. start with a low dose of h202 for 1-2 days. i would observe how the plant reacts and if the treatment is working. i would then slowly increase dosage of h202 in the solution and wait until i see white roots again. probably 3-5 days of h202 treatment. once all bacteria is killed, i would help the plant recover by making a solution of hydroguard and nutrients.

Bucsfan80 said:

get rid of that dammed clear tube letting light in your rez!

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I ordered some blue tubing, but not like I can just yank it, and leave a hole.

Mr_X said:

bucket reservoir wasn't fully filled, so the good bacteria in hydroguard wasn't able to compete against the bad bacteria in root rot. under right conditions the bacteria colonies where able to form and multiply on the upper parts of your roots.

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Agreed, and - made worse by ignorance intentionally leaving too much space thinking extra "oxygen" would help.

Now I know. Did say this was my 1st grow. Still learning a LOT!

Thanks for the help, and advice all.

overall here's some science stuff to remember:

bacteria thrives on oxygen, warm temperature, and a food source
h202 breaks down the cell wall of bacteria by oxidization
the plant's cells cell wall is more resistant to h202 than the bacteria's cell wall, and plants have the ability to regenerate it's root's cells.

coralreefer999 said:

I ordered some blue tubing, but not like I can just yank it, and leave a hole.


Agreed, and - made worse by ignorance intentionally leaving too much space thinking extra "oxygen" would help.

Now I know. Did say this was my 1st grow. Still learning a LOT!

Thanks for the help, and advice all.

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You could make a sleeve for it that you can slide on and off. Ive never used a sight tube or whatever but thought about it and just making a cover. Don't gotta spend $ if you don't want

Update: I raised the water level, and keep everything else the same. The roots are doing better now that the Hydroguard can get up there and do its job. Thank you @Mr_X for the idea.

Sunday Tuesday

I was going to comment a couple days ago about those nice full roots filling out the rez tote. I have grown in quite a few 18 and 27 gal totes and never had my roots fill the whole thing like that so I'm impressed. I have come to think a 12 gal rez tote is about the perfect size for me. There is a rumor going around that GH nutes might stain your roots. It could be perfectly normal.