Main stem actively rotting

Sick Plants & Problems
#1

What’s up errybahdi, I don’t know if there’s a thread for this problem, so if you know of one, point me in the right direction and I’ll merge this into it.
otherwise, feel free to post your incidences with it here.

On or around March 9th I noticed the rot, when it was already terrible. There was only a small strip of green that hadn’t been consumed, yet, so I peeled away all the rotted material and left only that little strip. I was absolutely sure she would die as a result, and waited for the inevitable with bated breath, a sharp blade, and cloning gel. Didn’t even take pictures because I was so sure it was a death sentence.

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Both of these pictures were taken today. This first part used to be that little strip of green, unaffected by the rot. And yet, even though the rot has since taken over she’s not showing it in her leaves.

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If you notice the deep orange / golden brown area in this picture, that’s where it first appeared. I peeled it back to the dead wood about three weeks ago, pulled back the soil, and have been making sure to keep it as dry as possible since.

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A little funny looking, mid-defoliation, but I mean, she’s clearly not too worried about the infection. Lol.

19 Likes
Mold? Pythium?
#2

I’ve had some success getting an infected wound to heal by irrigating with 3% H2O2.

Cheers
G

11 Likes
#3

Looks a lot like phytophthora stem rot.

You’ll probably need a strong fungicide. It spreads.

10 Likes
#4

@Gpaw @vernal
Was going to just cut and run. She’s pushing 4ft already so there’s really no need to keep her as a mom anymore. Now it’s just morbid fascination, I guess.

That risk of spreading is one hell of a valid point.

17 Likes
#5

I had a plant once were the stem had rotted so bad similar to yours in the same spot too but on the one we had a section allall the way around had literally rotted away to the size of a thin twig. The plant had to be kept upright otherwise it would have just toppled over and that point snapped. But the plant was fine. We were using h2o2 in the system and spraying that afew times seemed to clean up all the rot and the plant survived to put out flowers probably slightly less than it would normally. I think you’ll be fine Worcestershire farms just do what you can to clean it up and stop it from spreading

7 Likes
#6

That’s pythium I believe.

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#7

Now you have a reason to buy a UVC light. :+1: :sweat_smile:

:evergreen_tree: dem dirty girls ewww

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#8

I am with @lefthandseeds on this one. Looks like pythium to me as well

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#9

After reading this from the OP, I want some guns before the break in.
I’m getting some of this for my gardens. application guide - Physan

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#10

Actinovate

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#11

Neem! Neem! Should be salesperson

Works wonders fix all

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#12

I had a few. The looked good. I had a branch fall off. I got to looking and seen that Dr. Earth had caused some of the problem. It was mainly because I didn’t mix the dirt. There was some sitting around the base of the plants on 3 of them. Mold. It molded. It my fault for not making sure.

1 Like
#13

That stuff will stop anything. I had forgotten the name of it

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#14

How will you deal with this long term to prevent cross contamination of the rest of your garden?

sounds like a very nasty organism, neither viral nor fungal but with characteristics of both.

Getting rid of that pot and soil is an obvious step. And presumably you will want to eliminate the plant and make sure there is no material from this plant in your grow space.

how will you assess the exposure risk and potential transmission to other plants in your garden?

The only time I see anything that looks like this is when a seedling damps off. I start my seedlings in small cups and if one starts to damp off I isolate it until I am sure, and then throw away the cup and soil.

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#15

How would one go about getting plant pathogen testing for a cannabis seedling in a legal state?

#16

Hit up chemhistory labs, they’re local to your area and they do a wide variety of testing. Even if they aren’t able to help, they’re very accessible over phone and might be able to point you in the right direction.

3 Likes
#17

Thanks I am just learning about plant viruses. It will be interesting to learn about this and good to have that resource available if it is needed.

thankfully I have never had viral problems in my organic grow, but I’d like to learn more. I don’t want to be caught off guard by any kind of hard to diagnose problems. I think simple preventative measures are very important.

4 Likes
#18

Exactly this. If a plant damps off it’s not a catastrophe. I just need to reinoculate the soil with beneficials. Trichoderma are like wolves lol

My big worry was the loss of tissue having a girdling effect, and completely restricting water flow. I’m guessing it progressed slow enough and her main stem large enough that she just redirected the flow of traffic deeper inside the trunk.

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#19

so like a bacterial bloom it can be eliminated by out-competing it with a beneficial organism?

thanks for the information.

I’ve heard of crop rotation being the primary method to eliminate pathogens and fungal diseases in the agricultural / nursery industry.

do you have access to any kind of testing for this pythium organism?
How will you know if / when the organism is safely eliminated?

1 Like
#20

I have also heard that diverse companion planting and cover crops can help to increase resilience to plant diseases and pathogens. Does anybody have any practical knowledge of this technique?

I already use a lot of companion plants, but I am interested in this as a potential preventative measure to strengthen my crops against potential disease.

Currently my indoor plants have lemon balm living in the pots with them.
My outdoor plants have a variety of cultivated and wild plants growing with them including lemon balm, calendula, mint, marigold, organic garlic, and wild California poppy.

1 Like