I been having a bunch of problems with my last run (new setup/house) and after going through every possible option I’ve nailed it down to root issues. The cheap 1gl pots I had, did not have great drainage and this has slowly drowned my roots. Upon inspection of the roots they were starting to brown and generally did not look great. They were also getting slightly root bound so I have now transferred them into larger pots with much better drainage. The question is, what else can I do to help them recover? I know about products like hydroguard but the costs are prohibitive for me right now. Will these roots return to health with just more media and proper drainage or is there another step (on the cheap) I can take to help them?
No noticeable smell coming off them, just brown. I’ve never really had this issue so the concern is, will it rectify itself or will they continue to rot without further action?
This was my first thought as temps were an issue at the start. I’ve changed the lighting schedule to lights off during the day to help bring temps up (now between 18c-24c), I’ve put 2 layers of cardboard under the tent to get them further from the floor and I’ve been monitoring the water temps when watering. Once all this was in place the plants only got worse which is what leads me to looking into the roots. I’m pretty sure my whole problem was drainage in the cheap pots I was using.
I use cheap pots. If they got holes, they’ll drain.
IDK how heavy your mix is. Looks like you got a standard mix but if you’re constantly watering that’s not good either, let them get light between waterings. And as a precaution, test your runoff pH. It’s important to eliminate that as a troubleshooting step.
Next time, if you can, add perlite to your mix for drainage and aeration. In the mean while, for your next watering, you can water with Hydrogen Peroxide at a rate of 60ml peroxide to 1l water with 3% peroxide. It will clean anything thats rotted and damaged as well as bring extra oxygen to the roots
This has worked for me in the past. Had a few clones with very poor drainage and they started turning almost all yellow. I watered with a 1:4 peroxide:water solution until run off and they fully recovered within 3 days. Your plants look so much better than mine did so hopefully they’ll recover much quicker. I believe this kills off the good microbes though too so might have to reintroduce some more afterwards.
I was wondering about the Hydrogen Peroxide? I have read about it a lot in the last few days and there seems to be conflicting opinions on it. Some say it will clean up roots well and deal with any rot. Others say it will kill the good with the bad and destroy any beneficial microbes within the soil? maybe ill break that out if things dont improve in the next few days?
Both things are true, it will kill any bug, larvae and microbe, beneficial or not, you will just have to repopulate the microbiota with a tea or specific product but it will also clean and improve your roots. If you are not in organic I don’t know if those microbes are necessary or not, always had that doubt …
