Hi all,
I’m on my first grow using DWC w/ General Hydroponics Flora series ‘light’ nutrient schedule. The first batch of nutrients was made with tap water… ppm was a little high and had to decrease pH, but the roots were all white and looked healthy. I mixed the second batch last night using RO water… the ppm and pH were perfect. This morning when I looked, the roots are no longer white and healthy looking… they’re more brownish
No chiller…
water temp is 77 degrees.
Can root rot develop that quickly? (overnight)
Is it possible the dyes in the nutrients are staining the roots? The water had a definite pinkish/red tint to it.
no. not normal. how much nutes did you add to the res? for my 10gallon reservoirs i add 1 gallon of mixed nute solution according to the label into 9 gallons of ph’d plain tap water
I used the ‘light’ nutrient schedule provided by General Hydroponics which states the final ppm should be between 600-800. My mixing reservoir ppm was 720 after adding the nutrients.
I don’t check my PPM. But my reservoir ends up at roughly 10% strength. 1 gallon mixed full strength according to the bottle, diluted into 9 gallons of fresh water. Then adjust PH. My entire reservoir change for 10 gallons takes around 25mL of bottled nutes depending on what stage the plants are.
I can give you an accurate number in an hour when my lights come on.
water is too warm throw some frozen water bottels in it PDQ 75 is the magic number for pythium root rot never had much luck getting that cleared up H2O2 industrial peroxide is your only hope i believe
What most people starting out fail to understand (and what is not commonly explained in simple terms) is that the suggested mixing levels, ppm, etc, are for your mixed solution. so if you mix one gallon of nutes, it should be…say…800ppm. then you use that one gallon to add to your reservoir of fresh water.
your reservoir should not be entirely filled with 10 gallons of nute solution just because it is a 10 gallon reservoir. the simplest way to look at hydro is that water replaces soil. you wouldn’t add 10 gallons of nutes to a soil plant if it’s in a 10 gallon pot, right? it only needs, say, one gallon. well it’s the same principle. your plant will never consume 10 gallons worth of nutes before it needs a res change next week. and the concentration will burn your roots, causing them to rot. looks just like root rot when it happens.
My reservoir water keeps a steady 75-80° and no roots rot. Simple temp in this range alone is not enough to cause root rot. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just believe there has to be a second factor, like low O2 to the root zone, for example, coupled with the temp, for it to be root rot. It should also take a few days to set in this hard.
You’ve got a small margin of error in hydro. You want your res between 18-21. Chillers are a dear do otherwise I’d have a dabble myself to save me meddling with rootballs every harvest.
That’s root rot, you should change out your rez, sterilize it with a tiny dash of bleach (the capful per sink fill style sanitize, don’t go nuclear)
While your doing the bucket scrub down set your roots in a shallow pan of H202. You’re likely going to lose all these roots anyway.
Be sure to discard your air stone if you can, scrub and sanitize all your tubes.
Why are your rez temps so high? Can you wrap or those buckets in something insulative or reflective?
Let me dig and I’ll find a pic of roots dyed. Mine get both pink and blue.
You’re doing good, keep going!
I would consider this very high. I don’t get over 700 even in flower with too many strains.
I don’t. My rez is at the PPM I put it at.
Do you keep a grow log here? I’d love to take notes on your setup.
The way I did my rez change was to use a spare clean 5 gal bucket. I added the fresh pH balanced nutrient solution to the new bucket then took the lid w net pot off the old bucket and put onto the new one. Then I cleaned the airstone/tubing with H2O2 before putting them into the new bucket.
Rez temps are that high because I put a heater in my system to keep the temp tent at 77 degrees while the lights are on (I read the plants prefer higher temps for veg). I’ve since eliminated the heater, which should bring the rez temps back down to 72-73 degrees.
My pump and airstones seem to be working well… the water is at a constant ‘rolling boil’ 24/7.
I’m following the nutrient schedule pictured… this is their ‘light’ schedule. Do you think it’s too much?
Your rez change ritual sounds perfect.
But now that you have root rot you need to do it again so you can treat it. I’d suggest you trim all the roots that you can’t wash the brown off. I know you won’t want to. I’m really suggesting you do. Those roots are dead, and carrying pathogens. Same with the air stones, if you are using the little dudes that come 100 to a pack throw that away. You will never get the crud out of the cracks.
I’m glad you took the heater out. Little baby seedlings like it warmer, and if you think they want it warmer get a cloche or upturned translucent plastic box to put over them like a tiny greenhouse.
You said you had a heater in there and I audibly gasped and startled my spouse
I think the nute schedule is a bit hot. I usually do 200 until they have 6 nodes then start adding 100 about every week. Some are more hungry, most aren’t. Especially autos.
Do you have a grow log? Back up and take some pictures! I want to see the plants and your setup!
Wow really, I’m honored he showed it off!! That’s cool I’m actually smoking on it now. Not the densest, but would make a fantastic extraction! She has a great citrus/hash flavor. Absolutely perfect for joints, too!
I just popped one of his NL2 fems this weekend for a quick & dirty one to play with
, here’s good info … 
I’m actually smoking on it now. Not the densest, but would make a fantastic extraction! She has a great citrus/hash flavor. Absolutely perfect for joints, too!