# Cure for Root Rot, Brown roots/slime in hydroponics



## OGKushman

I am not quite sure where to start this "taboo" thread; so ill just dive into it. 

I have (mostly) been a sterile hydro grower. This means h2o2, bleach, chloramine (DM Zone) etc...to help fight off disease and root infection. But just this last grow i did, in a "flood and drain style", went awry. I got this orangish brown coating on my table. My roots began to turn brown. I was  Basically lost the grow....

I use the zone as a preventative...it failed me. I tried 1ml/gallon of 50%h2o2 (schedule 6 poison!) but it just grew faster!!!! I tried up to 3 ml per gallon of sodium hypochlorate (6%bleach) and it did not slow the problem. this was clearly not pythium. I was confused, a little worried, and really stressed out. I went as far as dosing them with physan 20. What happened with the physan20 made me really worried as it brought out a brown slime and stuck it to my reservoir. I began doing google searches to no avail. But then, after hours, I typed in "brown slime in hydroponics after physan 20"...bingo


found this (this is my start and I suggest you read it if you can find time):
*icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55259*

I was blown away. It took me 3 days to read it  I learned so much. THIS IS WHY MY PH WAS SPIKING FROM 5.5 to 6.3 in 8 hours!  The guy in that thread spent over 100k$ in his hydro and wasnt afraid to throw more at it to figure out this problem. Well he did figure it out BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY READ IT ALL so not to miss something important. when I finished I went looking for a beneficial tea recipe online and came across this...  

*rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka.html*

and i couldnt believe my eyes. The most epic threads I have read online have been about marijuana, and about a problem i happen to have with my marijuana! 

I knew there was not much to do about the room that was failing...But what really worried me is I began to see the same problems in my 15 SEPARATE bucket DWC units. They do not connect, i change each bucket one at a time so that I reduce contamination. I couldnt believe that It had spread to all of them! 

But reading these threads over 4-5 days...It gave me hope to say the least. So I started a brew of this tea and had to wait 48 hours so I flushed with h202 and zone for 2 days. Then i flushed with phd water and added 1 cup per gallon of the tea and let it sit. 

I added it 3 days ago and I have to report that the gym sock smell is GONE! GONE! The roots are white again and the plants are back to budding!!!!!!!

I have to tell my fellow MPers that this benny tea and GH 3 part alone is working wonders. Its seems to be curing the brown slime cyanobacteria!


PICS: 
1 is the final root balls of pic 2 the infected room
2 is the infected room
3 was my buckets showing me that the problem was starting there
4 plants fell over after a light physan dose
5 physan pulling this slime out of nowhere! (Buckets were clean)
6 is a completed tea ready to put in
7 is now how my plants currently look, 10 days into flower.


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## OGKushman

dangit can someone move this to the appropriate forum :bong:

:rofl:


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## Hick




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## OGKushman

thanks hick!

any questions please feel free to ask. I know those links are a lot to tackle...

1 detail: These bennys are not needed for a normal hydro grow. Chemical nutrients like GH3 part will not benefit from the beneficial bacterial. They are being introduced solely to compete with other (bad) root zone microbes.


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## Hushpuppy

Very interesting read


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## Growdude

Thanks for the links.
Didnt have time to read the whole thread this morning, why did you get the slime in the first place?


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## OGKushman

Its in the water supply. Chlorine and chloramine do not kill it. It squeezes past 1 micron RO....And Then a lack of proper maintenance. I had no idea in all these years that the back of 2 of my water pumps JUST PULLED RIGHT OFF TO CLEAN. Even tho I soaked em in bleach the crap in it eventually took hold. I cracked the back open a few days ago after I shook it and heard sludge in it. Opened it up...bingo brown slime poopie...


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## stevetberry

I too have battled this same Borg.  I bought a water chiller and started using GH RapidStart and it cured my problem, my roots were whiter and more of them than ever before.  I do not think that the RapidStart had as much to do with my success, I think it was the water cooler.  At one point mine was so bad that a half inch mat of algae (i.e. brown stuff) would appear on my airstones in less than two days.  JMO.


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## OGKushman

My res's have been 65-70 degrees...Brown Slime thrives from 55 to 80.


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## LEFTHAND

OG
awsome find n read man..  sounds just like the problem ive been battleing for 3-6 months...and has been driving me nuts...
only thing is my ph aint going up like that its dropping ..in 4-8 hrs it goes from 5.8-6.0 down to 5.5-5.3 which i cant figure out...

where i live we have some serious hard hard water.. so dunno..
thanx for the info though...
LH


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## OGKushman

Update!!!! JUST DID RES CHANGEOUTS ...

2 of them I decided to do zone and h2o2...the rest got the benificials 

Pic1 untreated with benificials, treated with h2o2 and zone
Pic2 The plant on its last leg

Pic3 Treated with Benny's....
Pic4 She be nice...she be nice y'all 


So, that's that I guess.


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## Maximlis

Thanks for the information. It helped me lot.


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## OGKushman

No problem. 

I almost quit growing. :/


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## stevetberry

OG my Borg is back.  Here I thought that I had it under control.  I just started a new grow and it is back.  I am going to go to the hydro store and start making some tea.  Thanks for the info and I hope it works.


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## OGKushman

Wishing you luck bro! It's hard to get at but just wait and you will see results


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## stevetberry

My tea is brewing and I will add it tomorrow when I change out my nutes.  Since this grow has just started and the slime is still minimal, should I go with the prevenative method or the full on method?


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## OGKushman

I put 1 cup of full strength tea in per 5gal DWC (~3.5 gal).

Since initial treatment, I've added 1/3 cup to each DWC 3 times. Once every 3 days. And I never add any sugar to the buckets. I only feed the Benny's in their own res. 


Side note, the dang stretch set in over night! My plants stretched 2-3 inches last night alone! Woke up with a bud touching the lens luckily the light was off.
Of all the nights I :watchplant: this last one I finally got some sleep and then BAM! Stretch:rofl:


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## ozzydiodude

OG your ladies are shy. They don't want daddy watch them stretch. :rofl:

Sounds like the plants are recovered and really taking off


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## OGKushman

they are! 

 quite a few missed the stretch, and a few are recovering...but the harvest should be decent if it all keeps going like it is over the next few weeks. 

thanks yall!


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## OGKushman

So the 2 that were on their last leg (being treated with h202 and zone) have been flushed and started on benificials since my last update with pics. I completely expected them to die and just about wrote them off. 

Well, here's an update:

They are doing good and growing new roots. I hacked off the bottom 1/3 of those two plants because I figured it would give less stress on the root mass and all those lower branches were REALLY drooping. Nevertheless, they are still going.


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## trillions of atoms

sweet man...im glad it worked out!!!  they look great!


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## OGKushman

Update



Having issues uploading because size...see next post for canopy shot


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## OGKushman

Well my update is everything is going amazonian crazy in the garage! Stretch only seem to be effected by all the crap that happened in the first weeks of flower. 


Whats really crazy is just a month ago, I was about to give it all up! But the tea saved my sanity! I have a fresh batch brewing every few days, I dont store it in the fridge, i just mix 3 gallons of it and add it to my GH3 part before I fill the buckets.


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## OGKushman

I was topping off the buckets for a few days and the biggest baddest beast I have had to date suddenly stopped taking nutes and started its own water diet! WTH HAPPENED WITH THESE PLANTS?! :rofl:

It's doing ok now, luckily I was checking ppm. The ph was fine but the ppm went from 1100 to 1800 in 2 days! 

I have since switched all to str8 ph water for a few days to get them back on track. Only a few more weeks, and besides the minor clawing on a few nugs from the skyrocketing ppm, everything seems to be going well.


Pic 3 shows the clawing on the 7 footer


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## Hushpuppy

Nice jungle you got there G  Looks like they recovered nicely


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## OGKushman

Thanks! 

Quick question...I found some gnats in one bucket, damn these bugs are getting crazy. I am marking my calender for next year to not be flowering at the beginning of our spring. This is just rediculous. 

So anyways, CAN I USE AZAMAX WITH ONLY 2-3 weeks left? Anyone? I only use bug stuff in veg...


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## Hushpuppy

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. You can use the Azamax within 15 days but I wouldn't go any closer to harvest than that. I have found that the plants utilize and chelate the chemicals in the Azamax within about 10 days(as best I can figure from what I have read and experienced). I wouldn't go any closer to harvest than 15 days with it just to be sure that it is completely gone from the plant.

Killing those fungus gnats is a real PITA as they will get in the rez after the roots, but they will stay out of the water where the Azamax is. It will discourage them from chewing some but they seem to survive it. I have found fly tape works as good as anything(that isn't drastic).


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## Hushpuppy

I have heard that peppers work good for repelling bugs. Some on here have suggested boiling peppers to make a spray that can be applied harmlessly to the plants and will keep the bugs from getting on them. I also know that genuine pepper spray is made with the same chemical that is in the pepper oil. If you can get a liuttle pepper spray and spray the tops of the baskets and hydroton, and then the upper roots that don't reach the water below, you may be able to keep the gnats out. Then use the fly tape to catch them.


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## OGKushman

Thanks Hush!

I decided to azamax em. Instant death for the flying ones! Now they are floating in the buckets, larva and all. I am now going back to drain and refill with 1/2 strength nutes in an hour. Plants look unaffected...

:48: wish me luck


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## OGKushman

still rockin this one. looks like itll see a harvest. thanks go out to the bennies. :rofl:


~2 more weeks? fak i am tired of dealing with the 7 foot monsters and i want my garage back


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## OGKushman

Hurry up buds!


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## OGKushman

All chopped...possibly 2.5lbs... update on final weight in a few days


Some root shots:hubba:


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## CasualGrower

I never had the slime problems like this..... but I will have to read these threads to possibly combat this in the future.....

Grats on Harvest


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## brandylorton

OGKushman said:
			
		

> All chopped...possibly 2.5lbs... update on final weight in a few days
> 
> 
> Some root shots:hubba:



Very nice information given here regarding the  root in hydroponics. The root is the main part of the plant and if it is safe then the whole plant is going to grow very well.


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## Budders Keeper

for steering me to Heisenberg. I, too, have been fighting root problems for a few runs. I now have my best run in over a year finishing up. Used Heisenbergs exact recipe and plants exploded in just a couple days. 

 I just keep a 5gal bucket bubbling next to my ebb and grow barrel and put a couple cups a day in res. which now smells like rich soil, which is a little strange. 

Since I now have a living solution I'm even thinking about going with organic nutes next round. Using GH3 + cal/mag + tea now.

BTW, you might be happy to know the strain... OGKush X Afgooey :hubba: 

Thanks again OGK!


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## OGKushman

Well. This brown $hit returned. I am ashamed for various reasons.

For remembering how enthusiastic I used to be about growing and how I now have a grow room lacking maintenance. How I purchased so many products to save my beloved OG strain I’ve had since 2011, and never went back to tea.

I have no real excuse except that I had truly forgotten about this part of my life. The site crash really left me bitter. I had so much of my life documented. But I will be starting this Heisenberg tea regimen tomorrow and comparing it to the Monterey copper fungicide I purchased and already treated one vegging plant with. While I can’t guarantee I’ll be back here like I was, I do miss a lot of the old posters.

So crazy. It’s been so long. I’m deep into my 30’s now. I’ve moved to a bigger house. I have 2 kids now...and weed is legal in California.


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## WeedHopper

Good to see you back bro. 
Normally that problem is caused by heat or light leaks into the bucket. If your solution is to warm your roots will be yellow. They like cool water around 68f.


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## OGKushman

This time around the cure was more nutrients. After 10 years my GH 3 part 3grow 3micro 1bloom per gal for moms and early veg was not cutting it anymore.
I upped my grow to 4, micro to 5, and bloom still 1. I also changed my myco to MYCOS WP.

the copper fungicide all but killed the plant

the tea helped as much as just adding Mycos WP.

A full sterilization along with this new formula has given me another chance though and for that I am grateful.


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## bigsur51

that plant looks super healthy and happy

seems like you dialed in the right formula

say , do you mind sharing what is the source of your OG?

cheers
big


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## OGKushman

bigsur51 said:


> that plant looks super healthy and happy
> 
> seems like you dialed in the right formula
> 
> say , do you mind sharing what is the source of your OG?
> 
> cheers
> big


Thank you. OG raskal’s The White, white fire, and fire og seeds from sometime before 2012 or 2011.

I could sit here and tell you all day long about where I’ve been and who I’ve met and what I’ve seen but none of that matters because this is the only, best, and last strain I’ll ever need. Ive never gotten tired of it. You can basically ruin a grow and it’ll still lay you on the floor.
If I could open a shop I would name it OG Kush. I’d offer this one product. When asked why you’ll get the same reply. It’s all you need man.

I’m fortunate is all I can say. 

after some googling it (not the strains pictured here originally from 2012…The vegging mom I just posted here is it though) looks exactly like the white fire “wifi”


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## OGKushman

4” block on a 6” block and they need more. Looking fantastic


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## WeedHopper

Nice Root system.


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