Plants in hydro abruptly started dying

[ChenBentz]

I have 3 plants in DWC. Everything was going great, fast growth under 1000w HPS.

The other day, I trimmed them and also started another 500w HPS in the same room which brought temps up a bit and that's when the plants started wilting.

Looking at the roots, I found some rot and some slime. I figure it might have been a combination of some leaves falling into the reservoir and the higher temps (still haven't turned on AC this year).

So, I took apart all the containers and the reservoir and cleaned them with bleach and replaced the water with H2O2 (concentration of 120ml of 3% per gallon) for 12 hours.

Then I dumped the H2O2 water and filled everything up like before with R/O water and the same nutes, and.. nothing has changed.

They're continuously wilting, dying a little more every day as if I just hadn't done anything.

So, either the damage done was so severe that even though they were absolutely thriving a day before - they received a permanent death sentence the day after, or I did not fix the issue properly.

I would really appreciate the help because I've spent months on these plants.

Here they are, perfectly healthy:



A few hours later, after trimming:


And the following day:


Here is what the roots looked like before the H2O2 treatment:



This is how they look now, and getting worse every day:

 

[Growdude]

I've never seen root rot devastate so quickly. Though you are showing problems in the "perfectly healthy pic"
What is the Rez temp? what did you feed them? PH?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I suspect root rot too (although I don't think a leaf in the res caused your problems). Most likely heat and/or not enough bubbles. However, I didn't see you mention EC or pH anywhere. Correct pH and EC are critical to successful DWC grows. Not meaning to sound mean, but you have probably had some issues going on your entire grow if you've "spent months on these plants". They are very small for hydro plants that are 2 months old. Unfortunately, I do not think that there is any way to save these--they are just too far gone. I am so sorry.

Why did you trim them? And are you sure the 500W you added was an HPS? In decades of growing, I don't think I have ever seen a 500W HPS.

 

[QBCrocket]

Root rot seems unlikely being how quick this has hit , and your roots still look white , Adding another light straight after such aggressive trimming , would not of helped , I would be thinking heat stress , turn the lights off for 24hrs and see if the stems start to turn back up , what is the EC and PH

 

[ChenBentz]

I suspect root rot too (although I don't think a leaf in the res caused your problems). Most likely heat and/or not enough bubbles. However, I didn't see you mention EC or pH anywhere. Correct pH and EC are critical to successful DWC grows. Not meaning to sound mean, but you have probably had some issues going on your entire grow if you've "spent months on these plants". They are very small for hydro plants that are 2 months old. Unfortunately, I do not think that there is any way to save these--they are just too far gone. I am so sorry.

Why did you trim them? And are you sure the 500W you added was an HPS? In decades of growing, I don't think I have ever seen a 500W HPS.

It's a 1000w HPS w/a digital ballast set at 50%. I trim them because otherwise there would be too many bud sites which would result in popcorn buds, the light wouldn't be able to penetrate properly and I would have no way to hold up the stems which would only get longer.

I have been trying to keep EC and pH at reasonable levels but I have three pH meters and they all give different readings even after I calibrate them. This might be the cause of the slow growth.

I have a huge air pump, so the only risk I think would be too much air which I've been told raises pH.

I have another tiny plant in soil (you can see in the photos) and it's not dying nor growing at all. Do you think it's possible there is a genetic problem?