Prevention from root rot

[Melnick]

I thought I would ask the pros before I went off and wasted my money. I have been fighting root rot for some time. This last time I was prefect until the weather started to get hot. I was not paying attention and root rot comes a calling. I have done everything, including H2O2. I am looking at something to help. I have heard of some root rot medication on the market. I want the strongest stuff out there. I am running small DWC, 1 gal, two plant systems. Thanks.

 

[massproducer]

Well honestly the only way to prevent root rot in a dwc is to lower the temps, the stable spores germinate in water with a temp of 28c, so you must keep them well below this. I use thing like voodoo juice and piranah from advanced nutrients because these create a colony of beneficials that will feed on the pathegens as the hatch. Then you just need to feed the beneficials with carbo-load or something similar.

This is the biggest problem with DWC, you Must control your temps or you will get root rot every single time because the spores are present at all times, so you can not let them germinate.

Try to take your plants out of your system and sit them in a solution of h202, i hardly ever use h202 unless I absolutely have to (like now) because the H202 will kill all bactaria and microbes wheater the are good or bad.

Unfortunatly once root rot has a good grip on your plants it is almost impossible to to get rid of it. It is all about prevention. I always say that if you can not get your temps in the correct zone then it may be time to switch your system because other systems are not quite as prone to root rot as DWC is.

Lastly you want to get a good enzyme like sensizye, this will break down all dead organic matter that is in your rez, things like dead root spots and leaves that happen to get into your rez, this is what the pathegens start to feed on and is how they start to thrive, so it is very important to keep the rez clean with some enzymes.

What are your temps at regularly?

 

[trillions of atoms]

^yup, rezz chiller ,air cooled hood vented out, ac cooling if need be and more arreation. all can help.

 

[Melnick]

I let the water temp get around 90 degrees for three days. I paid so much attention on prevention of rot root; but fail to check the temp. I now keep it around 73 f. If I let the reservoir get too hot over a short period, and do everything to protect my plants from root rot, I would still get it? I guess I overlook how important the temp should be. When you talk about enzymes are you talking about flora shield or something like that? I think I need to look into a better way of keeping the temp down, I use ice packs now. Thank.

 

[massproducer]

Yeah even if you protect your plants with super kryptonite, if the water temps reach 28c then the spores will germinate, and attack any and all organic matter, which in a DWC the greatest amount of organic matter is your roots. Like I said you could try adding some beneficials, like voodoo juice, but beneficals like air, high temps in the rez cuts the amount of air dissolved in the water drastically, so the beneficals are fighting now with the pathegens and your roots. Also your plants need a lot of Dissolved Oxygen but with the temps raising the get a lot less and become weaker and less able to uptake nutes, so therefore more prone to bactarial attacks. Pathegens and really any living thing that attacks your plants are always going to attack the weakest as it provides their greatest chance of victory.

As for controlling the temps, you need to first control your rooms temps, if you can get your room in the ideal zone then you will have no problems with rez temps because your rez will stay about 2 degrees lower then the ambient temps

 

[HippyInEngland]

Low Oxygen levels. (DO = Dissolved Oxygen). Temp's are the main reason for root rot, Low temps will lower the DO levels and high temps will cause low DO levels. Keeping temps between 65 to 72 will allow MAX DO levels or max o2 for roots.
Over watering also causes root rot, Root Rot infects parts of the roots, which then spread infecting the whole roots causing death, Root Rot can be caused by too high of temps in hydro as well as over watering. Not enough drainage in your soil can cause Root Rot, even signs of it looking over watered, because the soil holds moisture too long for the roots to dry out. So these 3 things are all connected together. The main one that causes everything is over watering. Once you find out you have root rot, depending on how bad the problem is, you can add H202( Hydrogen Peroxide) with your water or hydro setup to kill the bacteria caused from root rot. If the plant is severely taken over by it, there are only a few things you can do, cut off the roots affected by it depending on if its hair roots or tap roots, use H202 mixed with water in a different bucket and use it for a dip to help kill off bacteria before putting it back in the system, also note the system needs to be cleaned out if you have root rot.... using products like sm90 will kill off the root rot, using h202 in your system does more harm than good, it kills off the bad bacteria and good thus creating a worse off problem after the h202 has been overran, h202 if used in a hydro/aero system must be replaced everyday due to it dissipating from the air. After it disaptes the plants defensive system has been killed off by the h202 causing the root rot that was not killed by the h202 left and thus overruns the plants root system. So again h202 should never be used in the hydro system, be kept in the system, although it is safe to use to rid of algae growth in rockwool and other mediums, but never be used in with the root zones regularly. Sm90 is a good product you can use to kill off root rot. Hydroguard helps protect and there are many other products that work as well, hydroguard is one of the more popular ones that work.

 

[Roken]

I think you might find Silica blast from botanicare a great product for this. It not only helps prevent root rot from overwatering (which u might try to let your soil dry out a lill more between waterings) but also helps strengthen the immune system and fight off drought, tempurature fluctuations, and stress in general. It also can increase your yeaild by 6% also, it's a great product thats very cheap and it sell's for about 12$buck's at your local hydro shop. Use 1/2 tspn of "Silica Blast" per gal of water, can also mix in with your fert program without an imbalance or spike in ph. Good luck man let me know how this works for ya! Peace!!

 

[White Widow]

air conditioner and humidity levels should be checked @ least once a day if not twice. If this is not possible them get a humidify/heat gauge that will kick in when more then to much humidity or heat is present in the grow area.