jjng5
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine is curious why he continues to have issues with root rot with his DWC hydroponic setup. He has killed off 6 fem seeds already and now his new crop just began to show leaf drop today and upon closer inspection.. the early stages of root rot with 4 new strains...
Here's what he's running...
950 air pump split across two res 10gal buckets with two 8" air stones each. Using General Hydroponic MaxiGrow line (powder nuts, organic free). pH balanced water between 5.7-6.0 approx 350ppm for plants under 4-5" tall. Good ventilation with two mini fans inside the tent and a small exhaust keeping negative pressure to prevent inbound spores. Temps between 75-80 degrees and humidity maintained between RH 45-55%. His grow area is very clean, wiped down, the floors mopped with diluted bleach and CLR-Mold products.
He's run with and without Hydroguard + Oregonism XL beneficial organisms. With his last attempt (where he killed 6 fem strain seeds) he ran alternating Hydrogen peroxide and deluded bleach. His new setup he's running the recommend concentration of Hydroguard by Botanicare plus a little more than 1/8 tsp of Oregonism XL. In his previous run he used Rapid Start and Thrive Alive liberally, this time he has tried to stay away from them or used in very very small doses (fearing that it could feed root rot / fungi spores).
He's been having to change his res tank way too frequently (every 4-5 days)!
My best guess is that it's the 1" rockwool (which is where the seeds are started and then transplanted into 3" net pots and clay pellets. The 1" rockwool cube is not placed too close to the bottom of the pot or too close to the top -- it's in the center of the 3" net pots and light proof plastic discs are placed at the top of the net pots to aid in preventing light penetration to the root zone or res.
Once root rot is suspected, he immediately breaks everything down, sterilizes everything and cuts away any unhealthy looking roots. However... upon inspection there is black root rot around the bottom of the rockwool cubes that he has to cut away from the cubes... this has happened in both runs (sterile and microbes DWC). Do you that that this is the source of his root rot? He cannot image where else it would be coming from. I'm thinking that his water level is too high. I've read all different opinions on water level's. So for his first run he kept water levels 1/2" above the bottom of net pots. This run he is running between just the bottom of his pot where it's barely touching or barely below. Upon inspection other holes in the DWC bucket that are not being used but are filled with clay pellets and covered, when he looks at them they are all moist. Provided that he's running two highly aerated airstones, perhaps he needs to keep the water levels even lower to prevent too much moisture in the root zone and therefore surrounding the rockwell cubes?
He's very interested in some feedback as he's very frustrated
Thank you!!!!!
Here's what he's running...
950 air pump split across two res 10gal buckets with two 8" air stones each. Using General Hydroponic MaxiGrow line (powder nuts, organic free). pH balanced water between 5.7-6.0 approx 350ppm for plants under 4-5" tall. Good ventilation with two mini fans inside the tent and a small exhaust keeping negative pressure to prevent inbound spores. Temps between 75-80 degrees and humidity maintained between RH 45-55%. His grow area is very clean, wiped down, the floors mopped with diluted bleach and CLR-Mold products.
He's run with and without Hydroguard + Oregonism XL beneficial organisms. With his last attempt (where he killed 6 fem strain seeds) he ran alternating Hydrogen peroxide and deluded bleach. His new setup he's running the recommend concentration of Hydroguard by Botanicare plus a little more than 1/8 tsp of Oregonism XL. In his previous run he used Rapid Start and Thrive Alive liberally, this time he has tried to stay away from them or used in very very small doses (fearing that it could feed root rot / fungi spores).
He's been having to change his res tank way too frequently (every 4-5 days)!
My best guess is that it's the 1" rockwool (which is where the seeds are started and then transplanted into 3" net pots and clay pellets. The 1" rockwool cube is not placed too close to the bottom of the pot or too close to the top -- it's in the center of the 3" net pots and light proof plastic discs are placed at the top of the net pots to aid in preventing light penetration to the root zone or res.
Once root rot is suspected, he immediately breaks everything down, sterilizes everything and cuts away any unhealthy looking roots. However... upon inspection there is black root rot around the bottom of the rockwool cubes that he has to cut away from the cubes... this has happened in both runs (sterile and microbes DWC). Do you that that this is the source of his root rot? He cannot image where else it would be coming from. I'm thinking that his water level is too high. I've read all different opinions on water level's. So for his first run he kept water levels 1/2" above the bottom of net pots. This run he is running between just the bottom of his pot where it's barely touching or barely below. Upon inspection other holes in the DWC bucket that are not being used but are filled with clay pellets and covered, when he looks at them they are all moist. Provided that he's running two highly aerated airstones, perhaps he needs to keep the water levels even lower to prevent too much moisture in the root zone and therefore surrounding the rockwell cubes?
He's very interested in some feedback as he's very frustrated
Thank you!!!!!
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