Mohican,
Not sure if you ever got your "brown root" problem figured out yet, but I know why it was/is happening. I grow in hydroton sometimes and I get the same issue when my plants start getting huge. My last harvest I got 15 dry oz. off of one plant in a 1 gallon bucket filled with hydroton. My roots look like yours and are extremely compact. I couldn't even get the root ball out of the container last time and had to shatter the bucket to get them out because they were so dense. The biggest root was 1/2" thick and was as hard as steel.
The reason the roots get brown is because when your plants get so frickin huge, the root mass becomes way to clogged up and root bound. The water does not drain fast enough inbetween waterings and creates an oxygen-less environment. It's not due to the FloraNova. I use Canna nutes and they are much thinner and clearer. I even had one nasty spot of root rot in my root ball because the water does not drain off fast enough due to the thick ass roots.
The only thing that can be done to solve the issue is to not grow plants so big so that the root mass doesn't clog up the planting container. Or use a bigger container for the roots, like a 3 gallon or something. I've always been really impressed with how thick and huge the roots get in hydroton, but it's not good when they can't drain out.
That's a damn Big call to say you '
KNOW' but your hearts in the right place
i don't believe this is the issue at all....You can grow as big plant as you like, the root issue has nothing to do with plant size as the bigger a plant is, certain parts of the roots will harden off and branch out accordingly and the hard roots take on less water. Basic plant adaption the plant will build a root system big enough to support it's weight and nutritional needs. Mo's reservoir is plenty big enough in my opinion. Hydroton is a fantastic medium for plants but also requires less watering than perlite, so easier to over water, which can lead to root issues...I don't think it's possible to conclude an exact reason why Mo's roots went like this, there could be a few reasons or as simple as not enough lighting and heat in his environment. A good rule of thumb for new growers is do some basic research have a look at some grows online that show decent detail and easy to source materials, and basically go off what they do and if something goes wrong you will have a better idea what's at fault. But if trying new ways and custom everything it becomes guesswork or a multitude of problems. Hydro can be an easy ball game, or you can make it complicated. The latter may turn you off all together and we don't want that now do we
If you or anyone is worried about power bills, i still say go for atleast a 250-400 watt HPS/MH a 250watt may increase your bill no more than 15-20% the money you will save in not buying street hay..... easily money for a new $200 G-spot Gold plated Bong. hehe You HAVE to have Light and you HAVE to have air. Not enough light and you are destined for issues.
Good luck Mo
still waitin on some of your gorgeous outdoories! they gotta be throwin out some flower pistils now?!?
After my good hard loooong stoned thinking session on cannabis tincture i came to this conclusion...with not enough lighting the leaves will not transpire or photosynthesize efficiently therefore the roots will retain water and not dry out at all. This i believe will cause a similar issue, not saying this
was but could of been....The roots need to be sucking, and they won't if they don't need to if you know what i mean. They will lay dormant, this got me thinking as to why you didn't get those 'root hairs' like fish bones, as they are the 'suckers' if you do a bit of reading on roots....finding a good balance will increase 02 in the root system and increase mass of root hairs. In addition to good lighting i'm saying.