PetFlora
Well-Known Member
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 in between 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.
You should see them in lava rock. Plus my lp aero delivery system has something to do with it