Root Rot or Not?

Hey dudes,

Does this look infected? (haha!!!)
These are my roots pushing straight through the smart pot
I bottom feed my coco smart pots a small amount daily and they drink it all within a day.
I then do the same thing the next day.

Do the roots look cool? or have they started to turn funky?

You need to let them dry out a little. Not bone dry, but if you are getting roots to grow through the smartpots you’re over watering them.

Looking at the pic the smartpot looks over saturated as we speak. Don’t freak out just give them like 2-3 days before you water again. Maybe even longer depending on how small the plants are

Lift the pots right now, feel how heavy they are. Then wait til they dry out a bit( just before they start to wilt) then lift them again and feel the difference in weight. This will let you know when to water again.

Thank you! will do! the plants are kind of small.

NinjaMaster said:

Thank you! will do! the plants are kind of small.

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Then they cant take up to a week before you need to water them again. Just keep an eye on them and keep lifting till they feel light again.

Can you post a whole plant pic?

Yes! Here it is

The whole plant is only 35cm or 13 inches

NinjaMaster said:

Yes! Here it is

The whole plant is only 35cm or 13 inches

View attachment 4028182

Click to expand...

Hey that doesn't look bad at all. Just wait for it to dry out a little. I can't give you an exact time frame on when to water, but give it about 3-5 days. Then water and you should be fine.

You're doing good so far.

Gary Goodson said:

if you are getting roots to grow through the smartpots you’re over watering them.

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out of curiosity, why is that?
with coco, it is recommended to feed daily since it is hydro and not soil.

TCH said:

out of curiosity, why is that?
with coco, it is recommended to feed daily since it is hydro and not soil.

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Coco or peat-based soilless is about the same. Soak it down to saturation then let it dry out almost enough to make the plants wilt but not that much. Lift the pots to judge the weight and once they need a full watering every 2 days then it's time to up-pot. It's cool to up-pot while flowering too tho if just a couple weeks before the end it's not going to help.

When they get dry enough to need water they feel surprisingly light. Soak them good and let them sit in the tray with water for at least an hour to make sure every bit of the root ball is wet before taking out any left over runoff with a turkey baster or your suction tool of choice.

I measure how much a dry pot needs then when they are dry I just dump in about 90% of that when they need it so no runoff at all but I always use RO water so don't need to flush ever. Feed - water - feed - water . . . .

so i let it dry out fully.. it took just less than 48 hours.
when i lifted the pot it was surprisingly light and all the roots have shrivelled up and are turning brown and almost falling off! Air pruning i assume?

the growth never slowed down at all. in fact i think it grew a a little faster even.
Ill be letting it go dry wet from now on to observe what happens. but this should save nutrients and with no slowdown in growth. nice.

NinjaMaster said:

so i let it dry out fully.. it took just less than 48 hours.
when i lifted the pot it was surprisingly light and all the roots have shrivelled up and are turning brown and almost falling off! Air pruning i assume?

the growth never slowed down at all. in fact i think it grew a a little faster even.
Ill be letting it go dry wet from now on to observe what happens. but this should save nutrients and with no slowdown in growth. nice.

Click to expand...

Yes its pruning. the way it was before with the over watering, the roots felt like it was still in soil due to being so moist.

if your doing a coco hydro grow you feed every time you water. its suggested to water every day because if it dries out the salt becomes a problem. ( also pulls in fresh o2) the same reason its suggested to water to 20% runoff. the roots are growing out of the smart pot because your bottom feeding so the bottom is continuously wet.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/dynamos-emerald-harvest-coco-run.947061/#post-13734456

Root rot usually shows up with roots turning green or black. Those roots I can see are healthy.

Good luck, BigSteve.