Should have more roots?

[winterwhisper]

My plants are about 2 months old. Last week I transplanted from soil into air injected ( soil/hydro). I do not have circulating water...just bubbled air. The plants were doing fine except one which looked like it was dying. Took a look at her today and found and smelled slime. I don't understand it since I treat all the plants the same way and last week gave them some molasses and fish emulsion. I also took a gander at the root system which I think looks puny.
At this age shouldn't I have more of a root system? Any suggestions for keeping slime at bay...hydrogen peroxide??

 

[BuddroGreen]

Pictures would help us

What is the temp of your reservoir?

Good oxygen content with air stones?

Adding molasses in a hot reservoir is asking for trouble, unless you have some bennie's in there, I would get some Hydroguard or Recharge conditioner, or a new product I have been using for a week now and it works well for roots, it's called Flying Skull z7. I have used those products with great success and my reservoir is room temp @ 76f.

 

[winterwhisper]

There was acceptable air coming through I think but since I first discovered it I replanted all the buckets and switched from hydrid growing straight into hydro bubble buckets. I cleaned up the roots and air tubes and gave new water and all. So far they seem to be doing fine . Even the "dead" one seems to be coming back to life with new growth ontop of the dead ones. I added some h202 for some added kill effect to damaged ones. I don't have a separate reservoir..just a whole lotta water in each bucket. As I understad it I need to do a complete water change every 2 weeks with this kind of system since I don't have recirculating water. I can't wait to see root growth! I have a pic under the users gallery with winterwhisper. The pics system here is different from other sites or I'm not doing it right.

Pictures would help us

What is the temp of your reservoir?

Good oxygen content with air stones?

Adding molasses in a hot reservoir is asking for trouble, unless you have some bennie's in there, I would get some Hydroguard or Recharge conditioner, or a new product I have been using for a week now and it works well for roots, it's called Flying Skull z7. I have used those products with great success and my reservoir is room temp @ 76f.

 

[BuddroGreen]

If you transplanted them into hydro buckets and they are coming around, that's great! Best to change reservoir every 10 days or so, 14 days should be alright. Since you went to bubble buckets/hydro make sure to keep the water cool as possible normally 68-72f is ideal for hydro reservoir, that's were the most DO (dissolved oxygen) is contained in the water, and the cool water temps help keep the bad bacteria away which causes root rot, and the bio slime that forms on your roots.

If you reservoir gets over 72f, then I would keep using the H2o2, or look into Hydroguard by Botanicare, Recharge by realgrowers, and z7 by Flying Skull, just make sure you have plenty of air stone oxygen going into the nutrient solution in reservoir.

 

[winterwhisper]

Thanks for the response. Good to know I'm doing something right..but then one of my four seems top be bushing up nicely. I'm a littel unclear on water levels. It would seem that despite some reading perlite DOES wick water so for optimum effects is the water not to touch the bottom of the mesh pots at all or can it reach about an inch into it?

 

[BuddroGreen]

If you're using net pots and running in a DWC bucket setup, reddish hydroton rocks is what you should be using. Perlite is white and more for passive hydro/coco/soil...you can use it in a swick system as well.

In a DWC setup, the water usually is 1 1/2"-2" from the bottom of the net pot(black mesh looking pot) allowing the air bubbles to burst and mist the roots.

 

[winterwhisper]

Thank you kindly.

If you're using net pots and running in a DWC bucket setup, reddish hydroton rocks is what you should be using. Perlite is white and more for passive hydro/coco/soil...you can use it in a swick system as well.

In a DWC setup, the water usually is 1 1/2"-2" from the bottom of the net pot(black mesh looking pot) allowing the air bubbles to burst and mist the roots.