Brown roots or build up. What exactly is this and how to fix?

[morphRx]

Set up: 7 gallon Current Culture tub/bucket. Standard 2 hose air pump. Net pot with small Grodan cubes on bottom and on sides of the Grodan block. No light leaks in tub and water temp is always below 70 and above 60 (62-67).

Nutrients: Was using Advanced Nutrients original formula Micro Grow Bloom, Cal-Mag+, Protekt Silica, B-52, SeaGreen Hydro, (few other additives here and there) - But recently switched to AN Jungle Juice A&B formula w/ the silica and cal-mag, no more B-52, SeaGreen and any other additives (Switched nutes to see if would help with root problem or the build up)

Since the beginning I've been having this problem you see in the pictures. There's this type of brown gunk or build up on my roots, the stuff rinses off when sprayed down with water, but still leaves the roots stained and not clean white.

I thought it was maybe from the additives leaving a salt/gunk build up, so I cut all additives and used only MGB, Silica, & Cal-Mag. After dropping the additives I noticed the gunk/build up coming back so I changed base nutrients to Jungle Juice, I thought I read somewhere the MGB formula was an organic formula which left build ups on other growers roots and side of buckets (reason why I dropped the additives in the beginning).

So I did a lot of experimenting with my nutrients, using this product and removing this product thinking it was from a certain product. But I'm not really seeing any improvements. I just did a rez change about a day or 2 ago using only Jungle Juice, Cal-Mag+, and Protekt Silica. I scrub good and do a root rinse with every rez change (which happens every 7-14 days). I recently picked up some Cannazym to help breakdown dead root material, but not really noticing any difference with it.

Seems like anything I do doesn't work. Can the Jungle Juice leave any type of build up on roots? Anyone ever experience the issue with those nutes?

I'm waiting for black friday to come so I can go drop $100(40% off) or so on nutrients to stock back up and pick up a few products for a tea recipe I read for beneficial microbes.


By looking at the pictures and what you've read, could any of you diagnose what my problem is? Is it a root slime? What can I do?

Also, what is a great nutrient line to use for DWC that doesn't leave any type of build up anywhere in tub/bucket? (Would like to try em out to see if nute build up is even the issue here)

ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED
Thank you!
morph

 

[SnaFu]

Yeah it's slime buddy. A baaad case of it, too. Make that tea you're talking about, make it EXACTLY how the instructions say, and she'll probably bounce back.

In the meantime i'd clean the roots with my sink's sprayer, and sterilize them with bleach. It sounds scary but they'll be fine. Then replace with just water and cal mag if it's RO. No nutes. They're just feeding the pathogens (bad stuff).

Once the tea is brewed, clean system, reclean roots and sterilize system, add just water and tea. 12 hrs later add just base nutes at 1/4 strength, and slowly bring the ppm up to normal over a few days once new root shoots are exploding. And they will explode!!

Good luck let us know!

 

[Dankplant]

I was having that same problem when i started my hydro grow. Try adding either another air pump, or just a more powerful one. The slime feeds off the nutes and water, but oxygen is like poison to it.

 

[Gadfly]

Don't waste your money pissing nutrients on a problem. When your roots look like that they're not taking in those nutes efficiently anyhow. I'm not experienced enough to tell you how to reverse your situation. I do know of some products that can help prevent it in the future though.

You may want to start looking into Zone or Root Zone depending on the brand. It's a root conditioner designed primarily for hydro. There is also H2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) that helps to kill pathogens and prevent what you're dealing with.

Try hunting down member JJ Bones. He runs a supply shop/site sponsor and is very responsive to questions.

 

[AzLaker]

Had the same problem years ago. I talked to my local Hydro store and was turned on to "Root66", did wonders for me. You use it the first month of grow. Nice fat healthy WHITE roots.
I use Jungle Juice also and have no problems whatsoever. But I don't use a bunch of additives either. Just J.J. and Root66 the first month, then when I flip them, I add Bud Blood and Bud Candy for the first 2 weeks of 12/12, then for the next 4 weeks, I use Bud Candy along with Big Bud. Plain H2O the last 2 weeks.

AzLaker

 

[lendee]

Hi: Had the same problem in my RDWC system (caused by to little air "dispersed oxygen" in my system) used h202 to remove but in hind site I would use tea. I use now a regiment of Orca this is a premium mycorrhizal fungi that I use from start to finish (kind of a anti virus for hydroponics) this stuff kicks ass on what ever bad things you may get. Haven't had a lick of problem sense.

 

[MikeTbob]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago. I only added 1 Teaspoon of 3% peroxide and it cleared up. Clean everything, change the nutes and then add one teaspoon....should clear up within 3-5 days. My tanks only have about 3 gallons of water so you might want to adjust accordingly.

 

[departed]

Had some root rot leftover from a dead plant that I had to cut few weeks ago, added 1 and 1/2 of 6% h202 to 35 litres of phd water for about 15 min and today theyre like new, just make sure all the dead root is gone and bobs your uncle. Even tho ita my first grow I honestly believe that 1/2 ounce of h202 every 3 dqys will keep them healthy and it keeps the water aerated