A case of root rot

[Fomerballer]

My Harlequin was at approx week 10. All appeared well buds forming nice, looking healthy except for a couple dried leaves here and there.

I thought I had my system going good after all it was my 2nd grow ever and number 1 gave me super yield, Northern Lights. So I thought this weed grow is easy anyone can do it.

Well I was near the end of my Botanicare Bloom jug and it was pretty dark brown concentrate (I didn’t shake like I should off). I noticed my roots getting stained dark brown or so I thought.

As I started noticing a few leafs dying and my plant didn’t seem to be shooting or stretching like number 1, I became worried about root rot. I did a ton of reading and decided all the things I thought I learned along the way to make more efficient on number 1, I implemented on Harlequin from day 1.

 

[Fomerballer]

While growing number 1 the plant was, in bloom 6-7 weeks, drinking 3 gallons every day or 2 so I setup a 2nd resovior tank and would pump about 1-2 gallons a day to the main 5gal bucket. This seemed to work perfectly. I added it very late into the grow that it never had time to show itself how I messed up.

I shortcutted how I did the 2nd tank. It was basically an open top resovior. I justified that because the room it sat in was pretty dark. The other shortcut, instead of drilling a hole into the main tank I simply lifted the basket a bit and run the line under the basket.

Both of these shortcuts induced some serious light issues into the resovior causing a nice playground for bacteria growth.

A third mistake I made was leaving the main bucket in place without switching it out for fresh. In my mind I thought my secondary tank is getting fresh change every week so I’m good. Wrong!

Now fast forward that mindset to the new Harlequin fellow or I guess mistress. As a baby she got treated right fresh tank swap outs every week all measured and recorded etc. when she matured and I saw her first bud start. I switched over to my 2 tank system thinking how smart I became from that first grow, you know getting ahead of the curve on this one. Well at that point I slowly started poisoning her. Again slowly at first, bacteria takes time to grow.

The plant continued to grow, more buds popped up etc all looked good. About 4-5 weeks into bloom is when I though she seems to be not growing much, not like the northern lights. That’s when I realized what happened and it all crashed down on me.

On the surface the plant looked ok all green buds etc. below the surface, the roots looked bad. Comparing it to pictures out there I’d say it was about as bad as any.

I immediately went into save mode. I felt I may be able to save something here roots very bad but her leaves were still green and smelled good. I ended the 2nd tank completely. Completely clean all resovior with bleach and soap. Started her main tank over with a healthy dose of aqua flush. I let that sit for a couple of hours also washed over her rock wool with flush.

I next started a new tank with nutes and added aquagard. I have been adding about a tablespoon or 2 every week along with a fresh clean tank of nutes.

It’s been 3 weeks since this happened. She has produced completely new roots out of the rock wool and while she is not stretching and shooting up hieght wise. I have noticed this week her buds are starting to thicken up.

My take always, while light is great for growth, remember everything likes light even bacteria seal your tanks from light. Keep everything extremely clean bacteria thrives in unsanitary tanks. Seal your 2ndary tanks as well.

I’m sure I am going to continue making mistakes but hopefully I’ll learn and be able to apply it next round.

While root rot is devistating it can be corrected if you take immediate action. I’m sure my Harlequin will not produce much yield but it is not a total loss either. It would suck to be into it at 10 weeks and have to start completely over.

Thanks for reading!