Struggling with my plants

[GoogleGenie]

I've not a hydro grower but ill try some common sense.

Could have fooled me bro

1.your roots are unhealthy. Brown and slimy suggest root rot. (Hydrogaurd or cannazym may help the situation in the future)
For the size of those plants those roots are tiny. When my plants are that size in pro mix hp they'll fill a solo cup with roots.

2. unhealthy roots mean their not feeding so the plants are cannibalizing themselves where you see burnt leafs and no chlorophyll.

3. The droopy effect could mean overwatered. Is there not enough oxygen getting to your roots? How far away is the water level to the to the roots? Are those bubblers working well?

4. I get purple veins and stems on some plants.
Some people say its genetics. Some say ph. Some say too cold temps at night. Its a range of what ifs.


Your main problem is your roots.
Me personally. I'd stop adding UC Roots and I'd stop adding the other root thing and just stick to the trio and the calmag and then rhe UC roots. Roots will grow if the plant is healthy. (Cuttings will grow roots in a glass of water without any fancy rooting compounds. )

I would also make a solution of hydrogen peroxide (3% strength that you buy at the pharmacy)
Id then take that and mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 3 parts water.

Take your your plant and roots out of the reservoir and wipe they dry. Cut off any extremely brown or slimy roots and then bath your roots in this solution. Hydrogen peroxide has an extra oxygen molecule that will help the roots hopefully. Once you stick the roots in this solution you should little bubbles from the peroxide cleaning your plants roots.

And then just feed them a bit of your three part, calmag and uc roots. Stay away from the other additives for now and once plant is established a bit more roots give that a shot again.

This is just my advice for your situation. Therrs really not a whole lot of other options.
Your plants are going to die if you dont do something for the roots thats just plain and simple..

@MackMurder absolutely nailed it! Pretty good hydro grower, for a not hydro grower

That's the s*** right there!! Nice work! The plant is thriving now!

Also- I'm glad your sticking it out on the hydro, keep up the attention and attitude and you'll have a reward from her.

Well put @Rexer

@GoogleGenie goes into controlling pH in his journals. Maybe worth looking in to see what he's doing. Looks like you're back on track now

Thanks for the tag @VetSmoke85

Nice work guys. I'm late to the party, but it was a good story! Those roots look awesome now!

 

[MackMurder]

Could have fooled me bro

@MackMurder absolutely nailed it! Pretty good hydro grower, for a not hydro grower

That's the s*** right there!! Nice work! The plant is thriving now!

Well put @Rexer

Thanks for the tag @VetSmoke85

Nice work guys. I'm late to the party, but it was a good story! Those roots look awesome now!

Eiiiiii

 

[BAKIND]

Hi,

Let us know how your grow continues, I will make some comments.

1. Your water temp should range between 62.6 and 71.6 degrees. This is because in this range, oxygen is best absorbed by the roots. If your water temp goes too much higher, the oxygen available to the roots will decrease. You can compensate for this by pumping additional oxygen into the water.

2. Daily control of ph is required. A lot depends on your nutes, I keep my ph at 5.5-5.6 during veg. Drifting to 6.7-6.8 is way high for hydro.

3. PPM should be at 500-550 at this stage, and really, you could finish the whole grow at that level. 180-200 PPM is way low.


4. Keep light at a distance from the plants. For veg growth, for example, I am using a 250 watt Metal Halide at no closer than 12 inches from the plants. The higher the wattage, the more distance you should have.

5. Plants need a light breeze on them. In addition you should be exhausting air out of your tent.

This is my current DWC grow. I will post more pics later when lights come on.

 

[Tez420]

Just when I thought we were okay, the rot strikes again... still running my 3 part, cal mag, hydroguard & silica.

I gave it 10 days in between changing out the buckets. I would have waited longer but there was small shit in the water/on the sides of the bucket. Even the new growth is slightly tan.

 

[1ne eye]

Do you have lots of air bubbles in your bucket, also what temp is your water? Light leaks into bucket?

 

[013]

The order in which you mix your nutes makes a difference, I’m not a hydro grower but I re-read opening paragraph to recall that you are new so maybe write down your exact process for the group to see and critique. We are not here to bust your chops but to help you get it sorted.

Is it tap water? What’s your starting ph? What ingredient do you add first? Walk us thru it and maybe something will jump out. After mixing you nutes how long do you wait before adjusting ph?

Don’t quote me here and let the hydro guys say yes or no to this but do you start with silica first cause that matters. I’m thinking you should chop the brown roots and do a res change but don’t do that based on just my word.

Also what kind of floor surface is under the tent, sound crazy but could be cold feet. If tent is sitting on tile floor or concrete slab that makes a difference. Take hygrometer reading on the floor and give us that temp measurement. Prolly need to get buckets elevated up, the floor is the coldest point in any room or tent.... Hydro is beyond me but hang in there -more help is on the way

 

[GoogleGenie]

Hey @Tez420

As @1ne eye mentioned above, make sure you have no light leaks, including covering the clay pebbles, light gets through there. Light + Water + Oxygen = algae.

If you gently tug on those brown roots (also holding the white ones making sure they aren’t being pulled out of the net pot) do they come away from the white ones? If so just pull them away and get rid. But not if it will pull the white ones out.

I’d suggest you clean the roots best you can. Ideally swap out your res for fresh (clean your bucket if possible). And again, make sure you’re totally light proof. The rot is coming from your res. Not your net pot. The roots at the pot are healthy.

Also I use black non translucent airline. But as yours is translucent maybe put some tape where the line meets the bucket to block light getting in.

 

[Tez420]

There’s lots of bubbles coming from my air stones. I mix my nutes in this order, letting each settle and dissolve for a little : silica, calmag, floratrio micro, grow, bloom, hydroguard, then I ph right after to 5.75. It usually spikes a little the day after so I ph back down to 5.75. I’m using tap water that ppms at like 20. My buckets are still sitting on the floor but stays at a consistent 67-68 water temp. The buckets are wrapped covering the majority of the bucket(zoom in on the picture of all 3 plants). I cleaned one plants res and mixed up the same nutes to see if that makes a difference. There’s a good amount of different sized hydroton so I can’t see light leaking from there. The air lines are clear which I will change but I’ve seen other grows successfully use clear air lines.

 

[1ne eye]

Everything sounds good, not sure about the tap water i use RO water weather that makes a differance or not. Are all your plants like this?

 

[Tez420]

Yea all 3 plants are being affected the same way. Hydroguard doesn’t seem to be making a difference anywhere.

 

[1ne eye]

Kind of strange when they were starting to recover and then went to shit again. i'm puzzled for the moment.

 

[GoogleGenie]

The air lines are clear which I will change but I’ve seen other grows successfully use clear air lines.

Just trying to eliminate any possible causes. Light leaks being one of them. Clear tubing leaves potential for light to enter your res.

Kind of strange when they were starting to recover and then went to shit again. i'm puzzled for the moment.

Me too @1ne eye.

What's changed since you got rid of the issue? Have you introduced anything new into the res? Any organic nutrients?

 

[Rexer]

Your hydroguard might have gone bad?

Just trying to eliminate any possible causes. Light leaks being one of them. Clear tubing leaves potential for light to enter your res.

Me too @1ne eye.

What's changed since you got rid of the issue? Have you introduced anything new into the res? Any organic nutrients?

If it wasn't 100% gone from the peroxide treatments a "foothold" for the rot may have been left allowing it to come back.

Could always double down, add in some great white or Orca (liquid form of great white). Maybe consider increasing the hydroguard?

Just tossing some ideas around

 

[bluter]

bacteria and crap gets in the joints and between mating surfaces etc.

the only way to really get it all is take the whole thing apart to zero and clean every piece, then re-assemble. it blows hard on a big system if you have to. i've been there.

between seals is a particular piss off of mine due to how i used to build stuff.
the new undercurrent systems are way better than the top dwc systems for avoiding stuff.

i really don't like a green bucket. you've negated the worst with the wrap though. the clear feed tube in to it isn't the best, and might be contributing. may be something to consider.

other than that if you add a chiller none of the other stuff gets a foothold.

 

[Tez420]

Nope I’m still using the exact same nutes and amounts that started to produce growth. I’m using a brand new bottle of hydroguard at 5 ml in 3 gallons of water. I never actually did any peroxide treatments, I just cut the brown roots and mixed a new nutrient solution. My water temps are consistently at 67.5ish, still run a chiller? I’m cleaning my buckets with peroxide between each res swap, u mean clean the whole tent?
I took a peak at my air stones and it does look like debris or something is stuck to it.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Nope I’m still using the exact same nutes and amounts that started to produce growth. I’m using a brand new bottle of hydroguard at 5 ml in 3 gallons of water. I never actually did any peroxide treatments, I just cut the brown roots and mixed a new nutrient solution. My water temps are consistently at 67.5ish, still run a chiller? I’m cleaning my buckets with peroxide between each res swap, u mean clean the whole tent?
I took a peak at my air stones and it does look like debris or something is stuck to it.

It might be worth cleaning up the air stones with some h2o2 perhaps, just to get rid. If you consistently hit those res temps I wouldnt say you need a chiller. I have a chiller to hit those temps.

Something is causing algae or other nasties in your res, this could be:

- Lack of oxygen
- Less than ideal temps
- Organic nutrients in your res
- Light

The first 3 we can chalk off. Which is why I suggested eliminating any light leaks what so ever, no matter how insignificant you think they might be. We know it's in the res because the roots coming out of the pot are healthy.

What state are the roots in now? Are they still intact or have they come away?

 

[bluter]

it'll keep coming back grow after grow once it starts. it isn't going to quit until you find the source and eliminate it.

 

[Tez420]

I checked the buckets tonight and I can see lots of something in the water... I will tape my air lines tmr, and clean the air stones. I’ll cut the funky roots down and change the water too.. hopefully that does something

 

[Tez420]

I was thinking about trying out some distilled water next change any thoughts

 

[Tez420]

I’m not sure I’m experiencing root rot, I cut a piece of brown root off and ran it under some water to find the brown wipes off. Idk if it’s not rot for certain but the residue on my roots is pretty similar to gh micro