Root Rot? (Say it isn't so)

Hey all! So I’m about 5 weeks into my first grow and i think i have root rot. I use RO water at about 500ppm of GH (Micro, Grow, Bloom, Rapid start, Calmag) and my PH stays about 6.5 I have also been adding Hydroguard at 2ml/gallon. From the begging the water temp was around 75 which i knew was high. I ordered a chiller about week 3 and installed this week, however i think i’m to late. What now? Back to seedlings?

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Roots look good if they had root rot they would be slimy and brown the gh trio will stain your roots a bit but that’s fine . you should lower your pH a little bit though

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Looks like you have a bad case of nutrient stain lol. Looks good man. Oh and hydro pH is 5.5 - 6.0 and I keep mine at 5.7 - 5.8 just in case it ever changes a little.

@YourBasicWhiteBoy

First I want to welcome you to ILGM
and to or outstanding community " Welcome My Friend "

Ok, you are just fine, those roots look fine.
Now if they looked like these photo’s you would have big trouble

ROOT ROT

thG5BKGHG2

thIRG8QUGK

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Thanks for the support guys! Relived to know its just a stained! Lol i guess i can be a bit high strung and duly noted on the PH, Its nute change day so i will start running them around 5.8. Thanks again! It makes my day better to know i don’t have to start over!

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@TDubWilly has something to say about pythium control: the chiller is your best defense. However; he uses Hydrogen Peroxide and his technique might have bearing on what you are doing at some point.

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Im no expert but I’ve seen pythium on allot of grows and that looks like the start of pythium to me, not staining… keep in mind, that’s just the opinion of a non expert diagnosing some pictures lol.

It doesn’t look out of control to me and i have never added a chiller mid grow, so i don’t know exactly what to expect…

With that being said, no further along than what your root rot is, if i was to venture a guess, i would think if you just keep doing what your doing in combination with the chiller, i would think you will be just fine.

Pythium only lives in anaerobic (low oxygen) environments so in hydro make sure

  1. Water temps stay below 70, the water holds more o2 this way, I set my Chiller at 66 to 67 degrees.
  2. Upsize your air pump or add an extra air pump, to pump more o2 into the water.
  3. Hydrogen peroxide can help kill some pythium and add an extra oxygen molecule to the water but don’t use it and hydroguard together, only separately.
  4. Consider electrolysis for upping your Dissolved oxygen levels. I’ve never done it but i believe you can DIY these things pretty easily. You will have salt buildup that you will have to clean sometimes as a byproduct of electrolysis.
  1. Make sure there is no light getting in your resevoir except when adding water. Light promotes the growth of algae which will compete with your roots for the oxygen in your water, dropping overall dissolved oxygen levels.

All off these tips will help increase your waters dissolved oxygen levels which will in turn make it harder for pythium to live.

And for the best growth get that pH to 5.8 for sure :wink:

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The info just never stops… . Thanks for the tips TDub, helped me was well!.

:eyeglasses::dark_sunglasses:

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Thankyou all for the support! As almost unanimously noted I have lowered my PH to 5.8, also added Peroxide at 2Ml/Gallon. T Dub I’m running a 950gph air pump for a total of four large air stones split between two buckets. I’m new to all of this so not sure if that is considered alot or not but it seems like a lot to me lol. Also definitely interested in electrolysis but i built a hydrogen pump once and this kind of seems like the same thing, is it not?

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That was my first thought when I seen this video. Yes you’re oxygenating the water but you’re also breaking the hydrogen atom off from it. I worry that over time you’d end up with a dangerous amount of hydrogen in the room. And considering I smoke in my grow room that scares the hell out of me.

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Lol, i smoke in my grow room also but its not a completely sealed room, fresh air is still being brought in and exhausted out.

From my understanding, the hydrogen output is so small that it is of no concern but i have never checked that for myself. I can say i ran an o2 grow in 2017 and had no ill effects from it :slightly_smiling_face: @DoobieNoobie

I’m not exactly sure what a hydrogen pump is but what I can say is electrolysis is the process by which the United States Navy submarines create oxygen out of ocean water for the onboard mariners and they also use it in some way to keep rust off things like their carriers

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That’s good to know. My room I guess you can say is a sealed room for now. So I’m probably a bit more over cautious than needed. But once I get the addition completed it’ll be different.

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I agree with my little buddy @TDubWilly. I’ve had problems with root rot in the past, and finally got a chiller for this grow

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