What's the best treatment for Fusarium stem rot?

[Brass Monkey]

I have lots of cankers on the stem and some branches, and i've lost one branch to the rot. I have sprayed with hydrogen peroxide and have increased air circulation on the stem to keep it more dry. (I'm in RDWC)

I have five more weeks left in flower.

What is the most affective treatment for fusarium stem rot and what can I expect in the coming weeks?

Thank you.

 

[Green Mopho]

In RDWC, lower the water level below the main root crown. Only leave the bottom feeder roots to stretch into the water. The top part of the main root should be staying as dry as possible.

You should be using beneficial bacteria, I would add something like Aquashield to your feed solution, and foliar spray with Botanigard, if you can get it. Preferably spray right onto the affected areas.

Are you using any kind of root conditioning products in the RDWC?

 

[Brass Monkey]

Than you guys.

Green Mopho, I have make arrangements to reduce moisture around the root crown. They were staying moist from being covered. i have only used roots excelerator.

Beezie, i'm afraid that i have read the same as you. Those spores get everywhere.
I have read that two types of damping off are caused by fusarium, but my leaves all look alright. The only symptoms i've noticed are the cankers and the one lower branch braking off. Humidity is at 45%. My water is very air rated. What are the chances of making it another five weeks?

Thank you.

 

[Green Mopho]

I would go strong on the Roots Excel, continue its use, and supplement with Great White or something like that. A buddy recently had fusarium, and this is what he used:

Plantshield HC and Mycostop :



there's a third but only sold in Canada/overseas :

 

[Brass Monkey]

Green Mopho, I had found Mycostop in my reading and wondered about its effectiveness. How did it work for your buddy?

I have also read that the Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713, which is used in Serenade, is also effective. Does anyone have experience using Serenade for fusarium?

The other treatment that I've read about is Greencure. Does anyone have experience with this?

Beezie, I will take a pic when lights come on tonight. The room is clean, but I brought some clones in six months back that may be the source.

Yes, I came across that information regarding the government releasing a strain in an attempt to erradicate cannabis somewhere. One of the best sources of information has been Hemp Diseases and Posts: management and biological control by Michael McPartland, Robert Clarke, and David Watson.

They report:
"Six Fusarium species reportedly cause canker, but only two have been isolated on a regular basis. Fusarium taxonomy is confusing. Even the experts disagree—Wollenweber & Reinking described 143 Fusarium species, varieties, and special forms; Booth cited 44 species and seven varieties, but according to Snyder & Hansen there are only nine species . . . see Toussoun & Nelson (1975) for an overview."

Thank you.

 

[Blaze]

It may or may not be fusarium, but even if it is not it is a similar pathogen. Pics would be helpful. It may also be phylloera or hemp canker as well, both have become more and more common in recent years. All of the above will cause symptoms like you describe. A lab test would be needed to properly ID it however.

I've dealt with it successfully in soil but I am not sure quite how you would deal with in in a RDWC system. In soil properly made aerated compost tea and predatory nematodes helped keep it in check. Myco Stop may work but it is only effective against certain pathogens, it is not a cure-all. Not sure about Greencure, have not tried that one myself. Serenade probably would not have any effect (it is more for mildew), but I'm not sure, maybe it would attack the fusarium so you might try it anyway. Once infected, the plants are pretty fucked though, you can never really get rid of it, best case scenario is you can keep the plants alive and healthy long enough to finish flowering.

Generally the most effective way to deal w/ this sort of issue is to ensure proper drainage and aeration in your soil. These sort of pests usually only get going in unhealthy soils with poor drainage and aeration. Once infected, the soil must be given a rest of several years or be disposed of completely. Now how that related to RDWC I'm not sure, but hopefully that helps.

Also you need to treat your plants like the have the plague. That means full quarantine with your grow. Anything in the room MUST be sterilized. Any tools leaving the site MUST be sterilized. After working in the room, change your clothes and take a shower, ESPECIALLY if you are going to another grow. It is nasty shit to deal with, I wish you luck!

 

[Brass Monkey]

Thank you Blaze, and Beezie, and Green Mopho.

Here is a pic of the stem.

Today's plan is to pick up both Serenade and Greencure. Blaze, I have read that Serenade (and Rhapsody) utilizes strain QST 713 of the Bacillus subtilis bacterium that has been effective at inhibiting Fusarium. The downside seems to be that it smells/tastes bad. I plan on hitting as much of the inside of the plant (staying away from the buds) as I can with Serenade a couple of times in the next week and then follow up over the next four weeks with Greencure until harvest.

Does anyone have additional suggestions?

 

[Brass Monkey]

After a lot of reading, I'm not sure this is caused by Fusarium. Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[Blaze]

I'm not so sure it is fusarium either, that scaring is different that what I have seen. It is probably a similar pathogen however. Have you tried any treatments yet?

 

[Brass Monkey]

Thank you for responding Blaze. It is much appreciated.

I sprayed the plants with Serenade last week, and sprayed them with Potassium Bicarbonate yesterday.

One more branch seemed to be breaking away from the stem, so I sprayed it well with hydrogen peroxide (it foamed up like crazy at the joint) and I tied it up to the main stem to help keep it in place. Otherwise, all the plants look the same.

I'm about 4 weeks from harvest.

From what I've read, some strains of fusarium will work like this (eating away at the insides) and all of a sudden you will lose the plant.

But tell me, have you (OR ANYONE!) seen anything like the photo?

I've got two major concerns, #1: How do I best take this round to harvest?, and #2: How do I clean/prepare for eliminating whateverthisis from my flower and veg spaces?

 

[Capulator]

fongarid.

 

[Blaze]

From what I've read, some strains of fusarium will work like this (eating away at the insides) and all of a sudden you will lose the plant.

But tell me, have you (OR ANYONE!) seen anything like the photo?

I've got two major concerns, #1: How do I best take this round to harvest?, and #2: How do I clean/prepare for eliminating whateverthisis from my flower and veg spaces?

I have a buddy that had what appears to be the same issues this fall. I'll probably be seeing him today. I know they dealt w/ it some what successfully - I'll report back with what they used on it.

In order to eliminate it you probably need to sterilize the whole room. Like I said before I only dealt w/ it in soil, not RDWC so it may be a little different. With soil though you need to basically start anew. The infected soil must be disposed of and not re-used. When vineyards get this sort of thing going they usually rip out the vines and then let it sit 3-5 years before re-planting. All the plants should be burned after harvest. The entire grow including the tools used should be sterilized as well.

When we got it, doing the above prevented it from spreading any further or form infecting the other gardens. I must say though I had thought of this to be a "soil" issue, that is interesting that it apparently can infect RDWC and hydro type set ups. I would have thought the constant aeration would prevent such pathogens from thriving.

 

[wobbly goblin]

you may be interested in a product named microcop

http://www.lillymiller.com/dormants.html

it's a very fine powdered copper that you add to a spreader/sticker and paint onto the stem to thwart fungi
there are tons of slugs here and they carry some fungus similar to what you have going and where they bite the plants skin it will be the source point for a growth that will climb up the plant girdling as it goes
the copper painted on is the only thing i found that will stop it
good luck with it regardless

fwiw

 

[Brass Monkey]

fongarid.

Thank you Capulator. Do you have personal experience with what's in the pictures?

I'll report back with what they used on it.

Thank you Blaze. The firsthand experience solution would be golden. So far, I haven't lost another branch and it doesn't look worse than last week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'd hate to have the ordeal of sterilizing everything in the room, but we do what we have to do, don't we?

you may be interested in a product named microcop

Thank you wobbly goblin. I'll check out microcop.

 

[Capulator]

are you sure thats a fungus? It looks like it coudl just be old plant bark.

 

[Blaze]

The fact that he is losing branches indicates it is probably more than just old plant bark IMO. It can be hard to tell though. Ever since I got it I always find myself second-guessing the plants since some sort of callusing, esp on older/larger plants is pretty normal. As I stated earlier the only way to know for sure would be a lab test - visual diagnosis is rather difficult since so many different pathogens can present similar symptom.

 

[Brass Monkey]

Capulator, Thank you for the pm . . . and no, I'm not sure it's a fungus. But Blaze is right, what made me notice it was a branch falling off. Since I have sprayed them, I haven't noticed any branches getting worse.

I would be Very happy if it was just old plant bark.

Blaze,
It all has me stumped, and may remain there without a lab test. How would I go about getting a lab test? Did your buddies have any good info?

I'm Very happy that it doesn't seem to be getting worse in the past two weeks. Maybe it will allow me to make it to harvest. : )

 

[Capulator]

tree branches can get heavy.

Did the branch look rotted, or are you just calling it that since you noticed cankers?

 

[Blaze]

True. If it was from the rot you will usually see some oozing going on @ the wound. Also when we had similar issues the branches would just sort of pop off entirely. When they break from weight they tend to crack at the top but still be attached at the bottom. These sort of just rotted out where the branch connected to the main stem so it was pretty obvious they did not break under their own weight.

As far as testing goes there are soil labs that can test for pathogens, such as Soil Food Web Inc in Oregon. However since you have no soil to test I'm not sure how one would go about doing that...

 

[oscar169]

After a lot of reading, I'm not sure this is caused by Fusarium. Does anyone else have any ideas?

I sure would like to know ?