Chronic Root rot

  • Thread starter joewillie
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J

joewillie

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Hello been growing a 5 gal bucket DWC for years, 6 buckets-great results---shut it down for a few years-restarted and its been chronic root rot ever since, even after restarts with new seeds---I have always cleaned everything with strong bleach solutions , even the hydro grow pellets -that I use in 3.75 grow cups-----I let the pellets soak in 10% bleach for days then rinse a few times then soak with vinager rinse again---I buy new buckets, lids air lines and stones---and I still get root rot? Im thinking it has to be the hydro stone pellets I have reused for years---but I soak the stones in strong bleach solution, its got to kill any bad stuff in the stones right?---one crop I even boiled the pellets -and still rot root---Im thinking it has to be 2 things ---the city water, that I have used for 5 years with great results or the hydro pellets that has contamination that cant be killed by 30 % solution or more of bleach or boiling water? the root root is funny looking too most of the time when it starts its black not brown---right now Im just maintaining with dutch gold but even then it comes back until a few weeks into flowering and the plants are half stunted with not a lot of water uptake---Im baffled
 
C

cctt

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Are the pellets hydroton/LECA? Maybe they're holding on to the bleach they're soaked in. You can't really effectively rinse that off when they're so porous. I haven't seen the effects of bleach exposure to plant roots but I imagine the might die and then eventually rot away.

Also, what are your water temperatures?
 
J

joewillie

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the pellets are hydroton---I really rinse and soak afterward in vinegar water---what I see is root rot not a bad reaction to bleach---I will buy new hydroton-----water temps are cool the cellar is 50 ish most of the time---it cant be in the city water has Pythium in it? the water is rather hard at 300 PPM---I have read of other experienced growers with chronic root rot--I cant seem to get a handle on it with methods I have used with success for over 10 years.
 
woodsmaneh

woodsmaneh

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I would skip the vinegar part. Go get some H2O2 from the hydro shop and mix it down to a 5% solution and add 3ml per liter. Repeat every 4 days till gone. That should stop it from happening and kill any pathogens hanging around.

Do not use the 3% hydrogen peroxide from stores it's got crap in it you don't want.
 
Bombnes

Bombnes

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I would hazard a guess that you should try RO water, especially if its coming out at 300ppm.
 
smokin jay

smokin jay

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I would definitely try RO water as Bombnes suggested. I would also concur with the H2O2 as woodsmaneh suggested. Are the buckets rdwc or individual buckets? If they are individual buckets I would suggest trying a filtered compost tea and see what woks best for you. If its a rdwc system maybe pull one bucket off and set it up to run on its own to try out a compost tea. Did you say your water temps are 50ish or the cellar. Either way those temps are too cold whether it be the temps that the roots are exposed to or the plant. Maybe I didn't understand what you were saying about the 50ish temps. City water is usually treated with some type of chloramines so I wouldn't think pythium would be in the water. Also if you use H2O2 make sure to let your water set out for 24hrs if it is treated city water so the chloramines can dissipate. Otherwise the H2O2 and chloramines will cancel each other out.
 
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