Help! White stuff on roots in dwc! What is it and how do I fix it?

[Girlonbikes]

I have a feeling it’s because my water may be warm. I don’t have room for a chiller. Should I use a frozen water bottle or would that shock and kill my plant? Do I need to spray the roots with anything? Or cut out the affected roots? Any help would be appreciated.

I’m about 35 days into flower and had absolutely no idea this was happening. I check the roots daily and this stuff was on the side facing the wall so I didn’t notice it until today. I found a small piece of dried leaf that fell into the bucket, maybe that’s what started it?

 

[Cashmeh]

Gently massage the slime off of them and make sure they are not clumped together to bad. But yes you can cut on them a bit, but not to much. I would only try to brush them, get out alot of the knots. Whatever comes off during that process is fine. Also wrap your pot in a towel to prevent light from entering the pot. Root rot is generally brown. So if thats not slimy, idk what you should do. Perhaps hit up the sterile guys. Only issue is, you might have beneficial microbes in there. If your not using peroxide or h202, you can, just wait for somene to tell you how much and what kind to add. I myself use hydroguard to keep the roots clean. Using microbes are the only way to keep your roots clean when running warmer temps. Some get lucky, most get root rot. Idk what this could be. I just know what you can do to ensure nothing major happens.

Do you see any damage up top? Are they slimy? If not id say your fine doing a soft massage and doing a res change. Just make sure you keep the roots at the same temperature with the new water. Dont use strait tap water due to clorine and it being cold. You can also leave 10% of the solution in there for microbe acclimation, incase you have some good ones. But again, if you want to kill everything in the pot but your plant, run a sterile system, just will need a chiller, so yea dont think u can.

 

[Girlonbikes]

Thank you so much for the suggestions.
I already use hydroguard once a week at the recommended dose. Should I up how much of that I’m using? The plant looks amazing up too which is partly why I had no idea there were any issues. It just started bulking. I also found this forum post, and bought some hygrozyme and will try some of that and some H2o2 when I change the rez tomorrow. I’ll massage the roots as well

 

[Moe.Red]

Man maybe I'm blind (honestly I kinda am on this tiny screen) but I don't see slime or root rot there.

If the pic of the plant right above this post is the one in question, I see no issues....

 

[Girlonbikes]

Man maybe I'm blind (honestly I kinda am on this tiny screen) but I don't see slime or root rot there.

If the pic of the plant right above this post is the one in question, I see no issues....

It is the one in question. I’ll try and get a better picture. I sure hope nothing is wrong but I can wipe the white stuff off with my finger which makes me think it shouldn’t be there. The plant is a beauty so I’m a bit nervous to lose her! Here’s a picture of the front. You can see one white root and the front looks pretty good other than that. The back has the white flecks all over

 

[Moe.Red]

It is the one in question. I’ll try and get a better picture. I sure hope nothing is wrong but I can wipe the white stuff off with my finger which makes me think it shouldn’t be there. The plant is a beauty so I’m a bit nervous to lose her! Here’s a picture of the front. You can see one white root and the front looks pretty good other than that. The back has the white flecks all over

Yup, now I see it.

But is that your plant in flower above?

 

[Girlonbikes]

Yup, now I see it.

But is that your plant in flower above?

Yes that is the plant I am asking about. It is a bit over 30 days into flower.

 

[Moe.Red]

Ride it out at this point. You can add some H2O2 to stop the spread, but I would not overdo it. Those roots don't look great, but they are obviously working just fine.

Here's your opportunity to experience this and learn how to prevent it next time.

Is this Kratky or do you have a res? Got H202 on hand, and what %?

 

[Girlonbikes]

Ride it out at this point. You can add some H2O2 to stop the spread, but I would not overdo it. Those roots don't look great, but they are obviously working just fine.

Here's your opportunity to experience this and learn how to prevent it next time.

Is this Kratky or do you have a res? Got H202 on hand, and what %?

It is a dwc I have a large 4” disc air stone at the bottom of the bucket. I do have h202 on hand and it is 3%. How much should I put in the bucket per gallon of water?

For my next grow should I be putting hydroguard in more often than once a week at the recommended dose on the bottle? Should I use a frozen water bottle next grow? Or will that make the water too cold? How do I prevent this next time? Thanks

 

[Cashmeh]

So your not suppose to use hydroguard and h202 at the same time. Both methods require cleaning the slime off these roots. Then once they are setting in pretty solution, you will have to pick live or sterile.

The reasons for your growth of fungi in your roots is most likely caused by excess light leaks or not enough circulation of 02 for your bbs and roots.

Its far easier to run sterile, just saying dont be adding any hydroguard if you go with sterilization methods.

That stuff comes off pretty easy, and your not gonna hurt your roots. IF anything cleaning them will help them uptake better than if not.

 

[Girlonbikes]

So your not suppose to use hydroguard and h202 at the same time. Both methods require cleaning the slime off these roots. Then once they are setting in pretty solution, you will have to pick live or sterile.

The reasons for your growth of fungi in your roots is most likely caused by excess light leaks or not enough circulation of 02 for your bbs and roots.

Its far easier to run sterile, just saying dont be adding any hydroguard if you go with sterilization methods.

That stuff comes off pretty easy, and your not gonna hurt your roots. IF anything cleaning them will help them uptake better than if not.

Thank you for the helpful explanation! So I thought that using hydroguard meant I was growing “sterile”. I should use h2o2 instead, to run sterile?

 

[Cashmeh]

Thank you for the helpful explanation! So I thought that using hydroguard meant I was growing “sterile”. I should use h2o2 instead, to run sterile?

It would be easier since the guys here are going to help you figure this out. Hydroguard is sensitive lol. .

 

[Girlonbikes]

It would be easier since the guys here are going to help you figure this out. Hydroguard is sensitive lol. .

Okay, so I’ll stop using hydroguard, and how much h202 should I be adding into the reservoir every time I change the water?

 

[Habosabin]

I've been using 5ml 35% food grade h202 per gal to nuke my res. I've read you can go to 15ml without issue. I have zero issues with 5ml on new res and then I top every other day with 2.5ml/g. But my nutes have some organics in it which I won't use next grow.

 

[Moe.Red]

OK we can get to the hydroguard in a minute.

H2O2 is kinda bandaid like at this point. I'll walk you thru the whole thing if you want including the

Mycorrhizae and Enzymes​

You need to really prevent this problem. What you have now is triage trying to recover this plant. That takes a little thought. Lets start here:

When do you expect to harvest? If you need help determining that post some very clear closeups of buds.
What are the genetics? Photo or Auto?
Please provide and overview pic of your system so I can see what you are running.
Please tell me what your PH and whatever other parameters you got. Temp, RH, lights - whatever you can think of.

What I'm saying is the damage is already done and there is no silver bullet. You passed that point a while ago. But it's OK, you will still get a good harvest! What you need to focus on now is steering the plant to the best possible version of itself.

Hydroguard - quit using it because you are just wasting money. But it's not hurting anything.
3% H2O2 - we'll get that when you answer the questions above. It will have a positive impact but don't expect miracles. It damages plant tissue just like it damages slime, so you gotta do it right on a plant that is limping.

 

[Moe.Red]

Thank you for the helpful explanation! So I thought that using hydroguard meant I was growing “sterile”. I should use h2o2 instead, to run sterile?

You actually could not be more wrong lol

So the hydroguard is adding beneficial bacteria. What you are trying to do is outgrow a helpful bacteria which competes with the bad bacteria which causes the issues you are seeing. So it is essentially gemological warfare for your roots. It is more natural than sterile, which is where you use H2O2 to kill everything, both good and bad. These 2 methods are not compatible. H2O2 always wins and you end up with a sterile res even if you dump the whole bottle of hydroguard in.

<Soapbox>

BB in conjunction with fungi and enzymes produces better weed every single time I have used them correctly.

</Soapbox>

But I started with sterile because it is just easier and cheaper. Lots of growers use this method successfully

 

[Girlonbikes]

OK we can get to the hydroguard in a minute.

H2O2 is kinda bandaid like at this point. I'll walk you thru the whole thing if you want including the

Mycorrhizae and Enzymes​

You need to really prevent this problem. What you have now is triage trying to recover this plant. That takes a little thought. Lets start here:

When do you expect to harvest? If you need help determining that post some very clear closeups of buds.
What are the genetics? Photo or Auto?
Please provide and overview pic of your system so I can see what you are running.
Please tell me what your PH and whatever other parameters you got. Temp, RH, lights - whatever you can think of.

What I'm saying is the damage is already done and there is no silver bullet. You passed that point a while ago. But it's OK, you will still get a good harvest! What you need to focus on now is steering the plant to the best possible version of itself.

Hydroguard - quit using it because you are just wasting money. But it's not hurting anything.
3% H2O2 - we'll get that when you answer the questions above. It will have a positive impact but don't expect miracles. It damages plant tissue just like it damages slime, so you gotta do it right on a plant that is limping.

I hope to harvest in 4-5 weeks. It is a photoperiod. The pic I sent above is basically my entire tent. I have a 5 gal dwc in a 2x2 tent. I have two airstones in the bucket, a smaller aquarium one that’s like a cylinder and a larger 4” disk airstone. I use gh trio and a bit of gh cal mag.

PH is about 6 right now. Temp of air in the tent is 70, rh is 45% and temp of the water is about 68. It does get a little warmer by the end of the day once my light has been on the whole day, maybe 80F max.

I’ve given the plant two doses of rapid start for root growth over its entire life. It went into the bucket as a seedling on 12/21.

i have to change the rez today, but I’ll wait to hear how much hydrogen peroxide I need to use. And I will skip adding the hydroguard. I did some research online and reading about hydroguard and I understand what it does better now. I also think what is on my roots could be “southern blight”? Based on photos I’ve seen online in other forums where people have issues with white growth on roots

 

[JDC]

Looks like mycorrhizae to me which is a beneficial fungus. If your grow was suffering I'd guess maybe not but everything else looks great.

 

[Girlonbikes]

Looks like mycorrhizae to me which is a beneficial fungus. If your grow was suffering I'd guess maybe not but everything else looks great.

Thanks! Not going to lie, now I’m confused so i shouldn’t try to fix this?

 

[Moe.Red]

I hope to harvest in 4-5 weeks. It is a photoperiod. The pic I sent above is basically my entire tent. I have a 5 gal dwc in a 2x2 tent. I have two airstones in the bucket, a smaller aquarium one that’s like a cylinder and a larger 4” disk airstone. I use gh trio and a bit of gh cal mag.

PH is about 6 right now. Temp of air in the tent is 70, rh is 45% and temp of the water is about 68. It does get a little warmer by the end of the day once my light has been on the whole day, maybe 80F max.

I’ve given the plant two doses of rapid start for root growth over its entire life. It went into the bucket as a seedling on 12/21.

i have to change the rez today, but I’ll wait to hear how much hydrogen peroxide I need to use. And I will skip adding the hydroguard. I did some research online and reading about hydroguard and I understand what it does better now. I also think what is on my roots could be “southern blight”? Based on photos I’ve seen online in other forums where people have issues with white growth on roots

So this is where opinions take over.

If this were me, I would start by a full water change. If you are using tap water, it already has chlorine or similar in it. If RO water, then I would add 10ml 3% H2O2 to the res water per gallon, no nutes just PH'ed and let it run for 1 day. Take a close look tomorrow and post pics. The expectation would be to do it again tomorrow, but this time add the nutes back in. You may end up dropping H2O2 as well depending on what you see.

Peroxide does damage the roots as well so you don't want to over do it.

If it looks improved tomorrow, add the peroxide treatment to your normally scheduled water changes until you harvest. I find these helpful when running sterile:

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