Rdwc, Low Nutrient Dissolved Oxygen Saturation Insures A Dose Of Root Rot Disease

[JonnyB]

Can you prevent root rot in RDWC?

 

They all say you can prevent root rot if you always have plenty of dissolved oxygen in the nutrient solution - so buy a water chiller and chill the water, add H2O2 and blow more air bubbles to insure plenty of dissolved oxygen in the nutrient. Now if this was really true and you always had plenty of dissolved oxygen in your nutrient water doing this stuff, then RDWC growers would never have root rot diseases and everyone would be happy. But everyone that does all this and still gets the root rot is not happy at all.

 

Check out this piece By Mr. Smith Sept 2011  Dwc Root Rot (Pythium) Guide http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/34434-dwc-root-rot-pythium-guide/

 

It is beneficial to try to get as much oxygen as possible dissolved in your water. Therefore it's a good idea to buy a BIG air pump and big air stones for your hydroponic system. Root rot can't thrive in an oxygen rich environment and the plant's roots love it.
Ensure that the temperature of the water never gets warmer than a comfortable room temperature. Warm water holds much less dissolved oxygen than colder water and also provides the perfect environment for bacteria. The maximum recommended temperature for the water in your reservoir is around 72°F (22°C). Trying to maintain water temps around 65°F - 68°F (18°C - 20°C) seems to be optimal for both plant growth and root rot prevention. When your temps are higher than that, there's less oxygen in your water and a better opportunity for bacteria to grow.

Not Recommended
Some people like to use hydrogen peroxide to kill all organisms in their reservoir.

Growers suggest using all kinds of chemicals to kill the disease after the disease has established and becomes visible to the naked eye… but, I see no mention of disease prevention at all. The disease is prevented by maintaining high concentrations of oxygen. The disease does not grow in high concentrations of oxygen in the nutrient solution.

 

This writer implies that the more O2 the better, yet he severely limits himself by hoping that plenty of air and cold water will some hoe make more oxygen for his plants and beneficial. Any 8^th grade student that took a General Science knows that AIR is a mixture of gases composed of 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen regardless of how much Air you pump, blow of dissolve in water.

 

How about this: Prevent root rot by providing more oxygen, not by providing more air. Here’s the clue. First, forget all the AIR. The oxygen has to be >20% oxygen if you want to guarantee more available oxygen… 25%, 40%, 75% or even 100% oxygen. Health care practitioners (Doctors, nurses, respiratory techs, nurses aids)  know about administering supplemental oxygen in the choice of therapy when oxygen in low (with all aerobic animals and plants).

 

Growers say that high oxygen is better, low oxygen is really bad – so it seems most logical to me to  think like a Doctor or resp. tech and simply add supplemental oxygen when more oxygen is necessary and forget the water chillers and air pumps if you really want to insure an oxygen rich nutrient with continuous high DO 24/7.

 

If you want to see something that will really blow your dress up, the next time you have a fungal outbreak in your DWC, get yourself a dissolved oxygen DO Meter and test your DO Saturation before you start adding chemicals (H2O2) trying to hurry and kill the root rot disease.

When you see the root rot beginning and you test your DO and really see just how low your DO Sat is in your nutrient solution, the reason for your outbreak (root rot)  will become crystal clear to you in a heartbeat. You will surely have an Epiphany in your pants when you see how low your oxygen is in your nutrient. And it’s all preventable if you will only not allow your dissolved oxygen to get low.

 

If you do not (never) test your DO with a meter, you will not (never) know if the DO is getting low and disease is coming until it’s way too late and you got the full blown root rot disease in your face. Then there is a CRISIS. You all know how that works, right?

They say prevention the disease is better than catching the disease and activating the treatment. They also say that by using a 75 cent condom will prevent the disease HIV/AIDS. This is America and we all can chose prevention or treatment after the disease is established. I like prevention best.

 

What do you think about root rot prevention with oxygen? Or is it easer for you to let your oxygen get low in your nutrient and go ahead and catch and treat the root rot disease with chemicals and what not and just keep hoping for the best?

Jonny

[Willy]

chill the water, and use big air pumps. I seldom if ever get root rot.  change the rez water weekly.. I look at it from a kiss view. clean and fresh wont rot.... 

[trichcycler]

Spot on Willy!

 

I had an o2 meter and found that bubbles did little to provide 02 while splashing and surface breaks added the most DO to the water. I grow in dirt now because I don't like chelated farm fertilizer chemicals in my medicine, and find Soil grown cannabis to have superior expressions every time.

 

force fed on an IV, or struggling to find and break down organic material for food......I know which is a stronger specimen.

 

 

my dwc roots did show root rot when I got lazy/cheap and extended the reservoir change out period.

 

Soil for the Win!!

[Willy]

Spot on Willy!

 

I had an o2 meter and found that bubbles did little to provide 02 while splashing and surface breaks added the most DO to the water. I grow in dirt now because I don't like chelated farm fertilizer chemicals in my medicine, and find Soil grown cannabis to have superior expressions every time.

 

force fed on an IV, or struggling to find and break down organic material for food......I know which is a stronger specimen.

 

 

my dwc roots did show root rot when I got lazy/cheap and extended the reservoir change out period.

 

Soil for the Win!!

I'll give you a like on this view, but for one small thing,, RDWC for the win!!! LOL Different strokes for different folks..

[trichcycler]

we're good willy, but I'm out of likes or you'd get one too, gotta wait till tomorrow, unless someone wants to trade their unused "likes" allotment with me?

Edited March 14, 2016 by grassmatch

[zaphod]

we're good willy, but I'm out of likes or you'd get one too, gotta wait till tomorrow, unless someone wants to trade their unused "likes" allotment with me?

Done.  I grow in DWC without recirculation or dirt, depending on what the final product will be.  Nothing smokes better than organically grown in dirt.  But since I don't smoke nearly as much as I consume in capsules, I grow mostly in individual five gallon DWC buckets.  A little more work without a reservoir but if something goes wrong in one bucket it won't affect the others. (and no leaks) I use large air stones with lots of air and change out the nutrient solution every other week.  Never had issues with root-rot

.

[trichcycler]

likelikelikelikelikelike

[trichcycler]

the yields were off the hook when I used bubbles to grow. It was the fastest route to a full size tree or bush in veg and a dandy time in flower.

I had way too many strains offered at the time, and a perpetual grow to boot, the water haul and its humidity was too much for me to handle at the time but it

was a jungle in there real quick

[Willy]

oh ya bro, i had gals that run up 2'' per day, amazing, and yields up to 9 zips was common.. I still get some buds of grape ape palm sized regularly. and hard enough to maim a man when thrown    lol

I gotta say, I found that i get as much a good flavor as soil. it takes a bit but can be done. And No water taste. would be hard to tell apart from soil.... JMHO

[trichcycler]

no complaints here with buds grown in bubbles either. it was awesome.

you make me hear bubbles again.....

[JonnyB]

Do you think that Mr. Smith may just be “full of himself” after reading these responses? He’s the typical water chiller salesman, no?

Grassmatch – You have done the O2 testing, scientifically proved it, so in your opinion; the difference between oxygen and air bubbles is nothing, zip, -0-.

Air looks, taste and smells like oxygen maybe and your O2 meter found that bubbles did little to provide 02 while splashing and surface breaks added the most DO to the water.

Is all the hype about good oxygen-low oxygen just sales hype to sell more water chillers to RDWC growers?  Transfer your money into the water chiller salesman’s pocket. An occasional root rot outbreak should just be expected and part of RDWC farming, no big deal, buy chemicals and treat the disease.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Ctrl/Cmd+V

[trichcycler]

Do you think that Mr. Smith may just be “full of himself” after reading these responses? He’s the typical water chiller salesman, no?

Grassmatch – You have done the O2 testing, scientifically proved it, so in your opinion; the difference between oxygen and air bubbles is nothing, zip, -0-.

Air looks, taste and smells like oxygen maybe and your O2 meter found that bubbles did little to provide 02 while splashing and surface breaks added the most DO to the water.

Is all the hype about good oxygen-low oxygen just sales hype to sell more water chillers to RDWC growers?  Transfer your money into the water chiller salesman’s pocket. An occasional root rot outbreak should just be expected and part of RDWC farming, no big deal, buy chemicals and treat the disease.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Ctrl/Cmd+V

the difference between air and o2 is zip?  I dunno about that.  I do know that when trying to introduce more 02 into my reservoir bubbled from a compressor did little, while disrupting the surface of the water(splashing) was successful . Large fish ponds employ surface driven splashers for the same task. I did once see someone working on a miniature one for the cannabis industry,  propelled around the surface of a reservoir by a simple aquarium pump. The air/exhaust was used to spin paddles and break the water surface. this would be a win for us.

 

I don't think its all hype at all .  when I used dwc I found that changing a res every few days as opposed to every week or so, prevented any root rot from appearing throughout the cycle. Colder water will retain 02 longer than warmer water I think , and a chiller(never used one for growing) could help in prevention imo.   I found root rot to visit when I was chincing on nutrients by prolonging res changes. I don't use chemical cures.

[Willy]

Do you think that Mr. Smith may just be “full of himself” after reading these responses? He’s the typical water chiller salesman, no?

Grassmatch – You have done the O2 testing, scientifically proved it, so in your opinion; the difference between oxygen and air bubbles is nothing, zip, -0-.

Air looks, taste and smells like oxygen maybe and your O2 meter found that bubbles did little to provide 02 while splashing and surface breaks added the most DO to the water.

Is all the hype about good oxygen-low oxygen just sales hype to sell more water chillers to RDWC growers?  Transfer your money into the water chiller salesman’s pocket. An occasional root rot outbreak should just be expected and part of RDWC farming, no big deal, buy chemicals and treat the disease.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Ctrl/Cmd+V

 

Nothing wrong with using a chiller, but if you dont want to invest in that item, frequent water changes, prevents root rot.. but even if you do use a chiller, that wont stop the need to change the  water. even the best system needs changing water. even dirt is  changed out,  most dump it out after the harvest and use new.. I know that some rdwc units use     h2o2 (hydrogen peroxide) 30% , that increases o2 and helps prevent/cure root rot. but nothing works better than  changing out the water every week.. or two. and that depends on the temp of the water.. cooler the better to an extent. Plants dont use oxygen either per say, they use co2 and expel oxygen. the oxygenated water only helps guard against the bacteria and such that creates the root rot.. 

 

I dont think i would say just buy chemicals and treat it.. or that its no big deal. until you see it at its worst. Dont' let It have a chance to be a big deal. And in water systems, you add chemicals they leave a taste for a long time...alot of folks claim they can taste it even after harvest. Adding to an existing myth about hydro grow tastes.

And root rot its not something that your gonna have to expect with rdwc. unless you don't run the system clean and fresh. those root eating bacteria love dirty water.. I've run rdwc since 2009 this time, I love it .. perpetual works great, and some of the best bud around.. JMHO 

 

I dont use a chiller but i have added ice packs during the very hot days of summer.