Curled Leaves And Brown Slimy Roots.

[Medcnman]

My step son just sent me a picture of one of his plants. It looks rather healthy but the leaves are all curling downward and slightly inward. He is running a DWC system and his roots are brown and slimy. Im sorry but i cant post a pic from my phone. I have never experienced this problem so I turn to you all for info. What can he do to reverse this situation other than a good flush? He has read that it may be pythium root disease and that cutting the bad root off and flushing with h202 may restore the plant. Thanks! Medcnman.

[LansingAreaCaregiver]

Definitely flush with H2O2. Sounds like root rot to me. Give those roots some oxygen. My guess is that the leave curling is simply a nutrient deficiency due to the damaged roots' inability to take in what they need. Depending on how bad. it MAY come back. May not, too. At least, thats my guess diagnoses from a distance with limited info.

[Medcnman]

Definitely flush with H2O2. Sounds like root rot to me. Give those roots some oxygen. My guess is that the leave curling is simply a nutrient deficiency due to the damaged roots' inability to take in what they need. Depending on how bad. it MAY come back. May not, too. At least, thats my guess diagnoses from a distance with limited info.

Hes gonna give it a shot. Thank you!! Medcnman.

[CaffeineForAll]

Try rez clear from ez clone too, or conversely run straight city tap water through the system, chlorine usually does a good job killing off pythium.

[ScrogBubbles]

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[GanjaWarrior]

Try rez clear from ez clone too, or conversely run straight city tap water through the system, chlorine usually does a good job killing off pythium.

 

 

Not a huge hydro guy....but the one time ive had the brown slime on my plant i cleaned my tote super good rinsed all roots really good with running city water... cleared it up just fine for me. great adive Caff

 

 

 

i might also tell him to keep an eye on water temps....to warm is likely where he got his brown slime.... getting rid of slime but not fixing environmental problems is not fixing ur problem.

[LansingAreaCaregiver]

H2O2 will only help for a short amount of time. Try SM-90 or this

 

Yeah, H202 only lasts about 24-48 hours in the res and then needs to be replenished. A good weeklong dosing with H2O2, though, would do the trick. I haven't used the other products you list, so can't comment on those. Also, for a long term fix, make sure he has a nice powerful air pump and a nice big airstone to be pumping LOTS of air through the reservoir at all times. This makes sure the root zone stays oxygenated and is, in my opinion, an essential problem preventative in ANY hydro setup.

[Green-Nubie]

Yeah, H202 only lasts about 24-48 hours in the res and then needs to be replenished. A good weeklong dosing with H2O2, though, would do the trick. I haven't used the other products you list, so can't comment on those. Also, for a long term fix, make sure he has a nice powerful air pump and a nice big airstone to be pumping LOTS of air through the reservoir at all times. This makes sure the root zone stays oxygenated and is, in my opinion, an essential problem preventative in ANY hydro setup.

 

I think id make sure its root rot first... most times people think root rot right away and its actually just brown slime algae. brown algae is easy to treat.. go the the pet store. fish tank isle. tetra algae killer. 1 drop to the gallon. with in 2 days it will clear up..

 

 

If its root rot your better to just start over as iv found nothing really works but a real deal clean up with bleach or high strength chlorine.

 

I flush my entire system with high strength chlorine water (with no plants) in between every cycle. And always add beneficial bacteria to my water when i add plants. and i feed the bacteria with enzymes and carbs.

[Croppled1]

My step son just sent me a picture of one of his plants. It looks rather healthy but the leaves are all curling downward and slightly inward. He is running a DWC system and his roots are brown and slimy. Im sorry but i cant post a pic from my phone. I have never experienced this problem so I turn to you all for info. What can he do to reverse this situation other than a good flush? He has read that it may be pythium root disease and that cutting the bad root off and flushing with h202 may restore the plant. Thanks! Medcnman.

I would do as suggested above but when adding new water use a cap full of bleach per 5 gallons of water in the system . Cleaned up my ebb and grow system after flushing and removing the bad roots . I now add a touch of bleach to my topping off water . You can probally double the amount if things are very bad without any problems if anything it will lower the PH . I let mine get a little accidic too like 7.5 for a few weeks or until I saw a change in the plant but I don't know if that helped . The few pennies worth of bleach was a miracle .

[LansingAreaCaregiver]

I would do as suggested above but when adding new water use a cap full of bleach per 5 gallons of water in the system . Cleaned up my ebb and grow system after flushing and removing the bad roots . I now add a touch of bleach to my topping off water . You can probally double the amount if things are very bad without any problems if anything it will lower the PH . I let mine get a little accidic too like 7.5 for a few weeks or until I saw a change in the plant but I don't know if that helped . The few pennies worth of bleach was a miracle .

 

I'd never be comfortable adding bleach to my water. Sounds like a very easy way to kill your plants along with any nasties.

[jayt]

If done correctly adding bleach is safe. It must be straight bleach with no additives, perfumes or dyes. As far as a cap full I don't measure anything that way. 1 mL of chlorine bleach per 10 gallons of water is equivalent to what is added to your tap water. Chlorine dissipates just like h2o2 and will need to be replaced about every three days. Large commercial crop growers, I'm talking about food crops, use chlorine in their hydroponic systems with no negative effects.

 

I don't think just adding chlorine to your res will correct your problem though. You will need to address whatever problem allowed the "slime" to grow in the first place which was probably high water temp. Cleaning the roots, flushing with diluted h2o2, and removing any dead roots is a good start. But if you don't fix the original problem it will return.

[Medcnman]

I just found out he didnt clean his equipment after his last harvest. I recommended he abort the grow and clean everything. He agreed. Thank you all for your input! Medcnman

[goonies never say die]

Clear-Rez sells for $20 a pint, so I bought some and tested it with my pool test kit, and it seems that ONE gram of calcium hypochlorite pool shock dissolved in one gallon of water yields the same level of chlorine as the Clear-Rez. Either solution is then added to the EZ-Clone at one ounce per five gallons water, or one ounce in an EZ-Clone 30, 2oz in a 60, 4oz in a 120, and repeat every few days. The final chlorine level in the EZ-Clone is very low, about 1/25th the level in a home swimming pool. And since pool shock is $5 a pound, it costs 1$ to make 100 gallons of this solution, or one cent per gallon ! As opposed to $160 per gallon for the Clear-Rez ! I'm not saying both are exactly the same, but I do know the chlorine content is the same, according to any pool test(Sorry EZ-Clone but the units were expensive enough to begin with). Alternately 12ml of 6% sodium hypochlorite(household bleach) per gallon yields the same strength solution, though I haven't tried this in the EZ-Clone yet. I like the sound of calcium over sodium but either should work.

 

http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/685546-ez-clone-experiences-breakthrough.html

 

Basically 1 gram of pool shock in 1 gallon of water. Then add 1 ounce of the mixture per 5 gallons of water your reservoir. I've only used this for my cloner, but it works just the same on a larger scale.

 

Much cheaper than the Clear Rez too!

[angel4us]

chlorine bleach is very strong 1 drop per 2 gallons will raise it to .5 ppm for small plants maximum u want to go is 1.5 ppm or use dutch master zone according to directions to eliminate hydro herpes a.k.a. blue brown green algea???????? most important to keep bubbling and moving and temps controoled at 68 no higher than 72 max.

[Croppled1]

I think id make sure its root rot first... most times people think root rot right away and its actually just brown slime algae. brown algae is easy to treat.. go the the pet store. fish tank isle. tetra algae killer. 1 drop to the gallon. with in 2 days it will clear up..

 

 

If its root rot your better to just start over as iv found nothing really works but a real deal clean up with bleach or high strength chlorine.

 

I flush my entire system with high strength chlorine water (with no plants) in between every cycle. And always add beneficial bacteria to my water when i add plants. and i feed the bacteria with enzymes and carbs.

 

 

Could you expand on the beneficial bacteria and carbs . Are these readily available inexpensive alternatives to keep your water clear . I was glad someone mentioned about not using the bleach with seedlings . I never introduce it until about 5 nodes . I have well water with no bleach already added too . My water is chrystal clear since a co op in California introduced me to not be afraid to add a touch . I will get myself a graduated cylinder or better measuring device . Adapt improvise and overcome . What ever comes up cheap . There are about 5 milliliters in a teaspoon . I measured a cap and it was under a tablespoon or around 10 milliliters . Using a dropper might help too there are 5 drops in a milliliter . I use a turkey baster to take samples out of my bubble buckets and a cork and straw through the top set to give me proper water levels for DWC . I am buying my airstones in bulk and just replace each grow cost about 90 cents for a 4 inch stone bought in lots of 12 . Still waiting to see if the 220 volt 25 watt heaters I mistakenly bought for $6.55 on ebay will work in 5 gallon buckets with US to EU adapters on 110v . I have found if my hydro solution is consant around 68 then the room temp can be a little more forgiving . Heat is a dramatic expense as is cooling the entire are when a solution tank can be maintained for pennies a day . Besides a light my bubble buckts use 10 watts for air and heat each . 6 easily fit under a 400 watt lamp . I am set to experiment with two for flower on my next grow to see if it really makes a difference . It runs $20 a mo to run each lamp from my guestimates . I only grow for myself as a patient I am not a caregiver . I believe in teach a man or women to fish you feed him for life and they feel better about it . Most patients are cash strapped living day to day .

[Green-Nubie]

Ok, I like subculture b from general hydroponics. I add in a enzyme product I get from rosecare.com bio zyme, the enzymes put the good bacteria in overdrive, and the carbs are to feed the bacteria I use unsulferd molasses.

 

This combo has transformed my grows from mild to wild..

 

I do a treatment in my systems every three weeks of the tertra alge killer.

I also run a lucas like program on a constant plant rotation. I use a hanna water sampling meter so I can keep track and add back only what's needed.

 

 

 

P.s. I have used bleach in my grows, but I prefer to run a active root zone insted of a sterile one. Bleach will kill all bacteria good and bad.