Brown Roots - Rot? w/Pic

What causes roots to turn brown? Of my 4 little plants, 2 have taken a turn for the worse and the roots are brownish which the other 2 remain strong looking with nice white roots.

Could be a number of things. Could be lack of O2, nutrients, too many nutrients......It looks like the roots aren't getting much oxygen.

Flush it with clean water and chill with the nutes.

NoB

sccerfrk26 said:

View attachment 1317665

What causes roots to turn brown? Of my 4 little plants, 2 have taken a turn for the worse and the roots are brownish which the other 2 remain strong looking with nice white roots.

Click to expand...

well you've got algae. atleast it looks like it. is it slimey? is it growing on the airstones? and the bin?
are you using tap water? is your box 100% light proof? it looks like there are leaks in it. even small light leaks cause BIG problems.
i had a problem like this check this thread out https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/359635-does-anyone-know-what-shit.html
i was using tap water and living in a coastal area there was some algae in it. it only takes one cell to start a HUGE colony. my box wasn't light proof and it didn't help i was using organic fertilizers.
good luck if you have any questions feel free to ask. that shit is a bitch to get rid of. oh yeah and ot do that i'd suggest using hydrogen peroxide. you can use the solution from the drugstore dont dilute it and let the roots sit in it for a few hours or even over night. and its ok H202 (hydrogen peroxide) when it encounters the algae will break down into water and oxygen. and its 3% H202 and 97% distilled water. so your plant will have plenty of air and water to surive while they are in it. but this is just a band aid fix. you have to fix the root problem ie the tap water or the light leaks or etc. good luck that shits a bitch to get rid of once you get it. i'd suggest scrapping it and starting oer if at all possible because like i said it only takes ONE cell to start a HUGE fucking colony and an even bigger problem.

Thanks for all your responses. I am flushing and cleaning today so hopefully I can salvage 2 of the 4. I used Chicago tap water which may be my problem.

sccerfrk26 said:

Thanks for all your responses. I am flushing and cleaning today so hopefully I can salvage 2 of the 4. I used Chicago tap water which may be my problem.

Click to expand...

Id put my money on the water and light leaks. cuz it takes light for "most" algae need light to live and alot of containers seem light proof but the material can actually let light in thru the dark plastis.

If you have no other source sterilize your water with heat to remove any unwanted microbes. After that it's just fertilizer. Are you filtering the air going into your airator? I operate a different system but evertime I change the water I change cloth filters and clean the sedment traps. My res is stainless steel and it has to be shiny. I have a raised drain in the res so any sediment that has made its way into the res cannot recirculate back through the system. It looks microbial to me, perhaps brought on by an improper water.

Plants are soaking in Hydrogen Peroxide, they seem to be holding up fine.

My first attempt to clean the slime is as follows: put a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol in the reservoir and run the pump constantly. Drain, fill with clean water and flush. Sometime tomorrow I will get the plant back on track and see if that does it. I have a feeling that I will probably have to scrap the containers and start over but a $0.99 bottle of rubbing alcohol was cheap enough to give it a try.

Hmmm....some of the technaflora nutes I use will gum up the roots for a few days...I think it is the Root 66 for the roots that does it...but when you first see it it's like Holy Crap!!! Looks like super gross brown snotty sludge all over my roots, but there were many questions about the same thing on their website...so It's all good...my roots are looking twice as great as they were now that they have absorbed all the sludge...before there were very few feeder roots and now it is ridiculous...every root has feeders shooting out everywhhere...all the way to the tips...so my advice is check your nutes and maybe think about using the Technaflora recipe for Success kit...has everything you need and is super easy to use...

rhizotonic canna seems to help keep my roots white and very healthy maybe look into adding it to your line up

Also I've read of people using actual bleach to help make their roots a more healthy white color.

You may want to read my post on brown slime algae. If you determine you have it, I recommend forgetting about sterilizing and just inoculate your res with beneficial microbes.

Heisenberg said:

You may want to read my post on brown slime algae. If you determine you have it, I recommend forgetting about sterilizing and just inoculate your res with beneficial microbes.

Click to expand...

from my understanding

cyanobacteria are not brown they are blue green. which is why they were once classified as blue green algae, but then scientist realized that they were procaryotic cells and couldn't be algae because algae is eukaryotic.

and i've had brown slime algae and algacide killed it...
probably cuz its not bacteria its algae..

but your right the best way to get rid of it is with benificial microbes

Tahmi.Guhnn said:

from my understanding

cyanobacteria are not brown they are blue green. which is why they were once classified as blue green algae, but then scientist realized that they were procaryotic cells and couldn't be algae because algae is eukaryotic.

and i've had brown slime algae and algacide killed it...
probably cuz its not bacteria its algae..

but your right the best way to get rid of it is with benificial microbes

Click to expand...

The best way to get rid of it is to not put it into your system to begin with. I am not against certain microbes because they do in fact help plant growth. I use swamp water during the summer months because the plants do way better. There is all kinds of life forms in the swamp. I have a filter at the water valve in the swamp and another filter at the other end. I have filters and sediment traps in my budding system as well.

bird mcbride said:

The best way to get rid of it is to not put it into your system to begin with. I am not against certain microbes because they do in fact help plant growth. I use swamp water during the summer months because the plants do way better. There is all kinds of life forms in the swamp. I have a filter at the water valve in the swamp and another filter at the other end. I have filters and sediment traps in my budding system as well.

Click to expand...

not to be a dick but one no one puts that shit in on purpose and two if you dont put it in then there is nothing to get out so that doesn't really help if its already in there....

These roots are stocky and pruned from the open air touching them. Those roots in the photos should be dripping with water droplets or this will continue the pruning of the roots. More oxygen in the water and leave the sprayers on constantly during light operating times.

Tahmi.Guhnn said:

from my understanding

cyanobacteria are not brown they are blue green. which is why they were once classified as blue green algae, but then scientist realized that they were procaryotic cells and couldn't be algae because algae is eukaryotic.

and i've had brown slime algae and algacide killed it...
probably cuz its not bacteria its algae..

but your right the best way to get rid of it is with benificial microbes

Click to expand...

They can be any color really, depends on things like light spectrum. Normally it starts off as a clear slime and turns brown after the roots have been strangled and pythium sets in.

I just had to kill 30 girls after a bout of phthium got a hold of my room while I was distracted with other ladies in my life... It was worse than yours when I finally noticed but I tried h202, and hygrozeme but things were so bad I just had to sterelize the system. I was in week 4 of flower too, but there is just no other option, pythium is lethal.

That's rough, ggj32. So close to the prize too. Ouch. I am hoping that 2 of 4 will be able to survive.

I gave up on aero. The 2 healthiest are now in a DWC system. I am hoping that I can control the res temps better and without pumps there is much less noise.