root mass issues

Father Ramirez

Well-Known Member
It's been a week since your last post... did you straighten it out?

Chlorine in its most benign form (still poison of course), liquid sodium hypochlorite, is tolerated and even needed by most living things. Our plants can handle quite a bit of it, and it helps keep roots healthy in a hydroponic setup. Typical US city tap water has 2ppm+/-chlorine, which is enough to kill light bacteria. I clean the box with a splash of household bleach. Whatever residue remains after rinsing is all that's needed. I stop using chlorine when I'm two to three weeks away from harvest. My roots smell and taste great!
 

completenoobie

Well-Known Member
mostly. I added pool shock to my big res but I want to transition to hydroguard. I still need to find a way to get my temps down. I have plenty of a/c, I think I described earlier in the thread, but my res temps are still kinda higher than I'd like. I run 5 gal buckets so a chiller wouldn't work, maybe in the big res, but it's just pre-mix, not plumbed into anything. I am going to scale back and mix smaller amounts, the problem seems to be originating in the big pre-mixed res and becoming a problem in the buckets. I still add a little pool shock right now to help with the newly rooted and moved plants, but when I empty the big res I am going to try a few other options.

I have changed my pump schedule drastically and even inside a "cold" tent, the pumps must be putting off a lot of heat. I run LEDs in tents with 14k btu inside and 12k btu outside. I have seen where others run temps near 90 and still don't have issues with similar setups. I do have co2 but it is probably wasted because my temps are in the 70s mostly.

I have tried to figure out the math and just can't, I want to make a stock solution that I can add a little bit of to get close to about 5 ppm until I run my big res empty.

Yes and no to answer your question, I think I am treating successfully but need to find a better way to prevent, rather than cure.
 

VegasWinner

Well-Known Member
been growing for a few years at a novice level, rarely checking pH, ppm, etc. Just following the directions on the bottles, same setup, homemade aero bucket. Just recently started checking pH and ppms with only a very minor adjustment to pH in the last res change.

about 24 hrs in and I checked and the pump is frozen, with visible root tissue floating freely, assuming the tissue has clogged the pump. I changed the bucket out with a fresh setup (new pump and nutes) and while handling I could wipe away masses of roots with my hands, like running your hands through your hair and coming away with half of your head of hair.

the ONLY thing I did differently from the last few years was adjust the pH of a large res from which I fill my individual aero buckets. about a 50 gal res, and approx 3 gal per bucket. the pH was a tiny bit low and I had to pull it up less than half a point. at least I am pretty sure, I have a veg res and I am pretty sure I had to pull it down a little, but I may have the up and down reversed. Regardless, i do know for a fact it was less than half a point, about three tenths or so, very little in the grand scheme of things.

every other root mass I have dealt with takes a chain fucking chain saw to remove from the net pots if I try to recycle them, most of the time it is too much trouble to cut away roots, they are fucking a tough, hard, strong.

this is my first attempt with this strain, an unknown from a variety pack from Ace seeds. Other than that, nothing real different except the pH monitoring (and subsequent adjustment).

the plant herself still looks strong and healthy as of now. I will keep a very close eye on her now.

any thoughts?
I use a screen above my pumps to keep 90% of the roots away from the pumps. I used screens for fry pans to keep grease like these. I take off the handle and it fits in a round bucket. covers a pump nicely
upload_2017-9-3_6-57-36.jpeg
 

completenoobie

Well-Known Member
Until root rot caused the roots to basically disintegrate and fall apart I had no problem with roots getting into pumps. It's only now (then, actually, past tense) that there's a problem because the roots are (were) falling off in wads.

I have since completely purged the problem and am back to normal with healthy roots.

I don't veg long enough to end up with a massive root ball by harvest.

@StinkBud says trimming roots is not a problem as well.

I like the screen idea, just don't need it
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
That foamy shit on top is partially made up of exudates the roots excrete to feed and communicate with microbes, It is nice food for your plants outdoors.
You can make your own quick tea by taking a large tub of water then go pull weeds outdoors, shake off most of the soil and rinse the roots off in the water. You will see the foam start building up almost immediately.

Check places that sell stuff for aquariums. Or look on e-bay for filter socks. People use them to prefilter water coming into their sump filters. It would be easy to put one on the end of your pipes like a condom.
 

Wastei

Well-Known Member
It looks like a bad case of Brown slime aka Cyanobacteria. Coates everything. Clean your rez and run initial of 5ppm chlorine eod.

After that you follow regimen to keep residual chlorine at 0.5 ppm.
 
Top