growweedtoday
Well-Known Member
Root rot is a condition found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although more common in indoor plants with poor drainage. As the name states, the roots of the plant rot. Many cases of root rot are caused by members of the water mould family Pythiaceae. This family includes a genus (type) of mould known as Pythium which was once classified as a fungus because it responds like a fungi to many sorts of treatments. Pythium is also part of the parasitic oomycete class, which are considered to be micro-organisms. I am not a major in micro-biology, but I believe all these terms which apply to the cause of root rot may help explain why there is sometimes confusion about whether Root Rot is caused by a mould, fungus, or bacteria.
Regardless of how you classify root rot, the methods to prevent and treat root rot are well established. You may hear that root rot will end up being lethal to your crop, but many growers (including myself) have successfully beaten root rot and been able to smoke the rewards. Even more importantly, growers need to take the steps to prevent root rot from happening in the first place. From what I understand, the organism that creates root rot is almost always there in your system. In order to prevent it from taking over your whole system and actually affecting your plants, you need to create an environment where root rot just can't survive. Luckily, most of the things you can do to prevent root rot will also benefit your plant so it's a win-win situation.
I would like to share my experience and research on preventing and treating root rot, and I would love to hear feedback from other growers about what has worked for them!
Prevention (these things will also help you control a root rot infestation)
Root rot mostly affects hydroponic systems, but can also result from over watering your plants in soil or other medium. Basically anytime the roots are sitting in water, they are at risk of devloping root rot. In order to prevent root rot, you will need change the plant's environment so that root rot no longer has a good place to grow.
Treatment (when you already have root rot)
If you don't fix the environmental causes of root rot, then it will just keep coming back no matter what you do. Therefore, it's important to go through the list above and make sure you're covering all your bases to prevent a re-occurrence. It's also important to note that affected roots will likely never recover, just like how discolored leaves on the plant will never recover. What you're looking for is new, healthy white root growth.
As far as how to get rid of root rot, using Subculture B (by General Hydroponics) has personally worked for me. I had a 6 gallon Stealth Hydro (top-fed DWC or bubbleponic system) and all my plants were suddenly afflicted with horrible, brown, smelly root rot. I treated the system with Subculture B and changed the reservoir water completely 1-2 times a week. 3 weeks later my root rot was gone. No dead roots or anything, the micro-organisms in the Subculture B ate everything. I have continued to treat my water with Subculture B as a preventative.
I have also heard really great things about AquaShield, which is much cheaper. Once I am through with this container of Subculture B, I am going to give AquaShield a try.
With my hand-watered coco coir grow, I use SM-90 with every watering because my plants seem to grow more quickly and have healthier roots, though I haven't run any controlled experiments. This extra growth inspired me to try SM-90 as an additive in my DWC setup. I haven't had a re-occurrence of root rot with any plant fed water that has been treated with SM-90. However, that could be because of other prevention factors so I don't know if it's the SM-90. I haven't personally tried using SM-90 alone as a treatment for a plant that already has root rot, but I've talked to other growers who've said it will work alone as a treatment for root rot. I would definitely be interested in hearing other people's experience with using SM-90. From what I understand, the SM-90 will kill any beneficial bacteria, so I haven't tried using SM-90 together with Subculture B.
I've also heard some people report success after treating their system with a drop or two of bleach/Chlorox per gallon of water. I have personally never really tried this method because the Subculture B and SM-90 both seem to work so well, and also I'm leery about using bleach unless I absolutely have to.
Not Recommended
Some people like to use hydrogen peroxide to kill all organisms in their reservoir. The conventional wisdom is to add a teaspoon of 35% hydrogen peroxide (buy it from a hydroponic store) per gallon of water in your reservoir. Some people also use the hydrogen peroxide you get from the store and use that directly on the affected roots. It does seem to do the trick in the short term to get rid of the brown slimy roots. However, in my experience, the roots will appear to be doing better for 1-2 days, but end up getting root rot right back. I personally believe that this is because the H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) kills all the organisms in your water (both good and bad) but is then used up very quickly and is undetectable in the water after a day or two. If even one pathogen survived the H2O2, it now has the perfect environment to spread (no competition, nutrients in the water, and the H2O2 has all been used up) It seems like you would have to be constantly adding H2O2 to your water in order to use it as a treatment for root rot. In any case, based on my own experience, I have never been able to successfully treat root rot with H2O2 (not for lack of trying!) so I strongly recommend against using the H2O2 method as a long term fix for root rot. If someone out there has successfully rid their plant of root rot using just H2O2, (and by successful, I mean you were able to eventually harvest the plant) please post your methods!
Feedback
I would love to hear feedback from anyone else that has successfully beaten root rot in their hydroponic system. There's so much mis-information that gets spread around about preventing and treating root rot, and it would be great to hear from people who have real experience beating it. If you have any suggestions of things that should put taken off or put on my list, I'd love to hear from you too!
Regardless of how you classify root rot, the methods to prevent and treat root rot are well established. You may hear that root rot will end up being lethal to your crop, but many growers (including myself) have successfully beaten root rot and been able to smoke the rewards. Even more importantly, growers need to take the steps to prevent root rot from happening in the first place. From what I understand, the organism that creates root rot is almost always there in your system. In order to prevent it from taking over your whole system and actually affecting your plants, you need to create an environment where root rot just can't survive. Luckily, most of the things you can do to prevent root rot will also benefit your plant so it's a win-win situation.
I would like to share my experience and research on preventing and treating root rot, and I would love to hear feedback from other growers about what has worked for them!
Prevention (these things will also help you control a root rot infestation)
Root rot mostly affects hydroponic systems, but can also result from over watering your plants in soil or other medium. Basically anytime the roots are sitting in water, they are at risk of devloping root rot. In order to prevent root rot, you will need change the plant's environment so that root rot no longer has a good place to grow.
- Cleanliness is one of the best preventions for pretty much any sort of plant pathogen. Keep your grow area as clean as possible at all times. Clean and disinfect all your equipment thoroughly before each new grow. Maintain a clean reservoir that is free of any dead roots, dead leaves or other types of plant debris because they will provide a rotting breeding ground for bacteria.
- Some people like to add beneficial bacteria to their water to help prevent root-related plant diseases and help make nutrients available to the plant. Some of the formulas available are Piranha, Aquashield, VooDoo Juice, Great White, Biozome, Subculture, Rooters, Plant Savers, Micro-Max, and DTE Soluble root enhancer. Most of these can be used with both hydro and soil grows. I personally recommend Subculture B because I've used it successfully to treat Root Rot. I've also personally heard many great things from other hydroponic growers about Aquashield, which is much cheaper.
- If you have a hydroponic system, it's a good idea to change your reservoir water regularly in order to prevent any one type of bacteria from overgrowing the whole reservoir. I personally recommend trying to change your water at least once a week. Regularly changing your water will also help your plants get better access to nutrients and the roots of the plant love that 10-15 minutes where they get access to the oxygen in the air (just don't ever let the roots get dry).
- It is beneficial to try to get as much oxygen as possible disolved 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 disolved 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.
- Don't let any light get to your roots or reservoir water ever, as it provides heat and light which will promote the growth of bacteria.
- SM-90 also seems to help prevent and treat root rot, as well as help your plant overall root health. It's made up of a few different types of oils that happen to kill many pathogens. I also like to have SM-90 around because it will kill aphids, spider mites, and white powdery mold when used as a foliar spray. I personally feel that anyone who grows hydroponically should have some SM-90 around. I've heard that SM-90 may kill beneficial bacteria, so I don't use it if I'm adding Subculture B. I always use one of the other. I would be very interested to hear other people's experience with combining the two(beneficial bacteria and SM-90).
Treatment (when you already have root rot)
If you don't fix the environmental causes of root rot, then it will just keep coming back no matter what you do. Therefore, it's important to go through the list above and make sure you're covering all your bases to prevent a re-occurrence. It's also important to note that affected roots will likely never recover, just like how discolored leaves on the plant will never recover. What you're looking for is new, healthy white root growth.
As far as how to get rid of root rot, using Subculture B (by General Hydroponics) has personally worked for me. I had a 6 gallon Stealth Hydro (top-fed DWC or bubbleponic system) and all my plants were suddenly afflicted with horrible, brown, smelly root rot. I treated the system with Subculture B and changed the reservoir water completely 1-2 times a week. 3 weeks later my root rot was gone. No dead roots or anything, the micro-organisms in the Subculture B ate everything. I have continued to treat my water with Subculture B as a preventative.
I have also heard really great things about AquaShield, which is much cheaper. Once I am through with this container of Subculture B, I am going to give AquaShield a try.
With my hand-watered coco coir grow, I use SM-90 with every watering because my plants seem to grow more quickly and have healthier roots, though I haven't run any controlled experiments. This extra growth inspired me to try SM-90 as an additive in my DWC setup. I haven't had a re-occurrence of root rot with any plant fed water that has been treated with SM-90. However, that could be because of other prevention factors so I don't know if it's the SM-90. I haven't personally tried using SM-90 alone as a treatment for a plant that already has root rot, but I've talked to other growers who've said it will work alone as a treatment for root rot. I would definitely be interested in hearing other people's experience with using SM-90. From what I understand, the SM-90 will kill any beneficial bacteria, so I haven't tried using SM-90 together with Subculture B.
I've also heard some people report success after treating their system with a drop or two of bleach/Chlorox per gallon of water. I have personally never really tried this method because the Subculture B and SM-90 both seem to work so well, and also I'm leery about using bleach unless I absolutely have to.
Not Recommended
Some people like to use hydrogen peroxide to kill all organisms in their reservoir. The conventional wisdom is to add a teaspoon of 35% hydrogen peroxide (buy it from a hydroponic store) per gallon of water in your reservoir. Some people also use the hydrogen peroxide you get from the store and use that directly on the affected roots. It does seem to do the trick in the short term to get rid of the brown slimy roots. However, in my experience, the roots will appear to be doing better for 1-2 days, but end up getting root rot right back. I personally believe that this is because the H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) kills all the organisms in your water (both good and bad) but is then used up very quickly and is undetectable in the water after a day or two. If even one pathogen survived the H2O2, it now has the perfect environment to spread (no competition, nutrients in the water, and the H2O2 has all been used up) It seems like you would have to be constantly adding H2O2 to your water in order to use it as a treatment for root rot. In any case, based on my own experience, I have never been able to successfully treat root rot with H2O2 (not for lack of trying!) so I strongly recommend against using the H2O2 method as a long term fix for root rot. If someone out there has successfully rid their plant of root rot using just H2O2, (and by successful, I mean you were able to eventually harvest the plant) please post your methods!
Feedback
I would love to hear feedback from anyone else that has successfully beaten root rot in their hydroponic system. There's so much mis-information that gets spread around about preventing and treating root rot, and it would be great to hear from people who have real experience beating it. If you have any suggestions of things that should put taken off or put on my list, I'd love to hear from you too!
From this to this:
