Is this root rot?

I found a few brown root tips on this clone and it has a musky smell to it...not sour, just musky. I was hoping to get a few expert opinions on whether I should be concerned or not. The attached pic shows the yellow/brown spots in the zoomed pic (you can also see a little bastard bugger in the wide shot, bonus if you can identify it!)

I cloned this plant about 2 weeks ago into rockwool using "take root" compound. I water only when the rockwool cubes start getting light, just before they really dry up, because I like to push the roots to grow and hopefully prevent rotting. I have them sitting on a flat bottom catch tray, not on a grate with good aeration like I should and will from now on. I water with pH 7 water, filtered (I've heard 5.5 - 6.5 is best for rockwool, but I haven't noticed a difference in plant vigor when cloning).

I know there are tons of threads on root rot, but I couldn't find any pics that look similar to this, and was hoping to hear some thoughts confirming whether or not this is some form of rot or if its just root tips dying due to light exposure or drying out.

Thanks in advance!

Healthy

Looks good. MD

moondance said:

Looks good. MD

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Thanks for chiming in MD and LL, I'm glad to hear they look healthy! I still wonder what the brown regions in some of the roots are from, especially since I see a little bug which I wonder may be eating or damaging the roots. I've had a solid fungus gnat problem, that I'm about to treat with more yellow stickies, gnatrol, and an extra fan. I've had some of my strains exhibit weak vigor, especially since my first first cloning attempt got a little "steamy" and some strains died off while others simply didn't grow as well as their mother. .I'm guessing some form of fungus or bacteria was the cause and that's why I'm concerned about these roots. I'm still wondering if these brown spots may turn to a more serious case of rot if I don't pretreat (maybe h2o2 and some bennies before transplant), since I believe some source of rot has gotten a foothold in my garden.

Anyway, not to brush off your assessment, as I would really prefer everything is aok. However, I still have to figure out why some of my plants have WEAK vigor. Sigh...I suppose controlling the fungus gnats is step 1.

Cheers

To strong of h2o2 and you can burn off all your microscopic root hairs. You don't have root rot just some air pruning going on, they need to be planted in their containers.

Bernie420 said:

To strong of h2o2 and you can burn off all your microscopic root hairs. You don't have root rot just some air pruning going on, they need to be planted in their containers.

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Thanks bernie420. I agree, the brown tips look like air pruning. I'm more concerned about the brown spots in the middle of the root, not at the tip. Also, I figured out what bug that is in the pic, since I discovered some ROOT APHIDS on some other clones...argh! This may be why I'm seeing some odd looking root damage here and there and it would at least partially explain the weak vigor.

Thanks for the warning on the h2o2. In the case it turns out I do have some root rot on some of my plants, how would you recommend I apply h2o2 and at what strength?

Thanks again!

growerNshower said:

Thanks for the warning on the h2o2. In the case it turns out I do have some root rot on some of my plants, how would you recommend I apply h2o2 and at what strength?

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My bad im stuck on hydro You look like a dirt guy I wouldnt apply h202 in dirt. In hydro a safe application is about 5ml per gallon of liquid oxygen is what I use. Thats not to say you couldnt soak them in a shallow tray before you go in dirt for about 15 minutes but again they look fine and I wouldnt risk burning my roots

Didn't read answers but that musty smell, could be the rockwool. Roots look good, should give you a nice plant. Good luck
SH420