Background:
I am growing indoors, in soil under 400 watt hps for flower and cfls for veg. My grow rooms are in a converted outdoor shed. I've insulated it and did what I could to try and create a decent enviroment for my plants, but am still having trouble with temp control, cools in the winter get down in the mid 60's and highs in the summer get up to the lower 90's. I know I have to get better control of those temps, but available electrical issues prevent that for now. This temp problem contributes toward making my plants succeptible to disease and othe3r problems I know.
About 6 months ago I started noticing that my flower room plants would start to die off from the bottom up. The lower fan leaves being the first to show it, then it would work its way up the plant, killing leaves as it progressed. The buds formed poorly, with no signs trichs showing on them at all and looking 'wilted' and small. What really got my attention though, was when I finally took a good look at the roots on one of the severely damaged plants. They had a tannish color and where not the nice white that they should be.
I cleaned and sterilized everthing in my grow rooms, as well as the room itself. I got brand new soil and ditched the old stuff. I ordered new seeds and threw out all clones and teens, figuring to start off fresh.
Low and behold, it returned in my new crop. Believe my I was not a happy camper. I literally cried over it.
I tried all the usual cures for such things as lockout, changing nutes etc. All to no availe, as I was not treating the cause of the plants illness, just the symptoms.
As the symptoms initially look just like Mag or Nitrogen difficiancy, due to the roots being unable to pass nutriants up to the rest of the plant, I was treating for the wrong cause. I had no idea what I was looking at and could find very little info, and was on the verge of just saying the heck with it and quiting my indoor grow. I posted pictures on the forum pages seaking help and advice, and as mentioned earlier, because of the symptoms looking like lockout or a dificiancy ( which it was due to the roots being infected) The advice I got was not helpful at all. Not the respondants fault, they where observing what I was observing and pointing out the usual suspects in such cases.
I was talking with my hydro store gal, who is also a grower, and was telling her about my frustration. The first thing she asked me was to describe the condition of the roots, specifically the color. When I told her she imediately identified it as Pythium fungas and told me what I needed to do.
Symptoms:
Poor growth with small and underformed buds.
Leaves curling under.
Fan leaves dieing off. Starting at the bottom of the plant and moving upward. Eventually all the fan leaves will die and due to not getting sufficiant nutriants, the buds and sugar leaves become wilted and die.
Roots have a light brown or tan appearance, not the nice white look that they should be.
The Cure:
Prevention. Cleanliness and proper enviroment. As plants that are weakened by inferior enviromental control are more succeptable to attack. Proper watering habits as dampness is what a fungas loves.
I flushed my plants with an H2O2 solution. I used 29% hydrogen peroxide mixed at a rate of 5 ml. per gal of water. And then let the pots dry out completely befor their next watering. Because the H2O2 kills virtually all of the benificial organisms in the soil I had to brew up some Worm Casting tea to use on the next watering. This reintroduced the good little critters into my soil.
I'm not out of the woods yet, but I do see signs of hope. I'm posting this as I hope that others can benifit from my missteps and mistakes. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, and I hope that others who are experts can add to this thread in the hopes of helping others who are going through the same battle as I am.
Picture of an infected plant
I am growing indoors, in soil under 400 watt hps for flower and cfls for veg. My grow rooms are in a converted outdoor shed. I've insulated it and did what I could to try and create a decent enviroment for my plants, but am still having trouble with temp control, cools in the winter get down in the mid 60's and highs in the summer get up to the lower 90's. I know I have to get better control of those temps, but available electrical issues prevent that for now. This temp problem contributes toward making my plants succeptible to disease and othe3r problems I know.
About 6 months ago I started noticing that my flower room plants would start to die off from the bottom up. The lower fan leaves being the first to show it, then it would work its way up the plant, killing leaves as it progressed. The buds formed poorly, with no signs trichs showing on them at all and looking 'wilted' and small. What really got my attention though, was when I finally took a good look at the roots on one of the severely damaged plants. They had a tannish color and where not the nice white that they should be.
I cleaned and sterilized everthing in my grow rooms, as well as the room itself. I got brand new soil and ditched the old stuff. I ordered new seeds and threw out all clones and teens, figuring to start off fresh.
Low and behold, it returned in my new crop. Believe my I was not a happy camper. I literally cried over it.
I tried all the usual cures for such things as lockout, changing nutes etc. All to no availe, as I was not treating the cause of the plants illness, just the symptoms.
As the symptoms initially look just like Mag or Nitrogen difficiancy, due to the roots being unable to pass nutriants up to the rest of the plant, I was treating for the wrong cause. I had no idea what I was looking at and could find very little info, and was on the verge of just saying the heck with it and quiting my indoor grow. I posted pictures on the forum pages seaking help and advice, and as mentioned earlier, because of the symptoms looking like lockout or a dificiancy ( which it was due to the roots being infected) The advice I got was not helpful at all. Not the respondants fault, they where observing what I was observing and pointing out the usual suspects in such cases.
I was talking with my hydro store gal, who is also a grower, and was telling her about my frustration. The first thing she asked me was to describe the condition of the roots, specifically the color. When I told her she imediately identified it as Pythium fungas and told me what I needed to do.
Symptoms:
Poor growth with small and underformed buds.
Leaves curling under.
Fan leaves dieing off. Starting at the bottom of the plant and moving upward. Eventually all the fan leaves will die and due to not getting sufficiant nutriants, the buds and sugar leaves become wilted and die.
Roots have a light brown or tan appearance, not the nice white look that they should be.
The Cure:
Prevention. Cleanliness and proper enviroment. As plants that are weakened by inferior enviromental control are more succeptable to attack. Proper watering habits as dampness is what a fungas loves.
I flushed my plants with an H2O2 solution. I used 29% hydrogen peroxide mixed at a rate of 5 ml. per gal of water. And then let the pots dry out completely befor their next watering. Because the H2O2 kills virtually all of the benificial organisms in the soil I had to brew up some Worm Casting tea to use on the next watering. This reintroduced the good little critters into my soil.
I'm not out of the woods yet, but I do see signs of hope. I'm posting this as I hope that others can benifit from my missteps and mistakes. I'm certainly no expert on the subject, and I hope that others who are experts can add to this thread in the hopes of helping others who are going through the same battle as I am.
Picture of an infected plant
