Root rot!

[Word]

So I have a drip system, with oxygen stones hooked up in the reservoir. I'm using pea gravel as the medium (yes I've rinsed it) and starting my seeds in jiffy pellets except some squash seeds. I have been using a variety of nutrients from general hydroponics, but mainly their one part veg nutrients.

So it's out side and I'm growing vegetables in it like squash and lettuce, but the squash (the ones that I planted that were not in jiffy pellets) started wilting. I pulled them out and sho' nuff' they had ROOT ROT! The other ones in jiffy pellets I pulled out and there was root rot on the out side of the pellets, so I sprayed them down with a hydrogen peroxide solution you can use to treat (but only works 50/50) root rot. They're not going back in yet.

I do live in Arizona so it gets pretty hot out, but my balcony receives NO direct sunlight since it's facing south and the balcony wall is so high. However the reservoir gets quite warm and the water is getting that root rot brown look to it.

Treating root root is not my main problem (but any suggestions are fine), I need to find the source of the problem.

Any suggestions as to what the source may be so I can easily solve it?

 

[Dayzt]

It sounds to me like your rez temps are the problem. Using it outside when it's so hot will drive up your temps in there and is likely why you're getting the root rot. I think you can get 'chillers' to help with that, but it's tricky (and expensive). Have you considered just using soil since you've got'em outside in the hot sun? =)

 

[Word]

It sounds to me like your rez temps are the problem. Using it outside when it's so hot will drive up your temps in there and is likely why you're getting the root rot. I think you can get 'chillers' to help with that, but it's tricky (and expensive). Have you considered just using soil since you've got'em outside in the hot sun? =)

I had plants in soil on my patio before, but fungus gnats decided to move in so I tossed everything.

I think I'm just gonna' use a passive hydroponic system. You can mix 2:1 vermiculiteerlite to create a soil simulating medium and put it in planters. But these mediums don't supply nutrients to the plants, so watering with nutrients will still be needed and is still considered hydroponics. Since it's not an active hydroponic system unlike my drip system, It will require me to water by hand. But NO fungus gnats, and NO root rot!

Thanks for the help man!

 

[dogstick]

sunshine #4, vermichar and hydroton will do the trick.

 

[Word]

sunshine #4, vermichar and hydroton will do the trick.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Word]

Alright, so I found out several reasons to why I have root rot in this system.

1. Water temperature: Since it was outside the water temperature was above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and water at this temperature holds less dissolved oxygen than what hydroponic systems normally hold when indoors (65-70 degrees Fahrenheit) and this is the type of environment Pythium thrives in.

2. Unfiltered water: Since it was a system I had outside, I thought using tap water would be fine, but apparently traces of Pythium can be found in tap water.

3. Unsterilized medium: I was using pea gravel I bought at Lowe's, and this could contribute to the infection because it could have been rinsed with water that was contaminated with Pythium before being packaged and shipped to Lowe's.

Ancient Chinese proverb: The key to health is prevention
(Let me be an example of what happens when someone decides to not take root rot seriously)

Unfortunately, since this system has had root rot ONLY ONCE, it is now prone to root rot later. Meaning that I must keep an eye watching constantly for root rot.

How I'm handling the problem:

1. Cleaning: I am running a bleach and hydrogen peroxide solution dissolved in water through my water pump, and I have cleaned out the reservoir and all other equipment in the water (oxygen stone, net pots and tubing)

2. Restarting: I am going to restart properly, by sterilizing my medium (pea gravel) with a bleach and hydrogen peroxide solution.

3. Prevention and maintenance: I will be purchasing Hygrozyme, which is beneficial enzymes that assist in preventing root rot. As well as keeping my hydroponic system indoors and using filtered water.

 

[Maer]

You need a res chiller for the summer, unless you want to change out frozen water bottles all day to keep your temps down. I think your water should be at 65-69.

 

[jean2]

Hydroponics chillers are best to buy in hydroponic stores, so that you can get all the information about the equipments as well as how it works and how to set them up in your hydroponics grow room. Before you get any chillers, make sure whether it cools your reservoir water, because some of the chillers are not meant for reservoir water cooling.

Get a high-end chiller to cool the amount of water in your reservoir, or else you have to pump water out of your reservoir into the chiller, and then back into the reservoir. A high end chiller comes with inbuilt pumps and reservoirs so you don’t have to go through the plumbing work to install the system. To get this, check the right kind of pump, tubing, pump filters and other hardware.