Catching up some.... not digging back... too lazy.
I did run across these completely outrageous words from Lex.... "we as cannabis growers can only be lazy to a certain point lol.".
So rot sux. I'm surprised there was no smell in the pot. If it smelled bad in the clone bucket, that's surely where it originated. I created a little hempy style cloner that I flush regularly in hopes of avoiding any rot.
I'm not sure I'd focus too much on the sludge itself really. It's a constant in my world as well and hasn't historically been the source of my issues... tho things like rot sure do hang out there.
I looked at the plant you pulled. I'm amazed it got as far along as it did.
I think we really face some challenges in the smaller containers. First, your plant is going to have a much larger impact on the nute mix and medium... especially as it enters the deep bloom phase. Secondly, you can really see large swings in every category (PH, PPM, moisture, etc...) in such a small container. These combine to cause some really crazy issues some times. I've been waiting to see if issues like this will play out in my little garden as I move to the 2L containers and dabble with Osmocote+.
Oh look... 2 Christmas cents delivered.... HoHoHo Baby!