Problem at the base of the stem

[Mushaman]

Hi all

 

I have had 2 casualties in my GR over the weekend .... I've posted some pix and would appreciate any advice anyone can let me have ... there are still 8 girls left and I would hate to see any others go this way.

[WantDaChronic]

looks like you have had a bit of mould in your room, sadly i have pretty much the same thing atm as well i would just take a bunch of cuttings from that plant and hope for the best, but if you want to save it you should get the room as dry as possible and get some mould killer on the stem, but by the looks of things it might be a little too late for that

[Luke Skywalker]

vent vent vent.... get as much air movement happening as possible. Take clones as insurance against plant death, but you've got a rot/mould problem.

 

Some of these fungi are quite damaging and difficult to control, but you might find some help from "citrofresh" or "microkill", both of which will control or kill most pathogens. Fongarid would be a more traditional treatment, but won't help with some pathogens.

 

Cinnamon dust is an effective anti-microbial and anti-fungal, you could sprinkle a little around the affected area to help.

 

Main thing, keep moisture off the area and keep air movement at maximum. You may want to drop the water level in the bubblers if it's touching the base of the netpot, and move any watering system that recirculates solution through the media so it can't spray water onto the affected area.

 

Once these things progress to a certain point though, you'll usually lose the plant. I wouldn't put money on keeping em, so take a goodly amount of clones as insurance, and treat those with fungicides for a while to ensure they're clean and healthy.

 

What kind of ventilation do you have and is there any air circulation within the room? And keep things as clean as possible, any leaves or wet material left on the floor, (I spies what looks like a wet towell in there) will also be a harbouring point for pathogens, so clean clean clean! Using a solution disinfectant like oxyplus or pythoff would probably do you some favours too.

 

Hope that helps.

[Mushaman]

Hi Luke

 

thanks for the reply.

 

The air into the chamber is all passive - I have several different points where the air comes in,

 

all air out is thru the Carbofil.

 

AIr movement in the chamber is good - I have one 36" fan which pans back and forth and it creates a near gale in the chamber ... I have a speed controller on it to tone down the min setting .... sounds like a spitfire engine on full minimum ... on max, its just too noisy to use. I added a pic from last grow which shows fan position... its still in the same spot.

 

I have tried to balance air in/out so that the sides of the chamber suck in gently when i close the velcro doorway .... my reasoning here was that all air out would then be treated by the Carbofil and I would get no fruity smells escaping into the GR and thence the bigger space where the GR is located.

 

I have often thought I should try to get more air in .... do you think that is an issue? The only difference from the last grow and this is one less fan on the cool tubes ....

 

The air in the chamber is sitting on about 30-32c with around 60% RH and while its hot working in there, its not stuffy or "too hot" .. but then I'm no expert ...

 

I'm also running it without the aircon this time ... tyring to save on the power use .... mainly because from what I've read, 32c isn't TOO hot for a GR ... the smaller space I grew in sat on around 26c which I have read is ideal .... and the last grow in the current chamber was a huge success ... mind you, the clones I put in there were tried and tested and much more mature than the seedlings that I'm growing now ...

 

what do you think? should I try getting more air IN happening ?

 

I have a good supply of Microkill and I sprayed all around and on the lids of the tubs this arvo ....

 

can you spray it on the plant itself .. is that what you meant ?

 

should I spray it on the stem of the plant where I see the "mushy" looking section ?... the rot seems to have happened just above the level of the clayballs and it looks like it extends below them down to where the stem joins the rootcube .....

 

As far as keeping mositure off the base of the plant stem .. I think easier said than done .... it's an aero setup .. so the bottom of the netpot sits inside the top tub and roots hang down to the base of that .... inside the top tub are 4 sticks with spray heads .. these spray constantly inside the top tub and then drain back to the bottom rez tub .. the effect of this is that the netpot of clayballs stays pretty wet ... I have added a couple of pix of the inside of the top tub and another from my first grow which shows how the two tubs fit together and how the plants look when they are sitting in the netpots.

 

Yes,

well spotted .. it is a towel but its dry as a bone now ... one of the tubs was dripping onto the floor about a week ago (I replaced the lid with a spare) and fixed the drip ... but slacker that I am, I left it there (telling myself it was in case another drip developed ) I will remove it tomorrow morning and Microkill wipe the whole floor. I have been adding oxyplus to the rez tanks by top watering it thru the netpots .. also been adding a bit to the rez twice a week ..... would you use it anywhere else or in any other way?

 

Thanks again Luke, any further thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[MongyMan]

As far as keeping mositure off the base of the plant stem .. I think easier said than done .... it's an aero setup .. so the bottom of the netpot sits inside the top tub and roots hang down to the base of that .... inside the top tub are 4 sticks with spray heads .. these spray constantly inside the top tub and then drain back to the bottom rez tub .. the effect of this is that the netpot of clayballs stays pretty wet ...

 

Unfortunatly this is the only thing that is going to fix and stop the problem happening again I think. Is there any way you can lift the net pots at all so that the top inch or so is not as wet all the time? I've had alot of trouble with rockwool in aro set up too. If planted to deep into the clay balls they stay saturated all the time, which keeps the stem wet 24/7 and molds and fungus grow easily.

 

Peace MongyMan

[Mushaman]

HI MongyMan

 

thanks for the reply.

 

Theres no way to lift the net pot up now ... I guess the good news is that the surface balls on the remaining plants aren't wet ... so I guess I planted them a bit higher up in the netpot that the two that rotted ... will change the sticks the spray heads sit on for shorter ones tomorrow as a precaution anyway ... the remaining plants are strating to develop root balls so I think there will be no problem doing this ... mental note for the next starters ... dont plant them so deep in the clayballs !

 

Yeh watda, you were right ... too late mate ... .... wil get some pix of the cutz and cloning arrangements for the GD tomorrow and will be taking Luke's advice and doing a sanitizing run tomorrow with my Microkill sprayer and rags thru the whole room.

 

SOunds like its ok to spray microkill on the stem .... is that right? I've done the tubs and tops of tubs but avoided the actual plant stems or clayballs .... I'll wait to hear before I risk spraying the plant stems should have been more meticulous in cleaning things up after the last grow ..

 

[sunnycoaststoner]

or what about puting your watering system on a timer so it is not going all the time therefore letting the rockwool dry out a little between waterings. i dont know much about aero but could be worth a try?? i have had some thing similar with my recirculating system and found that one of the drippers was spraying directly onto the base of the stem.

[Mushaman]

Heya SunnyC

 

thanks for the reply.

I'm really not sure ... I'm under the impression that the roots are supposed to be getting a constant misting from the emitters .. or the roots whci are basically handing in the air and layering the bottom of the tun, get dry and suffer ....?

 

I've used the same system a few times now .. always with pretty good results and never seen this problem ... I think it will be down to the stem and clayballs being too wet all the time .. I must have buried a few of the babies too far down in the netpot .... the roots get the benefit of hanging in the air 100% of the time and that usually works ... from memory (hazy) , there were a few of the seedlings that were a bit wonky at transplant time so they got buried deeper for support ... a lesson learned ...

 

hope to have some rooted clones in a week or so which I will veg for a couple more (have to get them back from flowering) then they can go into the vacant spots in the GR .. unfortunately there are now more vacant spots than growing plants

[Chato]

hey mate good to see ya back around, been too long between drinks me thinks

 

your memory might be hazy but you know exactly what the prob is and have mentioned although i feel might be a few other factors creeping in too. you obviously soaked the stem by placing it too far down the netpot but this in itself shouldn;t be enuff to cause your rot. are you misters blockd in anyway an delivering a stream in any places? how's the drainage in the tubs? looks like some salt build up in your clayballs and around the lids as well, not so much in these pics but your diary ones, i'd be giving em all a good clean with h202.

 

anyways hope ya get it sorted mate possibly consider runnin the misters on timers, tag or true aero growers thread at icmag has heaps of useful info.

 

good to have ya back mate.

 

peace

c

[buck]

looks like root rot to me check the roots if they look brown then its the culprit imo (pythium)