Root rot?

[wh33t]

Am I correct in understanding that because of the ammonia (or some other substance) plants in an Aquaponics system cannot get root rot?

[badflash]

Not true. Many plants can not stand having their roots wet all the time, others can. Flood & drain works with more plants than a rafting system, but if your plant needs well drained soil, it may not be a good candidate for aquaponics.

[wh33t]

Not true. Many plants can not stand having their roots wet all the time, others can. Flood & drain works with more plants than a rafting system, but if your plant needs well drained soil, it may not be a good candidate for aquaponics.

So it's possible for Aquaponic systems to get pythium and wipe out the whole system? Is there much less chance of it happening?

[urbanfarmer]

Hm, this is an area I have not researched intensively, but I have never had a problem with root rot with adequate dissolved oxygen levels. Conversely, I used to have a common problem with it with low DO levels. I can replicate this experimentally, but that doesn't explain what it is, but I would imagine the DO being high enough to allow the good aerobic microorganisms to out compete and be present in sufficient quantity to prevent damage to the plants.

[rfeiller]

my understanding is that pythium will not exist if you include some pine shavings in your media. this was in an article in i believe it was the publication Maximum Yield (an excellent publication by the way, so is Rosebud and urban gardener). i will look up the specific date of the publication. pythium can be as a result of low oxygen and an anerobic conditions, but not always. whole well maintained hydroponics systems can be wiped out in a few hours.

[wh33t]

my understanding is that pythium will not exist if you include some pine shavings in your media. this was in an article in i believe it was the publication Maximum Yield (an excellent publication by the way, so is Rosebud and urban gardener). i will look up the specific date of the publication. pythium can be as a result of low oxygen and an anerobic conditions, but not always. whole well maintained hydroponics systems can be wiped out in a few hours.

Well what I know of Pythium is that it is an organism. It doesn't just happen, you have to get it. But where it comes from I'm not sure exactly. I do hear that it likes still water though.

I don't much like Rosebud. But I have some friends who write articles for both UGM and Maximum Yield. I know the owners of UGM personally. They are great people.

[rfeiller]

it is like any other organism you can bring it in on your person, in the air, that's why high tech grow rooms require a sterile enviornment. when i toured a very nice rose hydroponics set up (25k-50k cut flowers a day) i was not allowed to touch any plant and had to stay in the main isle. it was not clean room cleanliness, but still.

i just hit Wikipedia, apparantly pythium is a large family of pathogenic organisms it is certainly worth checking out what is written there. it is something that anyone with a green house or hydroponics type of set up should know about. i've never concerned myself with it until now.

i pick and choose the articles from all three publications. urban gardener takes a somewhat different approach, sometimes too political for growing tomatoes. :) but i like the publication very much.

the other two publications market their products quite heavily. but something has to pay for the publishing, i enjoy my free copies.

[wh33t]

it is like any other organism you can bring it in on your person, in the air, that's why high tech grow rooms require a sterile enviornment. when i toured a very nice rose hydroponics set up (25k-50k cut flowers a day) i was not allowed to touch any plant and had to stay in the main isle. it was not clean room cleanliness, but still.

i pick and choose the articles from all three publications. urban gardener takes a somewhat different approach, sometimes too political for growing tomatoes. :) but i like the publication very much.

the other two publications market their products quite heavily. but something has to pay for the publishing, i enjoy my free copies.

I dig the political and ethical vibe of UGM. To me that is something that needs to be more apparent to us in our day to day lives. I think we need to continually be evaluating our impact on the planet for future generations.

Anyhow, DAMN ROOT ROT. I hate you!

[rfeiller]

i couldn't agree more about saving the planet and being responsible caretakers of what has been entrusted to us. :)

[kneedeepinwater]

From what I have learned while using DWC systems and other people using them, which is the only time I have really heard about hydroponic users complaining about root rot....is if you experience root rot your DO is too low. When I was doing DWC and from other peoples experience we/they used ceramic air stones and strong air pumps, not the cheap kind. Also the pumps moved a lot of GPH which help with water turnover which help with oxygen levels even more.

I have never experience root rot period in DWC, Aero, organic soil, ebb n flow/flood n drain, I have never messed with NFT never heard or seen huge harvest from them and I have never messed with drip systems either so I can comment on those.

[urbanfarmer]

From what I have learned while using DWC systems and other people using them, which is the only time I have really heard about hydroponic users complaining about root rot....is if you experience root rot your DO is too low. When I was doing DWC and from other peoples experience we/they used ceramic air stones and strong air pumps, not the cheap kind. Also the pumps moved a lot of GPH which help with water turnover which help with oxygen levels even more.

I have never experience root rot period in DWC, Aero, organic soil, ebb n flow/flood n drain, I have never messed with NFT never heard or seen huge harvest from them and I have never messed with drip systems either so I can comment on those.
I think you are right on the money.

[WAbedroomponics]

How can you tell if you have root rot?

[dgunlock]

I have been experimenting with hydroponic and now aquaponic strawberries – on a relatively large scale – right now about 500 plants. I have tried NFT first because I originally wanted my channels to be as light as possible. I had a pythium problem, and then decided a better way would to be to level the channels and flood them to about an inch deep for 15 minutes or so at a time, then drain them. This method would purge any anaerobic areas and also allow the roots to breath between floods, and it was better, but my plants in gravel media were still always doing much better. After a while I realized that plants that don’t like their “feet wet” such as strawberries have a certain requirement that I think NFT will never provide. In an NFT type system – the roots always bunch together and lay on the floor of the channel. I believe the culprit lies in the surface tension of the nutrient solution. Even when the channel is drained, there is a fair amount of bridging of the solution between roots and to the channel floor that simply will not drain away. This water being held in surface tension does not allow the roots to breath as they need to, and eventually will cause the roots to rot. With a gravel media – the roots can all progress in separate directions so they do not bunch together, and never lay on the channel floor. Plus the porosity of the gravel media draws the water away from each root, and eliminates any water being held in surface tension. I am certain that roots of plants such as strawberries cannot be allowed to lay together, or on a channel floor. The water surface tension around the roots is the enemy. A porous matt on the floor would help this matter – but I think the roots laying together will still never allow the roots to breath as they need. All my strawberries are now in aquaponic gravel media beds and doing fantastic. Dan
Tag

[dgunlock]

to WAbedroomponics

Root rot shows up as brown roots with very little, or no nice clean white roots, the plant will eventually show no growth or productivity. The roots become a bit slimey as well and don't smell very good.

Dan