Root Disease - Lesson 22
Channel: hydro select
Date: 2015-12-14

http://hydroselect.com/pc/pest-disease-control/

Root disease otherwise known as Pythium is a fungus that is present everywhere. Pythium is a fungi with a viral tail, so it has unique qualities in that it can stay inside of plant material. Whenever the plant gets wet, it can come out, breed, and reinfect the plant material. This is most common in recirculating water gardens.

The only way that we typically experience root disease in a drain waste garden is if we’re overwatering; otherwise we do not have problems with Pythium in drain waste gardens. In general, we are fighting Pythium when we are in a recirculating water garden.

Reservoir temperature is very important in controlling Pythium. It shouldn’t be above 65 degrees. We definitely do not want to drown our plants or we need to expose them to adequate amounts of air in the root zone so they have their own resistance to this disease.

How can we tell if we are dealing with root disease? One of the immediate ways to pay attention to this matter is to record water consumption. If we chart how much water our plants are drinking, we can start to see that our plants are drinking more and more water as they move into the peak flowering cycle. This is what we want to see: the more water our plants are drinking, the more food they’re eating, the healthier they are, the bigger the yield we are going to get.

If we notice that water consumption is slowing down, food consumption is slowing down, then we know our root zone is starting to become compromised and we have to take steps to get this under control.

In general, we would use a root disease preventative to stop us from getting to the point where we are experiencing losses in yield. However, if we have not been using a root disease control and we start to notice a reduction in water consumption and nutrient consumption, we have to take this matter very seriously and begin some series of rapid nutrient solution changes to remove the decaying root matter from the root zone. This is the substrate that the disease brings on, so we get it out of the system and generate new root growth, so we can get back on track towards achieving a maximum yield.

Working in the garden creating a healthy harvest provides you with a sense of achievement and feelings of success.  When working with plants and hydroponic systems there is wide variety of products each designed with a specific purpose.

Hydro Select creates videos on all the products in the industry to create a resourced based website that allows you to see products tested and opened so you can learn and expand your gardening knowledge prior to making a purchase.

Gardening is a passion for many of our customers.  We believe the escape into a garden can be a great stress reliever. 

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