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strawberry root rot in NFT system
http://byap.backyardmagazines.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23562		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  gmturner [ Nov 19th, '14, 19:04 ]
Post subject:  strawberry root rot in NFT system
As title says my strawberries in my NFT system keep dieing on me.

i buy them from big B store and about 3 weeks later they suddenly wilt, dry up slowly and die. at the end of it all the roots are just a black goo.

Different types of strawberries seem to handle it better, my first batch of "big sweetie" are all dead while another varient is still kicking but not really going well at all.

my latest batch i got 1 red gauntlet, 1 tioga and 1 Hokowase and the red gauntlet today wilted.



My question is, assuming its root rot or some type of fungal infection because all strawberry diseases seem to be one fungus species or another does anyone know anything drastic i can treat them all with to wipe it out and really clean up their roots?

i was thinking of making up a eco-fungicide(potassium bicarb) bath and submerging them in it for a day or some such.

or should i chuck them all out and try again next year? i really really really want to make them work.
Author:  Bcasey2703 [ Nov 19th, '14, 19:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
Have you salted your system?
Author:  gmturner [ Nov 19th, '14, 19:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
nope no salt in the form of sodium chloride. But i have used epsom salts aswell as potassium sulphate which are "salts" and i was worried about salinity possibly being the issue.

I have a hydrometer for car batteries and i gave it a go and it was off the scale but if the scale stayed linear it should have been about 0 salinity.

i will order a proper refractometer to be sure.
Author:  dasboot [ Nov 19th, '14, 20:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
How deep is the water in your NFT ?
What flow have you got ? Do you have a run/slope ?
What is the design flat bottom or round ?
Do you have filtration before the NFT ?
Do you have aeration before the NFT ?
Author:  gmturner [ Nov 20th, '14, 14:36 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
i have a swirl filter before the sump that then is pumped to the NFT, but ive been battling with an algae problem that i think im finaly winning so the roots would accumulate algae on them. This does not effect chinese cabbage, lettuce and rocket plants i have in the nft. Their roots get huge! dirty but huge and they grow really well.

It is round 90mm pipe with a good slope and good flow, much more than most NFT systems i researched before building.

the level of water would only come halfway up the cups due to roots blocking pipes etc, it wouldnt go much higher.

i dont have aeration before the NFT but the water does splash into the sump.
Author:  dasboot [ Nov 20th, '14, 20:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
I think it could be you have to much water in your tubes,if the water is half way up the cup there is a lot of water,flow should be between one and two litres per minute for nft.The cup should ideally be clear of the water the roots covered with a film of water,it maybe with so much water your drowning the roots causing root rot.
I ran 75mm tubes with the flow set at one 1 lpm this gave roughly 10mm of water in the bottom of the tube.cups were set clear of the water.
Also with algae covering the roots this will deprive them of oxygen causing root rot,i know you say your other plants are doing ok,but if you get your strawberries going your other plants will do better again.If it was possible to add extra air before your tubes this would benefit you as well.
Author:  dasboot [ Nov 20th, '14, 20:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
I think it could be you have to much water in your tubes,if the water is half way up the cup there is a lot of water,flow should be between one and two litres per minute for nft.The cup should ideally be clear of the water the roots covered with a film of water,it maybe with so much water your drowning the roots causing root rot.
I ran 75mm tubes with the flow set at one 1 lpm this gave roughly 10mm of water in the bottom of the tube.cups were set clear of the water.
Also with algae covering the roots this will deprive them of oxygen causing root rot,i know you say your other plants are doing ok,but if you get your strawberries going your other plants will do better again.If it was possible to add extra air before your tubes this would benefit you as well.
Author:  gmturner [ Nov 20th, '14, 21:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
ok, great. thanks for the advice, ill try rectify these issues and see how she goes.

i thought more flow the better so i give the nft as much as i can spare from the other parts of my system.
Author:  alieen [ Nov 26th, '14, 20:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
Hey guys,
Sorry for the double post, my computer froze up and so I had to refreash it and it must have actually gone through, so it was an accident.

Cheers for the replies. As for my carrots, they all grew fine. The white ones grew the longest and got to look a bit like a wild, curly 'goatee' at the end. But not bumpy at all, ther purple ones didn't get to the size the others did but the orange ones looked shorter but thicker at the top. i will post some pics.
Author:  Ninegrain [ Dec 5th, '14, 09:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
What media do you use in the cups?

Dasboot, if you are running your cups above the water how do you start your plants/ keep them moist until their roots grow to the water?

I fiddled for ages with wicks and manual watering trying to keep a hydroponic perlite/vermiculite mix moist but have ditched that method and media now and am about to try hydroponic coir chunks with diy cups that will have the bottoms touching the water. Had to make my own as I couldn't find any deep net cups, they only get wider as you go larger, and not that much deeper and since my holes are already cut in the 100mm round pipe I am using that is no good... Pita...
Author:  dasboot [ Dec 5th, '14, 10:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
Hi Ninegrain,i use one inch foam cubes,the cups i use have a hole cut in the bottom,when i ran three inch tube the cups sat with roughly a half inch gap under the pot.seeds were germinated in a tray then at about the twenty day mark when the roots were through the foam,they were placed in the cup with the foam pushed through the hole so that it touched the water,then when established the foam was lifted back up into the cup leaving the gap.I still use the same method in the dwc only i don’t push the foam through the cup,with two inch poly the cup just sits on the water,again when they are established they are moved to a float with a spacer glued on the surface and a air pocket in the float,this lifts the cup out of the water.
i have tried media,small river gravel but didn’t find much benefit so now everything is done in foam,the strawberries were bought as established plants so were just placed in the cups with there roots in the water.
Author:  gmturner [ Dec 5th, '14, 13:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
i use a relatively small inert white rock i got from local garden supply place.

Ive since changed my cup design and melted alot more holes and slits into it, especially all the way up to the top of the cups to allow the gravel to breath.

ive also gone out and purchased a bag of hydroton and today planted two new strawberry plants in the new cup design with hydroton, should give me maximum breathability i think.

Also turned the flow rate down to lower the level of water in the tube.

Fingers crossed!
Author:  gmturner [ Dec 5th, '14, 15:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
While i think i am getting ontop of the root cause(excuse the pun) i like fast results and i can never stop myself fiddling with things so ive bought a 200ml 3% hydrogen peroxide bottle from supermarket and am going to try dipping the roots of a few plants in a solution of about 100ml in 2lt of water for an hour and see if they recover any better than non-treated plants.

from what i can gather from some cannabis hydroponics forums this is about half the concentration some people seemed to use for some emergency root dips.

if it does work ill look at buying some more concentrated stuff that should be alot more economical and do dips every day until they are better.
Author:  Ninegrain [ Dec 6th, '14, 04:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
Interesting method Dasboot. So you germinate the seed in cubes of foam and grow them on from there? Or transplant them into the foam? What kind of foam are you talking about? Do you have any pictures somewhere I could check out?

Sorry to hijack btw :/
Author:  dasboot [ Dec 6th, '14, 09:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: strawberry root rot in NFT system
The foam cubes are inch square,they come in a sheet of 98 precut bot in individual pieces but also with a cross slit through the centre of each one to take the seedling/cutting.They couldn’t be more easy to use,i first soak them in plain water squeeze then a couple of times to exchange air for water,then if i am seeding lettuce,i take a cocktail stick,wet on the end,this makes the seeds stick,pick up a seed,just open the slit slightly and place the seed inside,i place the seeds slightly deeper than you normally would to help against dessication.When this is finished the cubes are placed in a mesh and then into a large plastic bag,which acts as my propagator then as soon as i seen the first signs of germination,generally 48hrs the tray is placed in a bowl of AP water with the bottom of the tray just submerged,a gentle air flow is added at this time as well.using this method i have had up to 98% germination but it generally runs more like 90%.Cuttings work well,Tomatoes suckers are just a case of pushing the sucker through the slit until its just through the other side then into the tray or dwc,i have started many seeds using this method,for me its cheap and practically foolproof.
If you go through my thread there are pics there,if you want more info or pics let me know,only to happy to help.. :thumbright:
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