Stem Rot?

I noticed this brownish/greyish stuff on the base of a few of my plants.




Sorry for the poor quality. I just started seeing that it seems to be eating away at the stem and it's making them weaker. Does anyone know what causes this? Is there anything I can do to fix or stop it?

I would have to see some better pictures however, if your plants are getting enough air to the roots, air pump ect if you are hydro then you should be fine. If you are soil then make sure the soil isn't to wet. On the bottom of some plants I have seen a brown type deal which seemed to be okay, the plants were healthy ect. Hope this helps.

I'm using an Aerogarden. The plants seem to be insanely healthy. They're growing at an amazing rate. The stems just don't look that great. I'll just keep an eye on it. Thank you for your input. <3

The plants are trying to root further up the stem

natmoon said:

The plants are trying to root further up the stem

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Is there any way to stop that? Should I remove some plants? Do the roots need more room?

Diabolique said:

Is there any way to stop that? Should I remove some plants? Do the roots need more room?

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Can you lower the plant further down into your setup or not?

My assumption would be higher humidity around that area is causing this. I don't know too much about the aerogarden, but I assume it has some sort of aeration going on. Again this is only a guess, but I'm willing to bet you are getting some sort of condensation happening on the stem down by the res causing this.

how old are those plants?

what kind of air do you have blowing through the room? have a fan on them?

i have an aerogarden and my plants are doing the exact same thing pictured here. They were growing great, and then all of the sudden i started to notice them turn brown near the base, shrivel up and eventually fall over. does anyone know what causes this? or how i can prevent it from happening on future crops?

Typical for an aero garden. Almost always get some sort of mold on the bottom of the plants. Even the places I've seen them setup have mold on the base of the stem.

You should have also made dark caps to replace the stock ones. Helps prevent it from starting on the sponge in the first place (where it usually starts). I sprayed my plants /w some H2O2 and water to kill off any mold.

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If you are getting actual rot before mold (usually I've seen mold that weakens the stems and ends up leading to the rot.), then maybe a bit of no-damp on the stems might help?

could be the start of damping off lower humidity to bellow 40% and keep lots air moving. whatch your rh at lights off too

i thought it was some sort of rot. to try and prevent this on my next crop im going to raise the base, so i can still have 24hr. lights and not have the drip system in contact for 24hrs. I also saw replacing the stickers they provide with something darker? mabe cardboard? I will try that as well. i would be greatful for any other suggestions as well. This was my first crop, and i was so excited that i might have buds before christmas, because the plants have been growing so fast in the aerogarden. Then this shriveling stems thing started happening. total bummer. ohh well, best way to learn is to fail.

have you got a fan blowing on those baby's..?

Carrying on from what Jats is saying, if you can get a small fan and have it blow air around the stems that will help. Its pretty much the dilema with hydro, humidity, moisture builds up and stem rot, or a combination of that and root nibs starting to form, happen. Im pretty sure if you keep the air moving around the base that problem will go away.

tstt said:

i have an aerogarden and my plants are doing the exact same thing pictured here. They were growing great, and then all of the sudden i started to notice them turn brown near the base, shrivel up and eventually fall over. does anyone know what causes this? or how i can prevent it from happening on future crops?

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Hey man I have the same thing going on are reuseing a grow sponge, if you are that could be the problem anyway what I am doing now is spray the bottom a little with peroxide 3% and about a half cup in the RES they seem to be taking it and kinda healing.... I got 2 bagseeds plants that are smelling up my whole room right now and they crazy healthy looking I wanna try an keeps these!!