Soil, roots and gravity

[Tedmarx38]

I’ve had some great successes lately but not with my first grow with refurbished soil. First question for you fine helpful people: I can yank the main rootball with the best of them after a grow finishes, but how does one remove those feathery root tentacles that spread through the growing vessel, or do you not bother and just leave them to compost? Second question: can roots grow toward the top of the pot? I always thought top dressing mid grow was strictly to provide soil nutrients that get washed down throughout the medium when watering. But in the case of a grow that started off with less than ideal soil, if you top dress with good soil will the roots expand upward?

 

[Azimuth]

how does one remove those feathery root tentacles that spread through the growing vessel, or do you not bother and just leave them to compost?

I keep a container for old soil and incorporate some of that into the next pot. The roots have really good stuff in them especially if you used myco when you up-potted so you definitely want to inoculate your new batch with some of the roots that already have that working.

Second question: can roots grow toward the top of the pot? I always thought top dressing mid grow was strictly to provide soil nutrients that get washed down throughout the medium when watering. But in the case of a grow that started off with less than ideal soil, if you top dress with good soil will the roots expand upward?

That probably depends on what you top dress with. If it's just a little bit of powder of one form or another that likely won't encourage much in the way of top roots.

I use a mulch layer that I keep moist by misting a time or two per day and I get roots from top to bottom. The top ones will be be the fine, hair-like feeder roots.

 

[Tedmarx38]

Awesome. Many thanks.

 

[Delps8]

Plant roots follow the pull of gravity to find water and nutrients.

 

[Azimuth]

Plant roots follow the pull of gravity to find water and nutrients.

There are different kinds of roots. Water seeking roots do as you suggest but there are also feeder roots at the soil surface if you keep the environment hospitable to them.

 

[Porky82]

The tap root will go straight down if it can but most others will go sideways!

 

[SmokingWings]

but how does one remove those feathery root tentacles that spread through the growing vessel, or do you not bother and just leave them to compost?

Just about every plant I have grown is a clone and very rarely from a seed. After the harvest I leave the main stem and all the roots in the pot. It gets watered every now and then just to maintain some soil moisture. In a few weeks I can twist the stem back and forth and then be able to pull it out and leave all the roots behind.

When my supply of soil in the large metal tub is running low I dump several of these stored pots of soil and roots. By then most of the roots have decomposed and any clumps left over are real easy to break up by hand or by chopping with a gardening trowel.

Second question: can roots grow toward the top of the pot?

A plant from seed will have a tap root going down and a bunch of "lateral" roots that grow out to the side. Sometimes a root tip will turn and grow up but they seem to grow down more often.

Just under the surface the plant will send out really thin roots. If the grower is the kind of gardener who constantly loosens up the soil surface then these roots keep getting broken up. But, if the grower does not loosen the soil surface often then eventually these surface roots can get so thick it seems like a layer of carpeting. I have tried both ways and not noticed anything special making one way better than the other.

 

[SmokingWings]

This first photo shows the layer of roots that was up against the sides of a square pot. Easy to chop up what is there with the gardening trowel. Breaking them up into smaller pieces and it is easy to mix up the soil like there never was a root mass. Same soil tilth or how loose and fluffy it is so nothing is lost.

The second photo show the wheelbarrow filled with soil ready for transplanting two clones that will spend the rest of the season outside. I chopped up the root mass from several pots and then added some new soil mix. When I had enough it was time to get ready to transplant the two plants to larger pots allowing a bit over 2 weeks for new root growth before flowering started around the 10th to 15th of August.

Looking at the roots of this plant/clone I can see that some roots traveled up towards the surface and some went down and some stayed about the same level and just traveled along at the same depth. Then there are the roots that split and sent their tips growing in just about every direction imaginable.

 

[Tedmarx38]

Just about every plant I have grown is a clone and very rarely from a seed. After the harvest I leave the main stem and all the roots in the pot. It gets watered every now and then just to maintain some soil moisture. In a few weeks I can twist the stem back and forth and then be able to pull it out and leave all the roots behind.

When my supply of soil in the large metal tub is running low I dump several of these stored pots of soil and roots. By then most of the roots have decomposed and any clumps left over are real easy to break up by hand or by chopping with a gardening trowel.


A plant from seed will have a tap root going down and a bunch of "lateral" roots that grow out to the side. Sometimes a root tip will turn and grow up but they seem to grow down more often.

Just under the surface the plant will send out really thin roots. If the grower is the kind of gardener who constantly loosens up the soil surface then these roots keep getting broken up. But, if the grower does not loosen the soil surface often then eventually these surface roots can get so thick it seems like a layer of carpeting. I have tried both ways and not noticed anything special making one way better than the other.

I never considered the tap root dynamics being different for clones, which is what this grow is as a first clone attempt. Any other root-related differences between clones and seeds?

 

[SmokingWings]

I never considered the tap root dynamics being different for clones, which is what this grow is as a first clone attempt. Any other root-related differences between clones and seeds?

Plants from seed will have the tap root and more of the lateral roots that grow out to the side will thicken up. Clone have no tap root and I have not seen any of a clones lateral roots get anywheres near as thick as if from seed.

Without the tap and thick side roots there is a greater chance that the mail stem will have a tendency to sway further to the side when the pot is moved or if the plant itself is pushed or pulled. You can often see the main stem moving back and forth in the soil which is rare with a seed plant. I keep a supply of bamboo stakes handy, already cut in 2 foot, 3 ft, 4 ft and 5 ft lengths. Also have a pile of pre-cut rubber coated wire ties in two or 3 different lengths. If the sway is more than I want to see I select a stake and push it into the soil and grab one, or more, of the wire ties.

 

[Trump]

I try and keep it easy. After harvest I dump the pots, root ball and all, on a tarp and separate the root ball for drying, grinding and putting into gel caps. The fine hair roots I leave for the same reasons mentioned. They will compost back in the soil and have great stuff that'll help your soil nutrition. Once I have all the root balls out I'll dump in a bag of fresh potting mix for every 2 of used along with some Mychorizzae and some perlite depending on what the perlite composition looks like in the soil.

If I'm going to be reusing immediately I'll also add in some AN Voodoo Juice.