Do Roots Stop Growing In Flowering?

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
Do roots stop growing at some point? My instinctive thought was that roots will keep growing throughout the plant's life... yet I read a lot of shit on boards saying that roots stop growing during flowering.

Any thoughts?
 

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
Yeah, those are my thoughts as well; although critical thinking is still in action.

I wanted to try and transplant three weeks into flowering to increase my yield, the plant doesn't necessarily need it but I'm always willing to try out new things and learn from the outcome.

Anyone think a transplant in flowering would increase yield (stress aside, because I don't stress my plants when I transplant), or would the results be negligible?
 

Mother's Finest

Well-Known Member
Roots grow faster in the dark period. They actually grow fastest during flowering because it has the longest dark period of any growing phase. Root binding during flowering is a serious concern. If the roots become bound, first the plant will probably stall, stopping all vegetative growth. The plant will stop growing and "cut off" any bound roots. Once enough roots are bound, the plant will not have enough live roots to keep it alive even if it is transplanted. If the problem isn't fixed immediately, and it usually isn't, first the leaves and then the buds and the whole plant will start to die.
 

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
Roots grow faster in the dark period. They actually grow fastest during flowering because it has the longest dark period of any growing phase. Root binding during flowering is a serious concern. If the roots become bound, first the plant will probably stall, stopping all vegetative growth. The plant will stop growing and "cut off" any bound roots. Once enough roots are bound, the plant will not have enough live roots to keep it alive even if it is transplanted. If the problem isn't fixed immediately, and it usually isn't, first the leaves and then the buds and the whole plant will start to die.
Right on MF! They do grow faster during the dark, I've noticed that consistently with my clones. My plant isn't rootbound, she's pretty healthy, but I just wanted to see if the transplant would be worth it a few weeks into flowering.

There's so much shit on the internet that says they stop growing, yet it just didn't make sense to me.
 

genuity

Well-Known Member
Right on MF! They do grow faster during the dark, I've noticed that consistently with my clones. My plant isn't rootbound, she's pretty healthy, but I just wanted to see if the transplant would be worth it a few weeks into flowering.

There's so much shit on the internet that says they stop growing, yet it just didn't make sense to me.
jus be ready for a stall in plant growth,as the plant put its energy in to makein roots.
 

Illumination

New Member
The roots stop when the branches stop.
Exactly...when the stretch is over so is root growth as the plant is thinking it will die soon....now if you keep her green and not kill her to harvest but just cut the buds off and leave the leaves you can put her back under 24 hour light and reveg her...but you have to keep her leaves green...then branches and roots growth explodes...it is really amazing

namaste'
 

genuity

Well-Known Member
Hmm... there's an interesting thought... would that in turn extend harvest by a week or so..?
i think it depends on how vigorous the plant is in to flowering,i have re pottd a few times in flower.
one of the white russians i jus did totaly stop all together,the roots filld the pot, but the flowers were still stuck on week 3 of flower,as it
was week 6 for the room.
 

Mother's Finest

Well-Known Member
Anyone think a transplant in flowering would increase yield (stress aside, because I don't stress my plants when I transplant), or would the results be negligible?
It depends how much room they have now. As long as they have enough room to grow through the end of flowering, transplanting would risk more harm than it's worth. If you want to see what happens with more root room, just use bigger pots next time.

This part here is a somewhat more advanced technique just for people with experience growing their strain(s). Some plants have more continuous growth during flowering while others tend to grow to their full size and then slow growth as the existing bud matures. There are techniques to help prevent plants prone to it from creating new growth just before harvest, flowers that won't have time to mature and will lower the average potency of the plant's buds. Decreasing or eliminating nutrients at the end, flushing the substrate and even manipulating the photoperiod can all help to slow or stop new growth.

Since root confinement slows plant growth (just like with Bonsai), this too can be used to cause more uniform ripening. It's tricky because if you take it just a little too far, the plant will stall and stop ripening altogether. But, by knowing exactly what size container to use when your particular phenos are flowered at a certain size and grown with your precise growing techniques & schedules, you can use the beginning of root binding to your advantage. If the plants begin to become root bound at the very end of flowering but don't stall out, it will decrease new growth and increase the ripening of existing buds. The plant can tell that the source of it's food is starting to have problems and puts everything it has left into procreation, a.k.a. flower formation, before there's nothing left.

I can't stress enough how one mistake here can ruin your plants. Imo the best way to go about applying this technique is by slowly decreasing pot size and/or changing pot shape over the course of many grows. Some of our past internal discussions involved tapering the bottom of the pot to slowly increase the pressure on the roots as they grow at the end of flowering instead of them running into root binding suddenly. I ended up deciding that it wasn't worth the trouble.

Anyway sorry if I rambled on.
 

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
i think it depends on how vigorous the plant is in to flowering,i have re pottd a few times in flower.
one of the white russians i jus did totaly stop all together,the roots filld the pot, but the flowers were still stuck on week 3 of flower,as it
was week 6 for the room.
What exactly do you mean? They were stuck on week three for three weeks, then resumed normal bud production?
 

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
It depends how much room they have now. As long as they have enough room to grow through the end of flowering, transplanting would risk more harm than it's worth. If you want to see what happens with more root room, just use bigger pots next time.

This part here is a somewhat more advanced technique just for people with experience growing their strain(s). Some plants have more continuous growth during flowering while others tend to grow to their full size and then slow growth as the existing bud matures. There are techniques to help prevent plants prone to it from creating new growth just before harvest, flowers that won't have time to mature and will lower the average potency of the plant's buds. Decreasing or eliminating nutrients at the end, flushing the substrate and even manipulating the photoperiod can all help to slow or stop new growth.

Since root confinement slows plant growth (just like with Bonsai), this too can be used to cause more uniform ripening. It's tricky because if you take it just a little too far, the plant will stall and stop ripening altogether. But, by knowing exactly what size container to use when your particular phenos are flowered at a certain size and grown with your precise growing techniques & schedules, you can use the beginning of root binding to your advantage. If the plants begin to become root bound at the very end of flowering but don't stall out, it will decrease new growth and increase the ripening of existing buds. The plant can tell that the source of it's food is starting to have problems and puts everything it has left into procreation, a.k.a. flower formation, before there's nothing left.

I can't stress enough how one mistake here can ruin your plants. Imo the best way to go about applying this technique is by slowly decreasing pot size and/or changing pot shape over the course of many grows. Some of our past internal discussions involved tapering the bottom of the pot to slowly increase the pressure on the roots as they grow at the end of flowering instead of them running into root binding suddenly. I ended up deciding that it wasn't worth the trouble.

Anyway sorry if I rambled on.
These are some great ramblings! seriously, good info, thanks.

The plant is maybe three feet tall, if it would have been grown vertically, and it's in a 2.56 gal container. I didn't necessarily want to see what would happen with more root room, I wanted to see if a mid flower transplant would be worth it as far as yield. I'm guessing I probably wouldn't do it...
 

Muffy

Active Member
Exactly...when the stretch is over so is root growth as the plant is thinking it will die soon....now if you keep her green and not kill her to harvest but just cut the buds off and leave the leaves you can put her back under 24 hour light and reveg her...but you have to keep her leaves green...then branches and roots growth explodes...it is really amazing

namaste'
Did you have me quoted for an hour before you replied? I edited "branches" to read "stems" immediately after I posted.
 

1KARNAGE1

Member
old thread but I have to comment I think from experience it continues to grow but at an extremely slow rate I always transplant the day I switch to 12/12 and when I'm done there isn't much new root growth in the transplanted soil and I myself reuse my soil so I'm always breaking it apart
 
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