root to plant mapping

Is there a fixed "mapping" of roots to sections of the plant?

What I mean is, for example if you were to cut off a particular section of root, would a certain part of the plant die, or would the plant just generally suffer a little, as the overall root mass tries to now support a plant that is too big? Or put another way, if you were to trim a branch off the plant, is there a corresponding root section that would no longer be doing anything, or would it start to pump it's nutes to the rest of the plant, so now you have extra root support, or would the entire plant now be happy because it's running "under capacity"?

The reason I ask is because I'm wondering about the best way to trim in clone fed zero veg SoG. Should I trim constantly, every time I see a new shoot, or should I just trim once or twice, say once a week during the first few weeks of flowering? Or should I just trim once, say after three weeks of flowering?

Anyone know the answer?

maybe you could separately water portions of your root system with.....idk some dye that would show in the plant? or some nitrates so it would show in the leaves? interesting thought.... is your root system accessable to do such a thing?

QuentinQuark said:

Is there a fixed "mapping" of roots to sections of the plant?

What I mean is, for example if you were to cut off a particular section of root, would a certain part of the plant die, or would the plant just generally suffer a little, as the overall root mass tries to now support a plant that is too big? Or put another way, if you were to trim a branch off the plant, is there a corresponding root section that would no longer be doing anything, or would it start to pump it's nutes to the rest of the plant, so now you have extra root support, or would the entire plant now be happy because it's running "under capacity"?

The reason I ask is because I'm wondering about the best way to trim in clone fed zero veg SoG. Should I trim constantly, every time I see a new shoot, or should I just trim once or twice, say once a week during the first few weeks of flowering? Or should I just trim once, say after three weeks of flowering?

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It's the old which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Think botany. Leaves provide the food for the plant's production of roots. You should not remove leaves unless they are no longer functional regarding photosynthesis.

Same with roots. They are the unit that provides for water and salts uptake. If you remove them, it's a no brainer, there will be less capacity for uptake. Having said that, the plant usually compensates by putting on new plant material to compensate for that which was removed, up to a point. Once the flowering response commences, the plant directs hormonal processes into continuing the species as opposed to root production.

Kapish?

Yup, that much I get. But what I am wondering, and specifically in regards to pruning, is whether a particular section of plant (branch/growth shoot) is fed by a specific root. So lets say (and I'm talking mediumless here) that there's 6 taproots hanging down, with plenty of laterals coming off each one. And you label each taproot. And then you cut one of them in half. Will the whole plant suffer generally? Or will one particular branch or something die and the rest of the plant will be ok?

QuentinQuark said:

And you label each taproot. And then you cut one of them in half. Will the whole plant suffer generally?

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In the previous post I said, "Having said that, the plant usually compensates by putting on new plant material to compensate for that which was removed, up to a point."

Using another example, take my pinned thread, "how to get 2 to 4 main colas" and reverse it. What was above ground is now underground regarding removal of certain tissue and having it replaced to compensate for the loss, same principle. Tissue output is determined my hormonal processes whether the hack job was above or below ground.

The xylem tissue (canal) runs from the root scaffold and then branches off into small capillaries to serve all parts of the plant. There is no one for one connection, it's a network. The internet has pictures of the various plant units, just search on "xylem".

Also, at least with seedlings, there is only one taproot, which does branch of course. Doesn't mean one of the main roots coming off a cutting won't become dominant, which some may consider its taproot.

UB

QuentinQuark said:

Yup, that much I get. But what I am wondering, and specifically in regards to pruning, is whether a particular section of plant (branch/growth shoot) is fed by a specific root. So lets say (and I'm talking mediumless here) that there's 6 taproots hanging down, with plenty of laterals coming off each one. And you label each taproot. And then you cut one of them in half. Will the whole plant suffer generally? Or will one particular branch or something die and the rest of the plant will be ok?

Click to expand...

Well think of this. All the tap roots lead back to the main root. each root expands to find nutes throughout the soil. in other words, Id think it was all one system, all leading back to the stem rather than each root serving a specific part of the plant.

Hope that helps. its almost like fast motion bonsai training haha.

Uncle Ben, now you got me thinking about the whole hormonal process thing, so can I ask you another question please, let's say you were to veg out a single plant till it was a massive bush, with matching massive roots of course, and then you trimmed the entire thing so that only a single growth tip remained, would that become a single freakishly massive bud, because of how much root there is with not a lot to do? Or would the size of the bud be limited by the hormonal processes and be a regular large bud?

QuentinQuark said:

Uncle Ben, now you got me thinking about the whole hormonal process thing, so can I ask you another question please, let's say you were to veg out a single plant till it was a massive bush,....

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One of my practices BTW.

..... with matching massive roots of course, and then you trimmed the entire thing so that only a single growth tip remained, would that become a single freakishly massive bud, because of how much root there is with not a lot to do?

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That will work against you. You do not remove plant tissue, above or below ground without some consequences. In this case, if you remove root tissue, you may not get the effect you seek. If you remove leaves, then you'll produce less.

You want to add/maintain root mass, not remove it. Another thing, when the plant starts moving into its flowering cycle root growth is put on the back burner. Hormonal processess will dictate a survival thingie - flowering.

Or would the size of the bud be limited by the hormonal processes and be a regular large bud?

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A plant will seek its own level. Just treat cannabis like a weed applying nothing fancy while using good cultural practices/tweaks and it will return plenty.

Good luck,
UB

I perform tree injections for work, and you MUST inject equally around the diameter of the tree, or the tree can have problems. We inject both fertilizers and insecticides. Usually the tree will begin to show signs of the injection within 12 hours, and you can usually see immediately if one area was missed. We inject using pressurized capsules that we insert into a hole that we have drilled into the tree. I know MJ is working on a lot smaller scale, but in regards to actual trees, sections of root area directly affects corresponding tree canopy above. We intentionally do not fertilize the side of trees butting up to houses, or in any direction that we do not want the tree to venture. Hope this helps...

Uncle Ben said:

One of my practices BTW.

That will work against you. You do not remove plant tissue, above or below ground without some consequences. In this case, if you remove root tissue, you may not get the effect you seek. If you remove leaves, then you'll produce less.

You want to add/maintain root mass, not remove it. Another thing, when the plant starts moving into its flowering cycle root growth is put on the back burner. Hormonal processess will dictate a survival thingie - flowering.

A plant will seek its own level. Just treat cannabis like a weed applying nothing fancy while using good cultural practices/tweaks and it will return plenty.

Good luck,
UB

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Sorry, what I meant is, if I pruned the entire bush, not the entire root ball.

QuentinQuark said:

Sorry, what I meant is, if I pruned the entire bush, not the entire root ball.

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Try it. I pruned a young plant once "to open it up" and it came back twice as bushy. Gotta be done during veg of course.