Roots of the plant

Brick Top

New Member
i gotta question i never could answer when i first grew, and im still unsure about it. how do you move your plant from one pot to another. i have a baby right now that needs moving becuase the pot its growing in is about 4 inches tall. what would be the best way to do this without damaging the roots?


We repot thousands of trees and bushes this way at our nursery every year and I do not know of a single one that did not survive. It helps if the soil is slightly dry to dry because it will pull away from the inside of the pot and the soil/rootball will slide out easier.


Get your new pot ready by putting some soil in the pot so when the plant is put in it the present soil level will be the same after the new pot after the plant is put in it and it is fully filled in with dirt.

Pick up your plant/pot in one hand and place your other hand over the top of the soil with the stem between your first and second finger and turn the pot/plant upside down.

Tap the edge of the pot on something like a work bench or table or countertop. The soil/rootball/plant will slide from the pot and then be resting in the palm of the hand you placed over the top of the soil.

Turn soil/rootball/plant over again and place inside of new pot.

Fill in around the old soil/rootball with new soil. Do not tightly pack soil.

Water well to make sure there are no air pockets. After soil settling if needed add more soil.
 

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
The Roots

The magic chemistry of plant growth starts at the roots. Roots send nutrients (in exchange for sugar) up through leaf stems to the leaves for final processing. They are also large storage sites for excess energy from the leaves, which is stored as starch. The roots and their capacity to store starch will decide how well a plant will grow and how much the plant will yield.

Root size :
A research Rye plant in a 12-inch pot had 14 billion root hairs that, if placed end to end, would have stretched 6,200 miles (almost 10,000 kilometres). The root hairs alone would have covered a square area of 180 ft by 180 ft (about 55 m by 55 m) ! The more extensive the root system, the better the plant will grow. This is because roots storing much energy are able to exchange lots of nutrients up to the leaves, and so the leaves can send down more sugar, etc. Thus, root growth is directly affected by moisture, oxygen, temperature, and sugars sent down from the leaves.

Root medium is important for plant growth. The less energy the roots use to absorb water and nutrients from their surrounding medium, the more they can use that energy to grow and to help send nutrients up to the plant. Most of a plant's water is taken in by the root hairs. 99% of the water taken in by a plant is transpired out through the leaves. A plant will fall over and wilt as a result of its roots not being able to extract any more water from the surroundings.

Air roots : in a plant's natural life in the earth, its roots get moisture
from rainfall. After rain, the soil water soon sinks down and the topsoil dries quickly. For this reason, the top 1/3 of plant roots are air specialized and the bottom 1/3 are water roots. One must be careful not to keep the air specialized roots constantly wet or the plant will drown. The bottom section of roots can be constantly wet provided that the water has oxygen in it. Stagnant water will soon kill the plant. The roots should always look crisp and white. If the roots develop brown tips or general browning, the problem is usually lack of oxygen, and infection will soon follow.
A plant can function quite well with its roots exposed to light as long as they do not dry out. However, the light encourages alga growth, which causes odours, and the alga competes with the plant for nutrients in the light period and oxygen in the dark period.

Oxygen is the most important root requirement because the roots need oxygen to convert sugar to energy. The more oxygen available to the roots, the more energy they can transfer to the plant.
Temperature also affects root growth and function. The roots do a
great deal of their storage developing at night when the green sections of the plant are not being pressured by the light to produce and distribute the day's excess sugar to the roots. Roots function more efficiently when they are warm, so roots in warm dark period develop better structures than those grown in cool dark period. As an illustration, a cycle of warm dark 77°F (25°C) and day 59°F (15°C) would develop better roots than a cycle of cool dark 59°F (15°C) and day 77°F (25°C). In essence, plants will grow better with a high average 24-hour root temperature that is constant rather than fluctuating.

Supercharged roots : the root hair zone is relatively small and starts just behind the growing root cap. This zone advances with the growing roots and as the new hairs near the tip emerge, the older hairs die off. Here is where most water and nutrients are absorbed. So for supercharged growth, plant roots must not be allowed to become rootbound but be kept healthy and advancing at maximum throughout the entire life of the plant. When growing in pots that are too small, it is better to have the roots trim themselves by coating the inside of pots with a special copper paint rather than letting the roots circle and girdle themselves. In general, pots are not oxygen efficient for super plant growth. Remember that plant yield is proportional to root size
and thats why bigger the pot-hole is better. your thought on clones or seedling inclear cups. personaly from my exp. the clear produce a faster growing root system.
 

growdankbuds

Well-Known Member
LOL, but how often does it mess up, like what do you have to do for it to mess up, not give it enough light and water and that stuff?

Some people need to start reading more before they post, its ok to ask questions, but please dovote some time into reading. Actually if you just researched you would learn faster than asking questions like this. By the way im not trying to be a dick, just trying to help. :peace:
 

WSCRONIK

Member
ey i got a question im new to dis and its my 1st grow today i watered my plant and i see some roots are on da surface why is dat??i take it its bad ryte?
 
Great thread here, first off thanks for that initial piece very insightful and accurate. I recently started my first indoor grow and have constantly been battling root growth restriction and stunting growth (although im not sure if any stunting occured, my autoflowering strains are about 4 inches high with decent leaves and the 3 non auto flowering plants are about 6 inches high in less than 14 days with decent leaves as well, but smaller by far than the autos). Due to a FEW design errors combined with being a first time grower I have changed/tweaked my set up many times. Now as its near what im considering perfection, im debating on weather or not to add foggers to my root resivors for a more optimal mix of O2 to H2O absorbtion, or if having the water level at the very bottom of my 3.75" net pots of HEC pelets in combination with airstones is enough to maintain enough O2 to the roots while at the same time giving them enough water to fight against the effects of a thing called "transpiration"- which is excessive sweating basically caused by the fact that about 99% of the water absorbed through the roots is just transpired right out the plant. Higher levels of moisture in the air (high humidity) will slow the rate of transpiration, which a select few of my plants with underdeveloped roots are experiencing. With some tweaking im now almost to my desired levels of about 85% or higher humidity and 85-90% temp which i believe will stop this transpiration thats happening to the plants not getting constant water (because i didnt have the resivor water level high enough to touch the roots) and thus they are the plants that now have curled leaves. If my theory is correct and I can maintain all desired levels I will have my plants in an enviornment of 85% or higher humidity with 85-90 degree temps with sufficient O2 and H20 (and near constant root temps 24/7) there will essentially be no transpiration ever and I should stop seeing curled leaves... Ill keep ya updated there. But as a side note anyone wondering how much water they should have their roots exposed to, the answer is as much as possible to maintain the best possible O2 absorption to roots while giving them enough water (or in im sure most cases, reducing the water to roots) to stop transpiration, which in itself is very stressful on the plants and stun growth. So depending on your room temperature and humidity levels, AND how much water and O2 you have available to roots, will determine if your roots are what is stunning growth, and not something else like insufficient lighting, low CO2 levels in atmosphere, and nutrient defficencys.

:bigjoint:Now if you'll excuse me, it's about that time....
 
ey i got a question im new to dis and its my 1st grow today i watered my plant and i see some roots are on da surface why is dat??i take it its bad ryte?
I don't know if in all cases the roots showing on the surface is bad because I notticed that happen to a few of mine but it never seemed to factor into slowing them down. They are most likely up there because they are the top 1/3 portion of the root thats specialized for oxygen absorption and there is more available oxygen near the top of the medium, why are you growing them in?
 

dazz

Active Member
i have loads of roots ontop of the soil should i leave alone or cover with some more soil?
 
i have loads of roots ontop of the soil should i leave alone or cover with some more soil?
I wouldn't bother if they grew up there themselves and they aren't dying, they are that top 1/3 portion that needs to absorb more of the oxygen rather than seeking out more water so covering them with more soil would only restrict their oxygen absorbtion more which you don't want to do. If your using soil and they keep coming to the top for air that should show that there is lower levels of oxygen in the lower portions and you might wanna watch out for overwatering and flooding them lower tips so they get cut off from O2 but if your not overwatering and the lower portions are getting enough O2 then the roots on top should be normal.
 

2000tranzam

Well-Known Member
Ok quick question to the original poster... You had mentioned that for supergrowth that the water needs to have o2 in it... well lets say youre using an aeroponic setup with 1 on, 5 off. Would you benifit at all from adding an airstone or does having the aeroponic kit run during its normal intervals create enough o2 itself?
 

H2Blown

Member
Ok quick question to the original poster... You had mentioned that for supergrowth that the water needs to have o2 in it... well lets say youre using an aeroponic setup with 1 on, 5 off. Would you benifit at all from adding an airstone or does having the aeroponic kit run during its normal intervals create enough o2 itself?
Bump that question.
And also, Would it survive on o2 alone with no nutrients, as if it were in a lake near a little waterfall. ha, good question.
 

dralion

Member
Hey.... new to growing and have a question. Im growing outside...a buddy kicked me down some starts. They went from cups, to small containers then into the ground in a soil blend or FF, mushroom compost, and dirt from location, as well as perlite and some other things. Some of the plants have really done well... already 24" tall and really veggin out, in less then a month...and its been on and off rainy weather in the california bay area. Ive been watering heavy every few days with nutes.... plants look lush and happy. Ive been sexing some of the more recent transplanted plants and pulling the males.... and have noticed that the roots dont really go that deep. In fact the roots dont seem to be very extensive at all, depth wise, and seem to be formed in a rootball. What can I be doing to really make sure I establish a great root system into the ground? I thought watering heavy and deep would get the roots to really get headed downward into the soil. Maybe Im watering to much and the roots think they dont have to go anywhere in search of water. Any suggestions.... I really want to make this work out well this year with big plants and big buds. Also... any suggestions on clone strains and where to pick some up... looking for reputable clones/strains for outdoors from somewhere that knows what their doing.
Thanks!
 

geturgrowon

Well-Known Member
yo rollitup i got a question for u i got some bitches in flowering there on their 4wk i have been triming leafs like half oof them and they are all lollped to im using cfls and i got 5 plants with not enough light but its not in my bugget i cant afford it so with not enough light i trim the leafs not all off but yeah so i could get more penastration is that going to slow down the buding or fuck it up on the clycle im on my first grow and i should have tho out the lighting before trying to grow a bunch of plants anways if u could get back to me that would be great STAY HIGH:joint:
 

silouan

Well-Known Member
what would be the advantages or disadvantages to growing in a pot say 4" x 4" x 15". i am curious as to the notion of using tree nursery pots in order to be able to pack the plants into a small space, yet with enough cubic inches of dirt for root expansion. would the roots get too little oxygen as the pot is so deep? i grow my plants just until they are rooted and then flower, which, in turn produces about a 12-16" cola. i currently use 1 gallon grow bags with success, but would like to pack in the plants if this idea would work. any ideas or suggestions??

here are the pots i am interested in - http://www.stuewe.com/products/treepots.php
 

King Cobra

Active Member
Hi fellow growers. Ok my friend has just started growing and as I grew years ago I said I would give him a few tips, but as it's been a while since I have done any growing I have a question. He has sprouted an indica dominant plant, planted it into a small container bout 10cm length x 4th wide x3 depth, so pretty small, after 3 days under 2 54watt fluoresce, the roots where showing out the bottom, so he repotted into 9x9x10cm half ltr pot, so this was a good size bigger, then just 3 days later the roots are showing again out of the bottom of the pot!! Now common sence tells me that the plant has not filled out its roots in this pot, yet also tells me that the roots are growing down quite fast, in my opinion I think the roots coming out the bottom of the pot are fine as they are and this myth of repotting as soon as you see roots coming out the bottom of the pot has been greatly exaggerated and the Big Bang seedling looks really healthy,and is not showing any signs of stress whatsover. So correct me if iam wrong!! Your thoughts on this would be most helpful!!
Thank you.
 

Hugo Phurst

Well-Known Member
Excellent info. Thanks, I now know "why" I'm doing, what I'm doing.kiss-ass:bigjoint:



Does 24 hour lighting affect the surface area of the roots negatively...

Also another thought was that in indoor gardens when the lighting is turned off the temperature drops. I would assume this would also impact the surface area of the roots negatively...
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Vegged under 24/7 23w CFL's, now in it's 5th week flowering, sitting on the concrete basement floor, 12/12 600W Hps.
roots.jpg

I'd have to say "no" to your qestions.
 

Hugo Phurst

Well-Known Member
ey i got a question im new to dis and its my 1st grow today i watered my plant and i see some roots are on da surface why is dat??i take it its bad ryte?
As far as I understand, light will kill roots, I'd cover them with a thin layer of soil.
Soil settles as you water it, which can expose the roots.
Also, you want the roots to grow away from the plant, so water around the edge of your pot, not the base of the plant.
 
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