4 Inches is all them girls need?

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Hey all ,
After a little research I've decided to try air pruning roots of seedlings to hopefully encourage faster root growth..

If your interested look up DR. Whitcomb air pruning roots .
Lots of neat info here.

But basically he says a tap root is a evolutionary defense for plants so they can survive harsh environments by sending its tap root down deep
In search of water.

... but he says that the tap root is unnecessary in the grow room because we provide all the plant needs and is a waste of plant energy.
He says a large fiberous root system is best

I encourage to watch the video for impressive test results and im not quoting him just giving you the jist of it.

Other studies show roots can actually sense gravity and naturally go down even around obstacles (duh)

Anyways being one that always heard you need to keep that tap root happy
I never would have thought to intentionally reduce the length of the almighty tap root.

So i took 6 seeds (freebies)
Dutch passion auto blackberry kush 1
Seedism exodus 2
Seedism lemon gold drops 1
Thseeds bubblegum 1
And blimburn green crack 1

I put them in 4inch rockwool cubes that are elevated on a rack .

They popped right around Christmas
And i observed in a day or 2 the tap root went almost straight as an arrow to the bottom of the block then a few days later another ect.

Now a little over 2 weeks the blocks are filing nicley and i intend to keep them in the blocks till its mostly roots :)

Then i will transplant into the final systems..
Hopefully they will explode with roots since they will be allowed to grow as big as they like.

Which after seeing DR. Whitcombs results im quite hopefull

So i know other people have done this but has anyone here done it?

If so was it worth it?

I know after finding out about it from a youtube guy. Grow pot cheap .

His video is called the first 4 inches is all you need.
Hence the name of my title is a shout out to him

He grew some nice trees that where supposedly autos.
Ill post pics later as im busy today
Just seeing if anyone eles has done this

:)
 
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Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Its not like im putting great effort into it :)

Plus to me grafting isn't the same as supercharching the plants own root system cause i would have to keep old plants that doesnt sound fun or productive to me but im not a farmer or botanist

Im just making the roots airprune themselves just as an experiment . But thats how we learn right

You are correct that I dont care enough to graft a plant .yet;) lol

But ill sure do the air pruning of the tap root if it makes a difference :) it requires nothing from me at this point except a hand watering every other day

And after looking into mr. Whitcomb's research I see no reason why it wouldnt work ......other than i dont have a "control" plant next to them

I appreciate the input for sure! @vostok

I will post pics but theres not much to see yet just 16 day seedlings in 4 inch cubes :)
 

Flowki

Well-Known Member
Hey all ,
After a little research I've decided to try air pruning roots of seedlings to hopefully encourage faster root growth..
Essentially you could put small cuttings into a big air pot and water about 300mil a day for the first week, 400mil next week, and so on?. Or is this initial 4 inch volume set in stone.
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
In stone according to Dr. Whitecomb
Look him up its very impressive @Flowki

He will explain better than i can :)
Was mainley seeing if anyone here was doing it yet
 

vostok

Well-Known Member
Its not like im putting great effort into it :)

Plus to me grafting isn't the same as supercharching the plants own root system cause i would have to keep old plants that doesnt sound fun or productive to me but im not a farmer or botanist

Im just making the roots airprune themselves just as an experiment . But thats how we learn right

You are correct that I dont care enough to graft a plant .yet;) lol

But ill sure do the air pruning of the tap root if it makes a difference :) it requires nothing from me at this point except a hand watering every other day

And after looking into mr. Whitcomb's research I see no reason why it wouldnt work ......other than i dont have a "control" plant next to them

I appreciate the input for sure! @vostok

I will post pics but theres not much to see yet just 16 day seedlings in 4 inch cubes :)
D@ after reading ur thread I went onto that YT and watched the rec. vid boring but the one at 17min with the old man was very cool

suggesting a 4inch pot modified to alter the tap root...I think his accent was to strong for me

I goota watch again is about trees and burlap?

if so then the simple addition of a eggshell or similar would cramp that tap root..?

cheers/
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
D@ after reading ur thread I went onto that YT and watched the rec. vid boring but the one at 17min with the old man was very cool

suggesting a 4inch pot modified to alter the tap root...I think his accent was to strong for me

I goota watch again is about trees and burlap?

if so then the simple addition of a eggshell or similar would cramp that tap root..?

cheers/
Even better if you look up DR . WHITCOMB
His accent is heavy but hes done the research for us glad you at least looked into it :)
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Pics
Please excuse how the seeds look ,not my best work; ) first time in rockwool.
Popped about Christmas time.
The exodus isnt a runt i fucked with it and stunted her a bit :)

20180111_222008-1.jpg
After airpruning started (about 2 days from hiting light) there is a new bunch of roots every day.
Will update in a week



20180111_221716-1.jpg
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
one at 17min with the old man was very cool

I goota watch again is about trees and burlap?

if so then the simple addition of a eggshell or similar would cramp that tap root..?

cheers/
The guy basically is a tree farmer and he has created the tap root modified pot THATS THE KEY.
.
But im making due with 4 inch block as i dont want to put dirt in my room again at this point lol

. he also has made a light reflective air pots to keep roots happy from intense heat.

But the whole key to the super root is making the taproot into a horizontal rather than vertical system.

I got big plans for these girls.

Some will go to my rdwc and some will go to my
New meniscus membrane flood and drain table


This should let the roots grow in straight air within a dark humid chamber with either a pc fan or some air stones just to exchange air in the
Chamber.

Cant wait till the run im working on is done so i can rip out one rdwc and replace it with the meniscus setup. :)

Thanks for stopping in vostok
 

Flowki

Well-Known Member
In stone according to Dr. Whitecomb
Look him up its very impressive @Flowki

He will explain better than i can :)
Was mainley seeing if anyone here was doing it yet
Yeah I seen the vid, warrants a side by side though. The diff between a 4 inch to 6 inch pot is minute, I don't doubt the concept (yet) but still struggle to accept 4 inch pot = the only magic volume. Seems more convenient for him to pick a ball park size and make/sell pots at that.

I've also seen vids on tap roots that basically say if they get root bound you limit root mass a lot even if you up pot. I think the general concept is to A: not use a small pot initially (4 inch+ if he's right) and B: not to let the tap root get root bound via air prune pots.
 
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Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Yeah I seen the vid, warrants a side by side though. The diff between a 4 inch to 6 inch pot is minute, I don't doubt the concept (yet) but still struggle to accept 4 inch pot = the only magic volume. Seems more convenient for him to pick a ball park size and make/sell pots at that.

I've also seen vids on tap roots that basically say if they get root bound you limit root mass a lot even if you up pot. I think the general concept is to A: not use a small pot initially (4 inch+ if he's right) and B: not to let the tap root get root bound via air prune pots.
Could be very true.but im not a botanist so i really couldnt say..

Dr. Whitcombseems to be set on 4 inches
It might have been due to cutting cost of a 6 inch pot but why?
If he did all the research would he not go with a 6 inch in the first place? You could be very right though.

@vostok yea thats where i found out about dr.w
But the dr. Also has some other videos
That are more informative as to why he does stuff.


@Flowki i dont think there is a chance of it getting root bound for a good long while as the roots keep air pruning and making new lateral roots.

Basically like an airpot does no root encircling.
I thought about removing the sides as well on the blocks so it could prune all 5 sides.
But algae sucks so i was trying to limit that.

But mabey next time i can make a dark dry air chamber to put the pants in ?

Anyways its just a easy fun experiment
That doesnt take much work from me.

And if i see a notable differences in root mass and structure it will have been more then worth it in my opinion :)

Thanks for stopping by
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Again the only reason im trying is because of how many trials .
On roots that Dr. Whitcomb has done.
Everything he says makes sense to me ,a non professional .

If you look up his videos he talks of why they dont go with a deeper container i think its in a clip where he says they used to use old milk cartons to grow out of.

Keep in mind hes a tree farmer not a weed farmer lol but the theories seem sound to me:)
 

BloomFielder

Well-Known Member
That dude grows bunk weed!!, which I would expect from autos.
But I ran this theory and to my knowledge, it was a waste of money spent on 4" Rockwood cubes and attempting to kill the tap root.
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
And just your comments about bunk weed from autos tells me much :)

Ive only done one auto but it was great smoke and changed my mind on them.

How did you run his theory @BoomFielder ?

Also the guy in the video is doing supposed autos.

I have never seen anyone take an auto that big, have you? If so where?
 

Flowki

Well-Known Member
Again the only reason im trying is because of how many trials .
On roots that Dr. Whitcomb has done.
Everything he says makes sense to me ,a non professional .

If you look up his videos he talks of why they dont go with a deeper container i think its in a clip where he says they used to use old milk cartons to grow out of.

Keep in mind hes a tree farmer not a weed farmer lol but the theories seem sound to me:)
I'm not saying it doesn't work (air pots or any kind of pruning pot have shown to be superior) but I struggle to accept his notion that 4 inch pot is the key to growing big plants. Obviously the tree below was not started in a 4 inch pot and is clearly not restricted. If you start seeds and allow the tap root to root bound in a small pot the tree (and as your guy showed) mj plant does not reach it's potential, I've seen the vids on that. I'm just saying I think the guy has found a ''minimum'' pruning pot size that reduces or removes that effect and took it to market. From a marketing stance where else could he go?. Air pots of bigger sizes are already well established so the smaller ''rooting'' or ''germination'' sizes is probably a good gap in the market. Crop count issues probably also played a part, I imagine tree nursery's want to fit as many into a space as possible during that low foliage root development stage. But that almost sog like approach does not suite every mj grower.

 
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