Root Development vs Plant Growth

if you give them the space they will grow roots

Then why do they generally not grow any more when they run out of space as opposed to what Skunk has going here? His keep growing.....mine don't.

You see my problem here?

Weedhound said:

Then why do they generally not grow any more when they run out of space as opposed to what Skunk has going here? His keep growing.....mine don't.

You see my problem here?

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I see what you're saying... but I feel that this might be because you haven't really given them a chance. I think you just need to believe it will work, if you get my meaning. Negative thoughts could help persuade you that it isn't working.

Also DWC is a little different as the only access to air the roots have is from the air stone, and in my grows I always had to fish the airstone out of the rootball after harvest. I want to try this same experiment in dwc but i'm starting from seed again this time, so it's a few weeks away yet before I can try it.

My original theory on root development was that a plant will send out feeler roots to judge how much room it has to grow in and therefore the size it will get... maybe this theory is half right. The plant sends out feeler roots to judge how much space the ROOTS have to grow in. Whereby, so long as there is sufficient nutrients and oxygen being supplied to the medium, the roots will only grow as much as the container will allow while still keeping the upward growth of the plant at a normal level.

My plants are 3ft tall. When I grew them in 3litre containers at this stage they were 3ft tall. I should have skinny colas by the end of this week, today is the start of week 4. I'll post the feeds for week 4 later.

I have a germinated seed, and was thinking of attempting the same thing... but the more I think about it, the less I think it will work.

A seed plant needs to develop properly into a mature plant, and I believe this would require it to have a more extensive root system.

A clone plant is different. it's already had all the root system it needs. It should be (as all my clones are) perfectly matured, like the mother it came from. I always veg' seed plants till they preflower, there's never any need to place a plant into flower to discover it's sex. Most strains will show sex from 4-7 weeks of veg'.

I believe however that this takes maturing, and therefore a healthy, largish root system. i was thinking of doing a 1" by 1" seed grow. I feel this would be pushing things too far.

I'm not sure about seed plants... I shall find out.

you can get 8oz a plant if you veg for 4wk, imagine if you veg for 7!

wafflehouselover said:

you can get 8oz a plant if you veg for 4wk, imagine if you veg for 7!

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I know. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I've heard of people over extending their yields... but 8oz off one indoor seed plant, after a 4 week veg, and in soil, and under a 400w dual spec', with other plants in there too!

The pic's don't even do it justice, they just look like skinny ass dry 8th buds to me. although they are still very wet in the pic's anyway.

27 day root pic's.

I harvested this plant yesterday. it was getting no light, so I thought it best taken out. So, i'll be turning it into oil. It was also a good opportunity to study the root development. Here's some pic's of the event.

This only gives me an idea of what is going on with the main plants as this plant had a low access to the light and was a good deal shorter than the rest. I have other plants too that i can take at varying stages to check on the root development.

The roots seem to be thickest around the outside of the medium which, i feel, supports the feeler root theory. Inside is a different story, the network of roots seem to stem from just 3 main roots.

Here's the feed for this week, into 9litres of water:

Sensi Bloom A, 30ml
Sensi Bloom B, 30ml
MET Bloom, 18ml
Fulvic Acid, 18ml
Barricade, 1.8ml
Carboload, 10ml
Cannazym, 22.5ml
B52, 40ml
Big Bud, 58ml

EC 1.8-2.0

They will be fed this feed approximately 3 times within the week. Although, some of this feed will also feed the background plants and the two moms. I estimate that between the 6 main plants, they are drinking only around 12litres of feed a week (which equates to 2litres a week each, it may well actually be less). The mom plant that vegged for 10weeks in a 3litre container is on around 5-6litres a week.

skunkushybrid said:

I have a germinated seed, and was thinking of attempting the same thing... but the more I think about it, the less I think it will work.

A seed plant needs to develop properly into a mature plant, and I believe this would require it to have a more extensive root system.

A clone plant is different. it's already had all the root system it needs. It should be (as all my clones are) perfectly matured, like the mother it came from. I always veg' seed plants till they preflower, there's never any need to place a plant into flower to discover it's sex. Most strains will show sex from 4-7 weeks of veg'.

I believe however that this takes maturing, and therefore a healthy, largish root system. i was thinking of doing a 1" by 1" seed grow. I feel this would be pushing things too far.

I'm not sure about seed plants... I shall find out.

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i have my seed plants next to my clones. same pots. all doing just as well. it will work. GO FOR IT!!!!

fdd2blk said:

i have my seed plants next to my clones. same pots. all doing just as well. it will work. GO FOR IT!!!!

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Already have... I don't want to put a thread up about it though just yet. As it took 72 hours to germinate. The seeds were given to me by someone that pulled them out of some street weed a few months ago. so I have no clue what they are. So far only one has germinated, as soon as it pops its head above surface I'll start the thread. I'll also try the 1" x 1" x 1" container as soon as another seed pops. Just to keep things exciting.

skunkushybrid said:

DAY 27 FLOWER

The tallest plant is now exactly 88cm high, and bud development is on target. I know I need to clean up in there, but the tight space I have to work in makes this difficult untill actual harvest day. Luckily its winter, and the insects are all either dead or dying... so the attacks on my leaves have stopped almost completely.

In the third pic', you can see my mother plant in the background. She has 20 heads and they are mostly keeping in line with the growth from my other plants. The mom plant is in a 3litre container, and was vegged for 10weeks (around about).

I also plain ph'd water fed them yesterday. Not because they needed just plain water but because I was too lazy to bother making up any feeds. I'm going to need to raise the light yet again...

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I do admire the perfect electrolyte balance that you have achieved that is very apparent from your third picture along.
Those leaves are reaching in a very good way.
Forgetting previous arguments +rep to your excellent balance on the third pic along

hey, good job. Things seem to be coming along great. I will be interested to see the results from the seed plants.

Just some updates from my un-scientific experiment.

i now have 5 plants, the first 2 that I had are in flower. They had been in cut-off 2-litre bottles. On 10/29 I trsanpslanted them into smaller (much smaller) containers.
They are now in plastic cups which I believe are 16oz. They are doing fine. They started showing sex 2-3 days after transplant. There is no way to do any kind of comparison. This is only my second grow, I don't know what strain, I have different lumens in a different sized space, don't have the heat issues I had with the first grow, Had only a 2 week veg time (the second tier of plant have had no veg time), etc. so obviously there are way too many unknown factors to do a real comparison.
HOWEVER..
considering that I transplanted into smaller containers (rough estimate 1/3 - 1/2 size), they're doing better than I expected. Hopefully I can get some pics just show.

Hey newbut', I'm chuffed that you have so much faith in this experiment... if anything else, I've proved that you can grow a 3ft plant in 0.5ml container. Scratch that, I've got a 3ft plant in a 350ml container.

As I downgrade pot sizes the old pots seem massive... have you got a link to your grow, newbut'? Or you can post your pic's in here if you like, I don't mind.

natmoon said:

I do admire the perfect electrolyte balance that you have achieved that is very apparent from your third picture along.
Those leaves are reaching in a very good way.
Forgetting previous arguments +rep to your excellent balance on the third pic along

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Hey, thanks a lot Nat'... through using the smaller pots I have more height room, around 8" extra height makes all the difference when you only have a 5' height space to grow in. So there is better circulation, etc.

skunkushybird would you recomend using smaller pots when doing sog so that the plants grew more straight up with the smaller pot limiting side growth so you could lollipop them?

zechbro said:

skunkushybird would you recomend using smaller pots when doing sog so that the plants grew more straight up with the smaller pot limiting side growth so you could lollipop them?

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No. The smaller pots have not hindered side growth. They have not hindered growth at all.

I also have never recommended anything of the kind. It's perfectly natural to use small pots in sog, that's what it's all about. If you read back through this thread you'll see that this hasn't anything at all to do with sog. The only relationship between what I'm doing and sog, are the smaller pot sizes.

A while ago now, I got the idea that roots take in oxygen and transform it into co2... although a search of the web ended up fruitless. The idea has come back again, strongly.

I believe that roots actually turn the oxygen into co2 for the plant above. Whether this happens in the root, or inside the actual plant, I don't know... but this would help explain why DWC and Aero grows so quickly. Might also explain why plants still grow at night. The plant itself may well be incapable of absorbing co2 during lights out, but once the lights are out the roots become more active, and actively take over from the plant in making co2. Maybe not even take over, but CONTINUE to work while the rest of the plant rests.

On a side note... the best way to restrict side growth is to cram in more plants. With poorer access to light side branches won't grow as big.

so do u think its possiable to do all your doing and use t5s like victor?

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/33421-my-current-set-up-journal.html

butterflykisses said:

so do u think its possiable to do all your doing and use t5s like victor?

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/33421-my-current-set-up-journal.html

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Yes, of course. Light has nothing to do with it. Although, imo t5 fluoro's are no match for even a 400w HID lamp.