Maximizing Rooth Growth In Soil......

[fatbob166]

I responded to a post the other day about transplanting an MJ plant, and the main problem was that the grower was in a dilema, that I guess many soil growers can/wil find themselves in. I posted a reply based on an article I had run across a little while ago, and several people seemed interested, so I decided to make it a new topic.
First off I'd like to say that I did not write this article. I'm pretty sure it was originally written by Apollo11Genius from overgrow, but I found it very interesting, so I thought I'd share it with those who haven't seen it yet.......

"Root growth/mass<IS buds="" big="" means="" roots="" and="" small="" flower="" in="" produced="" fruit="" flowers of="" size="" the="" factors="" prime="" one="" as="" acknowledged="">(all other factors being equal).

Space is also one of the major concerns for indoor growers, who generally cannot move to bigger and bigger pots to allow for bigger root masses.

However, a lot of container space often goes unused, because roots will not grow into the top inches of soil that are often dried out from powerful lights and low humidity. In addition, since MJ soils are typically very airy and light, when watering the top inches of soil are easily disturbed as the dirt is pushed and moved around by the water. This also inhibits roots from growing into the top inches of soil.
In a 1 foot tall pot the top 3 inches of soil will not allow root growth, you are wasting 25% of your soil mass that could be used for roots. In pots that are wider at the top than the bottom, this wasted soil could be even greater!

How then to use this soil? We need to prevent the soil from being disturbed and keep it moist, and hydro growers have been using an ideal product for this for a long time - Hydroton clay balls!

1. Hydroton clay balls are LIGHT.
They won't compact your soil the way putting pebbles on top would.

2. A layer of hydroton clay balls on top of the soil will help the soil underneath it lose moisture through evaporation and low humidity.

By adding a layer of hydroton on top of the soil, soil disturbance is prevented since the water does not directly touch the soil until it has filtered through the layer of hydroton balls. Soil moisture is then trapped underneath the hydroton and less likely to evaporate due to heat and/or low humidity.

This way it is possible to grow plants with roots stretching up all the way to the top of the soil. Those roots will rapidly provide nutrition to the plant when it is watered. It also will help the plant be able to go a longer time without watering since moisture that would have been lost to evaporation is now available to the plant.

Note:
Use a root stimulator during veg growth to help accelerate the root growth process and make sure there is a strong root mass in flowering. The last things you want in flower are wimpy roots (unless you want wimpy yields)."

Hope this helps some of you fellow soil growers out there!
.....Peace......

[ISTANDALONE]

funny thing, i was just wondering about how to utilize the top layer of soil the other day. interesting theory.

[fatbob166]

I just replanted my babies for the last time into 3g pots. Once again during the transplant I noticed that the top layer of soil was not utilized by the plant. Sadly the roots were rootbound in there former home. Now they're in the 3g pots and I have put a layer of hydrokorels on top of the soil. Hopefully the shock won't be too traumatic for them, and they will fill there new pots, even the top part of the soil. I will let everyone know how this works for me....

[ISTANDALONE]

so i've been talking about this theory to some people, and it was brought to my attention that the roots "breath" through the top layer of soil, and that adding clay pellets would prevent (some, not all) O2 from getting to the roots. maybe the clay pellets allow for some O2 exchange?

[-mu]

I tried this a while back, but the disadvantages outweighed any advantages. Not being able to see the soil when watering was the most annoying thing.

It's easier just to transplant into a bigger pot, and with a bit of practice, painless and easy, too.

-mu

[froggy]

Originally Posted by ISTANDALONE

so i've been talking about this theory to some people, and it was brought to my attention that the roots "breath" through the top layer of soil, and that adding clay pellets would prevent (some, not all) O2 from getting to the roots. maybe the clay pellets allow for some O2 exchange?

that is not true istandalone, O2 will diffuse easily thru clay balls. i agree with the ideal behind the thread. i personally use a bark mulch to protect that soil layer from the rays of the sun or HPS. and use 5gal buckets. not because they are any larger in width, but they are larger in length. plus they have a handle to carry the bastards around for easy movement.

mulch holds more nutrients for a longer time period than does inorganic clay balls or perlite. this means that im getting more bang for the buck. it also protects the root system from drying out from the bottom up, which inorganic clay balls doesnt.

[benistoned]

ill be trying this. sounds like a good idea.

[fatbob166]

Mu what other problems did you run into? I'm just curious....

[toastybiz]

Originally Posted by froggy

use 5gal buckets. not because they are any larger in width, but they are larger in length. plus they have a handle to carry the bastards around for easy movement.

Exactly. By using a pot that is more deep and narrow, the top layer of exposed soil is proportionately less of the available volume and thus there is proportionately more volume for the plant's roots. In other words, tall and narrow lets the plants use more of the pot.

In smaller grow spaces you can use kitty litter bins, someone here at GC turned me on to that a while back. A circular pot has unused space in it's footprint but a rectangular kitty litter bin (also with a handle!) can maximize what's available in a small space. The extra-sized ones are about 4.5 gallons, not too shabby.

[-mu]

I said disadvantages.

First it threw the weight off, and made it harder to know when to water the plant That could probably be avoided by weighing the plant when dry + hydroclay, which I didn't; they are lighter than they look, and it can throw your judgement off.

When watering, too, there's no visual signals, you can't see the water being sucked in. That was the main disadvantage. I like to see the soil, how it shrinks and expands, the sounds it makes when you water. I guess I measure from these things.

Although the theory is that they retain moisture up there, you'd need a pretty thick layer I think. I had a couple of inches of them, and they seemed to dry out very quickly, negating the whole effect.

It also made it difficult to feed worms. I like to leave tasty snacks for them on the top of the soil. It's almost impossible to judge what has and hasn't been eaten - if they even venture up through the clays.

I didn't try it for more than a week, because I just felt so disconnected from the soil, that I had to pluck them out again. It's like power-steering; you know there may be some advantages, but it just feels wrong.

If you want better root growth in a smaller space, it might be better to try and encourage lots of mycorrhizal fungi to do the job. There's even a product (called "RootGrow") that can add it for you, though it takes a few weeks to properly build up. Or you can use a copper based paint, and paint the inside of your pots with it. There was a great article on OG about this (you get more roots in the same space, but the plant uses the space more efficiently, doubling-back on itself, so to speak). Or both.

BUT, most people don't even use the top few inches of the pot, anyway. I recommend filling that space with more soil, instead.

Repotting is easier, at least for me. Plants love it, too.

-mu

[fatbob166]

+Rep for toasty and -mu.

Thanks to the both of you guys for all the info. The reason I posted this article is because I've been having a problem with my WW becomming rootbound very quicly. I've replanted twice so far this grow. Now they're in 3g buckets so I should be okay from now on, but it interests me to learn how other people tackled this issue. Thanks again guys......