is air pruning via smart pot, permanent?

Discussion in 'Advanced Growing Techniques' started by CosmonautKing, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. hey guys and gals of the forum. question here, honestly im going to start researching and reading about it now, but i figured id toss it out in hopes of some feedback while im studying.
    since taproots are a lifeblood of a seeded plant, and clones only grow secondary roots. which technically isnt a bad thing via nutrient uptake. for purposes of anchoring, shock, stability, and maximizing your plants ability to feed itself, maintaining that original taproot or the original few secondaries a clone grows, is extremely crucial. if a taproot reaches oxygen and dries out (which is fast) it will die and grow secondary roots from the tip, and so on and so fourth. making maintenance especially crucial.
    unless you fan and plant/anchor the roots into the top inch of a smaller pot, in early stages of life. it honestly only takes a few days for the taproot to reach the bottom holes, peep out and die.... this means for most of us, just shortly after birth, we kill the main root, and by the time we transplant our plant is no longer extending its taproot throughout the pot, only newly developed secondaries, thus effecting EVERYTHING.
    my question is will the air pruning on smart pots kill the root tips at their desired spacing, thus instilling new growth in proper areas? or simply just make them dormant? my idea is to diy some small 1 cup smart pots for clones and seedlings because i cant seem to find any, in hopes to fully maintain the root health throughout the whole starting period of a plants life..... i already use an infinity tray, but it in itself can be somewhat troublesome (not really) but in a way, that all roots grow downwards. and once two roots meet eachother, they also start to grow secondary roots (importance of mycorrhizae) this process happens very fast in an infinity tray and really negates the ability to properly train the root structure on first transplant
     
  2. I don't know about any of that technical stuff, but I do know that air pruning promotes great nutrient uptake and fast growth.
    2 weeks from sprout.
    Transplant 2 wks.JPG
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. The tips of the roots that are exposed to air die from drying out not from exposure to oxygen. Roots actually need oxygen to live. Also, i don't believe the whole root dies but rather just the exposed tip. I have grown in fabric pots (and even in "air pots" aka gnat motels) and never had issues concerning dying roots.
     
  4. this is actually a perfect example of exactly what i want to discuss.
    so if you were in a "smart pot" vs an air pruner. none of those roots would have hit the sides, if that makes sense. if you zoom in really closely, you can see brown tips on all of the farthest out roots, that had hit the hole entries dried out and moved on to secondary roots to fill the container. thus when you transplant those brown tips will shoot out a bunch of smaller tips and fill the new pot, and require a rebound time. but since these should be structuring roots are now very fine fiberous roots, which would be there anyways but more centered.... i found my rebound time was almost completely eliminated if i hadnt actually disturbed the root mass. which was easy with small plastic pots, as long as i acted before the taproot peeped through the bottom (which can be tough) but i was also able to practically eliminate rebound with my infinity tray, by just being careful. but iv found it detrimental to use a tool to fan the roots on the top inch of soil so you have time for the roots to fill the containter before the taproot or initial secondaries, snake down and out.
    thus is why i want to see if the airpruning of a smart pot, would just put the roots "to sleep" untill it was able to have a large area to work with..... not exactly sure how i would go about that other than
    germinate in infinity tray
    find a way to dye root tips without killing them
    diy 1 cup cloth smart pot
    dye new growth and remove and observe the initial root on transplant.
    i really do feel it would eliminate transplant shock, promote the best environment possible for your roots. maximize rootmass, add structure, hermaphrodite and pest resilience. as well as be an easier process than most traditional transplanting methods
     
  5. Smart pots and air pots work the same way, the "funneling effect" on the airpots is nothing more then a gimmick as roots grow laterally and get pruned just the same in a fabric pot.
    I agree however that its best to germinate/root in regular nursery pots/plastic cups etc as to not damage the roots during transplant which can be challenging going from a smartpot/airpot.
     

  6. this video is quite dry so i recomend taking it in chunks hahahha but it is extremely informative and a nice starting block for research if you want.
    but yes sorry im aware that oxygen is good for roots. and drying out is the bad part that leads to death hhahhaha.
    but its more of not every one is perfect. and not every plant is perfect. some grow faster/slower than others. and sometimes people forget to do something, or try and push that extra day, etc... i think it would be more optimal, and generally quite pocket friendly to get every plant to the same height, while in a germination cabinet vs a veg or flower room, without having to worry about the roots at all..... that way you wouldn't have to worry about unnecessary stretching branching noding while getting an even canopy. and wasting light space time and nutrients. when you can just leave the clones in the cabinet for a few extra days. get all the roots to their full capacity, and everything has reached the same size. all the while leaving the main roots alive and undisturbed. so when you transplant they just resume their process vs need to re grow
     
  7. EXACTLYYY, my thing is when you get tons going like i have 30, sometimes those taproots or main secondaries will peep through before others.... all i want to do is eliminate this but have it be beneficial to the plant
     
  8. is this what you are looking for?
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  9. very much so, thank you sooo much. iv been so distracted all day i havent been able to sit down and look. do you possibly know something i could die roots with? id imagine water and tumeric would be WAY to harsh, and i doubt id be able to see the yellow.
    maybe soak em in beet juice?
     
  10. not sure i understand what you mean, you want to die the roots on a growing plant?
     
  11. thats just me going back to see if what im doing is actually working.
    im just going to play around with one plant. but i really want to practice, perfecting a rootbase. for all plants really. its hard to know exactly what your doing if you cant be sure ya know.
    i know science has proved it. but i havent
     
  12. ultimately whats important is what method produces the bigger plants faster, what you need is a control group then you can see if what you are doing is an improvement or not.
     
  13. ultimately useless thread.....
    killing this post
     
  14. There is nothing useless about wanting to learn and improve!
    I think you bring up a very important subject here as roots are probably the most important and what eventually will determine the plants capabilities. My remark was not to discourage but to, perhaps, bring into focus what you should be looking for when doing your experiments.

    Personally I was actually heading in the same direction as I am looking for a way to root cuttings in a way that I can transplant them straight after rooting into my no-till bed with minimal root shock (and minimizing damage from trying to remove them from the cup/pot) and to do that I have also got some of those fabric pouches linked above. I have yet to try them out so no feedback on how they works but will be trying them out next time i take cuttings.

    If you do decide to do some testing please share your results!
     
  15. when you do air pruning it's like topping your plant you kill one rude but to come back in its place you have to think of it like that are printing is actually very healthy for your plan it builds a bigger root mass so your plant can have more nutrient uptake more Roots equals more fruits
    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
     
  16. You also don't want to get rid of dying roots they are organic material.that just stay in your medium if you was in DWC at res change they would dump out

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