Are Massive Roots A Good Thing?

[PhatNuggz]

According to a college course book "Hydroponics, A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower" NO.

Long before getting this book I was amazed at how small my root mass to harvested plant size was

Another point they make is roots should not be fat and coarse (like spaghetti strings) Plants want tons of root hairs, which is where the actual nutrient uptake happens

I have posted pics of 2 plants that I harvested today with root pics from the one of them; the other was similar. That's a 3" net pot

 

[MW7945]

Did you run Hydroguard or anything similar with these?

 

[DetGrnThumb]

Your book is wrong. Root mass is paramount to plant production

 

[h4ppyf4rmer]

in my humble opinion, I think it depends on the size of your plant. I grow fairly large plants (4 foot+) to keep my plant count down and my root balls pretty much fill a 5-gallon bucket with a few really fat roots and a metric crap ton of finer roots.

and if your hydro book is for generic hydro(not just cannabis), it also depends on the type of plant in the system...

 

[fatawa]

Big roots=big plants...

 

[PhatNuggz]

So much antiquated information gets passed down as truth, like veg 18/6, flower @ 12/12 for bloom. It's a guide, that's all. some 30years ago the big 3 tried to convince congress that improving fuel economy was virtually impossible, LED lighting would never replace MH/HPS, and so on

I neglected to take a root mass picture of this 3ft plant that I transplanted from my bubbler to my F & D 3 days ago. It was ~ softball size. IF you few were right then the root mass should have been at least twice as big

 

[fatawa]

No offense nuggz.i kno im right.tall doesnt mean much bro.sure u say its 3 ft tall but it isnt even over a ft wide??i get 6-8zips a plant on average on 3 wk veg.mine r 4×4wide,n they get massive roots.i usualy end in a 18gal tote cuz 10gal aint deep enough.

 

[fatawa]

Heres a lil example.this is 3wk from bean.still n veg bout to flip her.if u wud start focusing on growing roots n not plant u will really improve.i do this to make a living,its what i do not just a hobby.if u dont belive me double yur tote size once roots touch bottom of yur normal one.bet u you wud b thanking me homie.

 

[fatawa]

LED lighting would never replace MH/HPS,

it hasnt....not a single commercial grower uses led that i kno.there just not there yet

 

[DemonTrich]

Like the ole saying, bigger roots = bigger fruits.

Those are pretty dark roots for a hydro setup. Imo, should be a lot whiter. Unless the pic was taken days after chop and the roots got dried out.

 

[PhatNuggz]

it hasnt....not a single commercial grower uses led that i kno.there just not there yet

I've seen many pictures of quite large commercial cannabis facilities using leds

 

[PhatNuggz]

Here's similar pheno using the same hardware. The Cube is 19"on center. Produced ~ 3/4 pound
As I am not a commercial grower, I try to keep things efficient. Bigger plants means bigger everything.

I did grow with HPA in a 2 x 4 x 2.5 root chamber, but did not see appreciably larger plants.

Looks like you have a large air gap between the large roots and the root hair mass. I have barley have any similarly large roots with minimal separation between. Seems like tightening that up would pay dividends

 

[fatawa]

Looks like you have a large air gap between the large roots and the root hair mass.

na.thats from dropping water levels.helps prevent rot.raise,lower,raise,lower.its a technique

 

[fatawa]

The Cube is 19"on center. Produced ~ 3/4 pound

u got pics wen it was .75 peter?pics dnt always do justice but id gues bout 3zips on that wen it finishes dry(at best).but its pretty much common sense u wud get bigger plants n bigger pots.

 

[MW7945]

Your plants are stretching cause your light source sucks. Not sure why anyone would prefer a smaller root system I guess...

 

[Rootbound]

Here's similar pheno using the same hardware. The Cube is 19"on center. Produced ~ 3/4 pound
As I am not a commercial grower, I try to keep things efficient. Bigger plants means bigger everything.

I did grow with HPA in a 2 x 4 x 2.5 root chamber, but did not see appreciably larger plants.

Looks like you have a large air gap between the large roots and the root hair mass. I have barley have any similarly large roots with minimal separation between. Seems like tightening that up would pay dividends

Umm, you are saying the plant in that pic yielded 12 dry oz??? lol.

 

[Jmaes Mabley]

While I grow in Promix BX and 20 gallon containers. My 20 gallon pots/plants are rootbound by the time 60-70 days of flowering time comes around.

Main strains are Mr Nice SSH, Original Barneys Farm Non Fem G13 x Haze.

I veg in 5g x 1000w Hortilux HPS color corrected with blue.

I flower with 1 x 1000w Hortilux x 1 or 2 20g containers ect, and I transplant the day they go into 12/12. They are totally root bound at the end. I can even put smaller plants in 20g containers, and run 2 per light, and they will still use up all of a 20g container. Im getting around .9g per watt. No CO2. Only fresh air, and several fans. This would also be more in the cooler months, and in the summer I have no heat control, and turn 1 of the 2 lights off

1 plant will also fill up a 30g container if given the opportunity, and lots of light. Not all plants will get a root system like that though, but many will.

 

[Organikz]

#biomass. Them 10g pots are half full already....

 

[Jmaes Mabley]

Nice looking babies. Green all the way down, and no signs of stress, at all. Really Healthy.

 

[Organikz]

Nice looking babies. Green all the way down, and no signs of stress, at all. Really Healthy.

Thank you. The one sativa heavy girl is a little fussy. I had them in 4g nursery pots and they were were out of room. Can't say I'm 100% yet. Still some dialing in to do. Just overwatered with the damn blumat.