Why keeping root temps low is important.

[Fire Bean]

Thought I'd share something I've learned over the years..

Roots should be kept cool, 66-68 degrees is optimal. Higher temps do not facilitate higher metabolism like in the leaves. Instead elevated temps at the root zone causes several problems. Roots need O2. In water, dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature are inversely related. This means that higher temps result in lower DO.

Warm root zones also promote pathogen growth, many are facultative anaerobes, and many are aerobes that further reduce DO levels at the root cellular interface. Adding antimicrobial substances to your reservoir is of no benefit if the plant is already healthy. Only macro & micro nutrients are required in hydroponics. Healthy plants synthesize all the antimicrobials they need - remember that these are sessile (non-mobile) organisms that have had hundreds of millions of years learning how to defend themselves (trichomes should spring to mind). Most microbial pathogens will be incapable of making a statistically significant impact on yield by eliciting endogenous defense mechanisms of heathy roots.

If you read up a little on plant biology you can easily side step most of the crap that’s marketed at you on the shelves in hydro stores, and this will hopefully save you both time and money in the long run.

:)

 

[way2green]

I agree. I use an ez clone most of the time but I also use a clone box on certain strains. If the water in that ez clone gets warm all kinds of shit starts growing on the inside. I also have to adjust the amount of oxygen or oxygen stones if the water gets hot. I can only imagine how difficult this is for hydro growers.

 

[ethnoman]

I totally agree with you. After majoring in plant bio I stopped buying 80% of the additives I used to use and paid much more attention to my text books. I realize that a lot of what many growers think they know is actually pure conjecture only and unfortunately sentiment gets locked into standard or ‘traditional’ growing techniques. I’ve visited several commercial greenhouses over the years and things are done very differently. More attention is given to providing ideal environmental conditions and far less is given to chemicals and brands of nutes, etc.

 

[Grow Up]

I’d recommend reading up on the lock and key model of plant pathogen defence relationships. It certainly supports what you've said.

 

[Mad Mike]

what about v-B12?

 

[YarraSparra]

what about v-B12?

Plants synthesize their own vitamins. Other additives may directly or indirectly elicit cascades that can lead to a response. As such the ingredients might considered as signalling compounds . Some compounds can be used to manipulate responses in plants, such as those mediated by biotic and abiotic stress signalling cascades. Crudely speaking, signals can change the morphological architecture or metabolism of a plant, you don’t really want to interfere with this unless you know exactly it is what you are trying to do, e.g. upregulation of a specific secondary metabolite by inducing specific genes. Realize that under optimal conditions, energy for this will generally be siphoned from somewhere else. That may not be a bad thing if it makes your blueberry actually taste more blueberry, but this is in the realm of pseudoscience and marketing funk, and at best, based on nonsense and speculation.

There is a limitation to how fast plants will grow. Under ideal conditions plants will approach that limit. The way to promote growth is providing a good environment; root temp, leaf temp, RH, air movement, pH, CO2, DO, light, water, nutrients. Unless it’s a foreign species, e.g. as a systemic biocide, the majority of retail additives will likely have, either no effect on yield, or cause a detrimental effect through an imbalance of one or more of those parameters.

YS

 

[Fire Bean]

Could not have said that better myself!

 

[DoctorDread]

He reads while crying into his empty wallet..

On the mark!!

 

[neverbreak]

if yer big in this game yer probably not on this forum, instead u’ll be doin white stripes with yer tulip growin associates in holland, gettin cheap second hand gear sent over and listenin to what they don’t do to stay ahead of the game. lol

neverbreak