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What's going on with your roots? |
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| roots might not always be your top priority - after all it's the other end of the plant that is often much more appealing! read on to see how taking better care of your roots can benefit you... |
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All too often, growers focus their attention on the upper parts of their plant looking exclusively at “the good bits” such as flowers and fruits. Don’t get us wrong, they’re our favourites too but a little more care around your slightly less glamorous root zone can lead to huge improvements in yield, plant health and crop quality.
The performance of your plant is directly related to the health, quality and size of your root system. Healthy white roots and a large root mass are what you are after – big healthy roots equal big healthy plants and we all know what that means… MORE YIELD! Without good roots, your plant simply cannot take up enough nutrients and water to sustain optimum growth rates. A healthy root zone is an immensely important factor for successful growing and should get special attention throughout your growing cycle.
What makes a good root zone?
As well as being one of the most important factors in your grow, your roots are also one of the most delicate and fragile parts of your plant. For optimum performance you will have to pay real attention to a multitude of environmental factors and plant health issues. There are a range of root boosters around which we will go into throughout this article but to begin with let’s look at the environmental factors that affect your roots. For the purposes of this article, we are talking about root conditions in NFT systems as these have the most potential for unhealthy roots due to the way in which the roots are exposed with this method of growing.
Temperature
Roots love consistent temperatures. They positively thrive at a constant nutrient temperature of around 20oC where there is optimum oxygen content in the nutrient solution (above this temperature dissolved oxygen content is reduced). High temperatures also present a health risk to your plants as diseases and pathogens such as pythium are more likely to occur. Below 20oC your nutrient uptake will be slower as the metabolism of the plants is reduced. The colour and feel of your roots is an easy guide to how healthy they are. They should be white and firm – if they’re brown and mushy then you have a problem!
Aeration
The amount of dissolved oxygen in your root zone affects your roots ability to take up nutrients. It is common practice to infuse extra oxygen into your nutrient solution by using airstones or Hydrogen peroxide (Oxyplus). Airstones are very useful, not only for keeping maximum O2 (atmospheric oxygen) in your nutrient solution, but also to help keep the nutrients mixed and the liquid moving in the tank to reduce the risk of root pathogens, diseases and bugs which all like still conditions. Adding air to the water will also help buffer the pH a little, although still expect it to fluctuate from day to day. Using Oxyplus to chemically introduce oxygen into your nutrient solution is also an option and will help keep your root zone sterile – this does have the disadvantage that it also kills all of the beneficial organisms in your root zone which eliminates the benefits they can bring.
pH
The pH of your nutrient solution is a very difficult thing to manage and you will have to accept that it is physically impossible to maintain a constantly optimum pH for your root zone. The reason that you try to maintain a pH of between 5.5 – 6.5 in your nutrient solution is that above and below these levels of acidity your plant can experience nutrient lockout during which it is unable to take in certain nutrients. The reason that it impossible to maintain a constant pH is that everything that is added to your nutrient solution (such as nutrients or boosters) will affect your pH – and as these additives are used up the pH will creep upwards. We recommend that all growers invest in some form of pH tester to help ensure optimum conditions - our Hobby pH Meter is the ideal tool for this and is very reasonably priced.
Root overcrowding and old root growth
As your plants mature, the volume of roots in your system will steadily increase as time goes by. Obviously you want your roots to continue growing, as the larger the surface area of the roots, the more nutrients that they can take up. At the same time though, you want to keep nice healthy white roots that are still growing at a vigorous rate and performing at their best. To achieve this, there are a number of enzyme products available which are designed to break down old root mass both making room for new growth and stimulating your plant to generate extra roots. These include Cannazym, Sensi Zym and Hygrozyme which are all purposely developed to enhance root health.
Bacteria and Fungus
The root zone of your plants is the ideal breeding ground for a variety of bacteria and fungi. Before you start panicking, that’s not always a bad thing! Sure there are some very nasty things that can lurk in your roots that can cause severe plant debilitating conditions such as pythium, but you can control these with careful management and the use of preventative products such as Guardian Angel. Whilst you always try to avoid these “bad” infections, there are a variety of bacteria and fungi that actually help your plant and increase growth and yields. Beneficials such as these will carrying out functions such as breaking nutrients down into more absorbable forms and nitrogen fixing whilst at the same time protecting your plant from other bad infections. Trichoderma is a perfect example of this – once your root zone is colonised with Trichoderma it is safe from more harmful pythium causing fungi. A range of beneficial products such as Trichoderma, Voodoo Juice, Piranha Powder, Vita Link Bio-Plus and Vita Link Bio-Pak are all available to help you introduce these organisms into your grow. We highly recommend that you consider beneficials for your grow – the effect on your roots and plants is quite impressive!
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GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Solihull, Birmingham, UK
Blooms Garden Centre, Kenilworth Road
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