Roots

[DeeJay13]

Hey guys,
So, today a question about roots...
1stly, I began with seeds in a glass of water. When the seeds popped I removed them and placed them in pre soaked PH 6 rock wool cubes. The seedlings grew and their root system developed, however the roots stayed in the cube. Only a few small little spikes poked through the rock wool at the bottom.
I then got a cutting from a mate and it was in soil. I put it in my humidity dome and after a week I washed the soil off its roots and it had a nice tap root with smaller roots. I slit a rock wool cube and put it inside, with the root sticking out the bottom long enough to reach the NFT solution. I transplanted all of my seedlings and cutting at the same time, 1st June, into my 2 NFT channels.
As of yesterday, the cutting with the nice root system is going crazy. It has gotten big and bushy and has grown a root system which is threatening to take over my entire hydro pipe. The roots have reached 5ft in length already! Another foot and they will be in the drain pipe back to the reservoir!
The other plants have tried to grow into the NFT, but each time a little white spike appears to be growing downward, it eventually turns dark coloured at the tip and stops growing. Of the other 6 plants in my NFT system, none of them have reached the nutrients yet. I have to keep dipping them by hand in a nutrient container to give them food. This has been over 2 weeks now and only the cutting is being fed by the system.
The other 6 plants are very healthy, and are making progress, but nothing as drastic as the cutting.
My questions are as follows...
1. How do I train the roots to grow downwards into the NFT solution?
2. How do I stop the cuttings roots from taking over my pipe and clogging up the drain pipe in the next few weeks?
3. Do the roots stop growing after you switch to a 12/12 flowering light cycle?
I am currently vegging them with 6 hours off 18 hours on light cycle, the reservoir temps are being kept between 19C and 22C with a cooling system, and I am feeding them with Nutriplex with added Calmag once a week, and then flushing with Flora Kleen for 24h before the next 6 day feed. I intend to veg until the end of the month and then switch to flowering.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Huh?

Pics, I'm cornfused, are u growing in yer sink and drain

Lol

 

[TorturedSoul]

Huh?

Pics, I'm cornfused, are u growing in yer sink and drain

Lol

I assume he's growing in NFT channels or whatever they're called (doing a web-search for NFT channels will bring up pictures/text about the method). It used to be more common than it is these days, but is still not terribly uncommon. Although it works much better for lettuce and other plants which don't routinely produce "tree-length" root systems, IMHO .

- - - - -

This may or may not have anything to do with your issue, but as far as I know, the standard recommendation for pretreating rockwool for cannabis use is to adjust the solution to a pH of 4.5 to 5.0 in order to lower the pH from ~8.0 (and to remove most of the lime that it may contain due to the manufacturing process) and soak it for 24 hours.

It almost reads like your roots are getting air-pruned. Try raising the level of solution significantly for a few days (you'll want to ensure that said solution is and remains highly aerated). Then, when the plants have decent root systems, you can return to a normal level. This may require some adjustment in your system.

 

[DeeJay13]

Yes, growing in NFT channels Tortured Soul.
Made them myself from plumbing drain pipe.
Have a pump system which pumps the nutes around, and air curtains in the nutes for aeration.
I researched air pruning. Spot on! Thank you!
I can't raise the level of the solution unfortunately, so I think I will get another shallower res and do a quick DWC setup until the roots are trained long enough to reach my NFT setup and then transfer them back.
Do you have any idea whether it is possible to prune the roots to control the mass of them?
I read somewhere that cutting and cauterising straight away to prevent infection is possible?
Thank you for your help...

 

[Barney86]

Subbing up buddy. Love me a good NFT grow. Just starting work but I'll be back later to see what's going on

 

[TorturedSoul]

If I remove root mass in a soil setup (trimming an inch or so of the soil/root mass all the away around and from the bottom of a mother plant in order to "repot in place with fresh soil,") i make sure to trim a comparable percentage from the portion of the plant that is above ground, to match.

Can't say I've ever trimmed root mass in a hydroponic setup. I mostly ran dwc in 20+ gallon reservoirs, so there was plenty of room, lol.

 

[No Pain]

A picture of your set up would be extremely helpful .
1. roots will always grow down … so given enough veg time they will reach the solution in your bucket .
2. you can root prune and it will promote extenstions from your feeder roots ..never take more than a 1/3 of the lower mass .. I prune in my system twice before the flip. as far as the drain well you could make a coned or boxed cover that extended into your bucket. however you will have to pull the roots back away from it otherwise they will grow right through it.
3. root growth continues I want to say for about 3 weeks after the flip but at a slower rate .

so the true answer to your problem might be in bigger containers.

 

[TorturedSoul]

you could make a coned or boxed cover that extended into your bucket. however you will have to pull the roots back away from it otherwise they will grow right through it.

I wonder if a fine mesh copper screen would effectively block the roots from growing into a drain? People have treated their sewer lines for years with copper sulfate because copper is said to be poisonous to roots but it doesn't kill the trees because the stuff is only absorbed "for a short distance." I have no idea what is considered to be a short distance, in that regard, but would assume that they're not going to absorb much from a solid copper object (as opposed to half a cup of copper sulfate crystals, at least).

 

[No Pain]

I wonder if a fine mesh copper screen would effectively block the roots from growing into a drain? People have treated their sewer lines for years with copper sulfate because copper is said to be poisonous to roots but it doesn't kill the trees because the stuff is only absorbed "for a short distance." I have no idea what is considered to be a short distance, in that regard, but would assume that they're not going to absorb much from a solid copper object (as opposed to half a cup of copper sulfate crystals, at least).

I don't know anything about copper and roots , my first thought / feeling is that in a hydroponic solution the salts would have an effect on the copper .

 

[TorturedSoul]

Oh, yeah, I forgot you run a recirculating setup instead of a DtW one. Hmm... If it was just a question of having an effect on the copper screens, I'd reply that, if it's important to you, maybe the expense of occasionally having to replace them might be bearable. But I suppose it's possible that the reverse could be true, that the copper would in some way react with one or more elements in the nutrient solution.

There's always something, eh?

 

[No Pain]

Oh, yeah, I forgot you run a recirculating setup instead of a DtW one. Hmm... If it was just a question of having an effect on the copper screens, I'd reply that, if it's important to you, maybe the expense of occasionally having to replace them might be bearable. But I suppose it's possible that the reverse could be true, that the copper would in some way react with one or more elements in the nutrient solution.

There's always something, eh?

yep newtons third law...for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction . lol

 

[TorturedSoul]

Well, that would explain how the mass driver bent my spaceship when some clown fired it during maneuvers.

Sucks to be shipwrecked. . . .

 

[No Pain]

Well, that would explain how the mass driver bent my spaceship when some clown fired it during maneuvers.

Sucks to be shipwrecked. . . .

sssshhhh no one is supposed to know we are here ...see there goes the law again ..