Need some help with Root Pruning

Looking for some Info on benefits of Root Pruning and whan should you do it and what roots are safe to prune. thanx guys

guess many people dont do this if none at all

There was just a thread about this yesterday with some replies. Use your search. Some said no problems; others said it resulted in stunting and reduced yield.

Dave

*MGD is my drug of choice. (Miller Genuine Draft)

Why do you need to prune roots in hydro?

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from what i have been reading root pruning is best for in hydro or should i say easiest. and from what ive read they said that it can boost your grows by trimming certain roots, basically cutting certian roots can boost growth in certian areas of the plant.. dont know how true that is.. really glad to see earl respond.. the true hydro king..TY

I like roots.

Check out this thread.show your roots - Cannabis Culture Forums


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Only time I heard of root pruning was when using the technique to keep a clone mother healthy, and small. In Hydro, big roots = big buds.

I trim the roots several times while the plant is small and vegging. The first time is when the first roots pop out of my clone medium. Pinching the ends of roots will tell the plant to form more roots from the base of the plant and create more root ends, just like topping the plant will create more "tops". Once i plant the rooted clone into my netpot and roots begin to show out the bottom and sides, i Trim all roots coming out of the netpot for the first week (from the point i first see roots). If i dont do this I end up with maybe 20-30 main roots coming out. If i do trim, about 100 come out. After this week, i let the roots start to drop down, but i selectively trim the longer roots so the smaller roots have a chance to become more developed. (this is a well practiced bonsai practice) Root mass is my main goal while vegging, as ive noticed the size of the plant above the roots matters little compared to the size of the rootball. Another trick to establishing massive roots is to lower ppm's to about 100 or give them nothing but water for 1-2 weeks before throwing them into flower. If your plant is large, it will have plenty of energy and will put it all into growing an amazing white root ball.

groprofosho said:

I trim the roots several times while the plant is small and vegging. The first time is when the first roots pop out of my clone medium. Pinching the ends of roots will tell the plant to form more roots from the base of the plant and create more root ends, just like topping the plant will create more "tops". Once i plant the rooted clone into my netpot and roots begin to show out the bottom and sides, i Trim all roots coming out of the netpot for the first week (from the point i first see roots). If i dont do this I end up with maybe 20-30 main roots coming out. If i do trim, about 100 come out. After this week, i let the roots start to drop down, but i selectively trim the longer roots so the smaller roots have a chance to become more developed. (this is a well practiced bonsai practice) Root mass is my main goal while vegging, as ive noticed the size of the plant above the roots matters little compared to the size of the rootball. Another trick to establishing massive roots is to lower ppm's to about 100 or give them nothing but water for 1-2 weeks before throwing them into flower. If your plant is large, it will have plenty of energy and will put it all into growing an amazing white root ball.

Click to expand...

Can you give us some more info?

How do you grow hydro?

How long do you veg,
during this root trimming phase?

How large of plants do you grow?

Got any pictures you could share?

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yea thats the info im looking for, your are the man. and if you can go even more detail.. and also what earl asked... root pruning is supposed to me pretty damn good for the plant if done correctly an my next grow i want to do this.. the right way tho no fuck ups.. ty for your replys.. and thats a pretty nice link early those roots look really nice i havent read the whole thing yet but imma do it tomorrow after work

wow i just wrote a monster post and hit the back button on my mouse. Oh well....ill see if i cant replicate it. My setup: I grow like earl, using DWC and large 25 gallon rubbermades wrapped in construction plastic and reflective white plastic. During vegging i have 6 sites, during flowering 2 sites. Ive tried to grow a variety of ways to learn the most i can, and find what works. My root discovery/journey began when one of my vegging plants had root rot. I cut the roots off since they were advanced rot and after the recovery phase it busted out more roots than it had the first go around. I didnt really pay attention until it yielded 30% more than any of my other plants. So i began taking a razor to the roots at multiple stages to find the best time to cut. During vegging is the only time you will want to cut the roots, as during flowering it will stunt the growth and flower formation. So i Keep the ppm's between 150 and 300 depending on the size of the plant (in vegging, and this is using Canna nutes, which max load is about 800) I keep the water level 1 inch under the net pots all throughout vegging. I veg about 8 weeks and have a separate room so i always have some ready to go in. I keep the plants short, topping any foliage that grows over 14 inches tall. I focus on creating tops, and creating roots. The first 4 days or so in the netpot (once i put the cutting in) is just filling out the pot. Once the roots start to show, ill take my finger and grate all the roots off for about 7 days(every day!). Once im satisfied with how many roots are busting out of the pot, ill let the roots grow down a bit, but you will notice that some will grow faster than others. I trim the tip of the longer roots to stunt those roots and allow the smaller roots to reach the same length. This will also create long horizontal root hairs, which i have measured at over half an inch wide. At about week 3 ill just let them grow normally, and not bother with trimming anymore, as the netpot should be filled out and the roots should be somewhat even. During this whole phase i foliar feed the plants with rhizotonic, made by canna nutrients, at a dose of 20-30 ml per gallon water, ph balanced to 6. For week 3-6 i keep the nutes between 150 and 250, ph around 5.7. Week 7 and 8 the plants get nothing but water. Plants are driven by their needs. If their roots rot, they build more, if you cut them, they grow more, if you deprive them of nutrients, they attempt to facilitate increased nute uptake by growing more roots. The root ball will be ginormous, and white. The plant at this point will start to turn yellow as it loses N making roots. At this point (week i throw them in the flower room with full nutes (600 ppm). My flower room is somewhat unique and is very efficient. I have 2 600 HPS and 1 MH 600 in a vertically hanging, air cooled light tube on a light mover. It moves up and down a hallway ive created out of racks on caster wheels. I put two of the lights on the bottom closer together, and have a constantly rotating crop, so every 4 weeks, they are moved in and out. The top rack is for week one through 4, and bottom is for weeks 5-8. because the plants are growing up the racks, there is no need to move the light and many different sized plants can all grow an equal distance from the lights(6-8inches). I have 16 tupperwares, each holding 2 plants, each plant yeilds about 5 oz dry. Thats 32*5 or about 150 oz per 8 weeks, or 4200 grams using 1800 watts. (no co2 yet) You might say that vegging is slowed by trimming, and i wouldnt disagree. You might lose 1 weeks growth in your veg room, but you will increase yields 30%, and if you have 2 rooms going all the time, you should be growing them 8 weeks anyway...theres no reason not to. Also, if you like to create large plants, you can give them increased nutes week 4-6 (300-400ppm) Doing this also assists later when you are giving them nothing but water. The larger the plant, the more energy it has stored to build roots. So the most efficient way to grow them is to 1 trim early and often 2 build a decent sized root ball 3 increase nute levels which the plant can efficiently turn into more plant matter thanks to its root ball 4 decrease nute levels or give nothing but water so the energy of the plant can be used to create massive roots. I really hope you find this useful Earl. Please try this, im always happy to help someone who gives so much to the community.

Thanks GroPro

That is a good post.

I will try your method,
on my next DWC grow.

Got any pics?

You know we love the root porn.

This is a male Purple Cindy in 7 gl of AN nutes @ 400ppm.
The brown stuff is the billions of microbes from the AN Tarantula and Piranha

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I guess you would cut this tap root?

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thanx for that post Gropro ill be doin that next time around for sure.

Now when you trim the roots do you notice any wilting or and type of sickness for a few days or is it a mild growth stun?

And do you know if root pruning can be infectious? like if it can raise the risk of root rot due to an open wound?

and if you have any pics that would be awesome..

oh and that post deserves rep... Thanx a lot!!

No wilting, a possible mild stunt but really not noticeable. ive never had problems with infection. The bubbles help keep infection from being a problem, though i would always recommend washing your hands and using sterilized cutting tools. Earl: yeah i would cut that tap root, but at a much earlier stage. If i had not trimmed earlier, and waited to the point you took the pic, I would just pinch the very end of the root. Your first pic looks great. You should try using 6' netpots, the roots will have much more room to spread out and you wont have as many issues with root rot as the roots in that pic are pretty bunched. Using 3 inch netpots you probably wouldnt benefit from the trimming, as your roots have filled out the cup completely.