Zandor Should I trim roots?

[growinit]

A friend-of-a-friend has an aero tube setup using 6â?� diameter pvc tubes with 3â?� netcups in them. At a certain point, the roots were no longer hanging from the netpots being sprayed anymore --- theyâ??re laying in the bottom of the tube (in approx 1â?� of flowing water). It seems to defeat the idea of aero if the roots are submerged; now itâ??s basically just a NFT system. Plants are about 1 foot tall, roots about 1 foot long, flowing in the direction of the drain.
I want to trim all the roots to just 2 ½ inches below the netpot (an inch or so above the draining water). Since theyâ??re being sprayed with water constantly, why do they need more than the minimum roots? And I expect that by cutting them the plant will grow more roots out of the netpot, ending up with more, shorter roots. Which would be ideal. Has anyone ever done this? Is it safe hydro practice or will it reduce the plants ability to uptake nutrients or water?
thanks in advance

[LOC NAR1958]

On my first grow Zandor had me play with one of my plants in my drip system. 6 plants and I cut the roots back to about 3 inches from net pot on one to see what happened. The growth was slowed alittle and the stem got thicker. Other than slowing it down a little I saw no prblem with the plant.

[Zandor]

Yes you can trim them but you read what happened to LOC. The stocks got thicker so the nutrient up take did improve.

You are correct in saying it just became a de facto NFT type of system. Any system using a feed tray will less then 12" of root growth room (measured from end of net pot to bottom) will end up being a type of NFT anyway.

The big difference is an NFT system pumps the nutrients at the bottom of the tray so the roots need to s t r e t c h to find water. With a top feed like I use and the sprinkler system like you are talking about feed the root ball and not just the long roots hairs.

If you have problems with water back flow then you should trim them but if you don't then unless you need to don't trim them. I could be interesting if you trim a few and watch them for you next grow. You could get some insight to how well your system feeds that way too.

[growinit]

Thanks, great to hear that. The problem with the roots stretching toward the drain and then compounding with the ones from the next plant down the tube is:
1) they mat (forming solid areas with poor air/water circulation) and
2) the thickness of this mat exceeds the depth of the running/draining water (which is only about an inch). So the clump isnâ??t submerged and in some spots not even getting sprayed on. Pathogensâ?¦.
When I started , a 6â?� tube seemed huge (Iâ??ve seen the photos of aero systems with only 4â?�), but now Iâ??m seeing the limitations of a 6â?� tube with the way the roots develop.

Zandor btw, I was really interested when you mentioned using 5 gal buckets of rocks to provide space for the rootball. Whatâ??s the difference between filling the bucket with rocks as opposed to water (dwc). If the water is mega-oxygenated, wouldnâ??t that be the same to the plant roots as wet rocks?? Iâ??m assuming there must be a difference (or youâ??d be using dwc), but could you explain what the difference is??

thanks much

[latewood]

The 'only' problem with dwc (and I love it, but use modified res' w drains) is every week you have to dump the res and refill it...Now I have so many tubs that I prepare one with fresh nutes and then lift the whole plant/tub top/and rootball all at once and transfer it...I got tired of toting/buying :cool: water so I bought rodi unit and installed drains in tubs.
Now every week I just prepare nutes in a main res and push up the drain(common sink drain installed in bottom of tub) from the bottom, then I dump nutes into res thru extra hole in top...this alleviates about 65% of the work in dwc... :p

If I recall correctly, Zandor drips because he clains to be anal ;) (hey, I'm just quoting Z) about having total control over his babies and wants to be able to add anything to his plants at anytime and drip provides for easier control,..after I do a quick aero grow in my big unit, I am going total drip from veg to flower...call me a copycat///roflmao...although I am growing some big motha's in dwc

On rootball problem, be careful not to cut the taproot, if you trim back...

By the way...If I built a pvc system, Instead of using just straight pvc I would put netpot in the bottom of T's and connect them :thumbsup: ...this would allow the roots to hang in the downspout of the t and also act as a drain for each plant, totally eliminating stagnent or pooling water/nutes :)
hope this shines some more light on the subject...lw

[Zandor]

Zandor btw, I was really interested when you mentioned using 5 gal buckets of rocks to provide space for the rootball. Whatâ??s the difference between filling the bucket with rocks as opposed to water (dwc). If the water is mega-oxygenated, wouldnâ??t that be the same to the plant roots as wet rocks?? Iâ??m assuming there must be a difference (or youâ??d be using dwc), but could you explain what the difference is??

thanks much
The grow rocks are the medium, the 5-gallon bucket is the net pot of sorts.
You can grow very big plants that way, but you need room for them to grow. It takes 2 5-gallon buckets one as the net pot with hundred's of holes drilled in it for drainage in the bottom & side's. The second bucket is the catch bucket. Now this is where is can change, you use a second bucket with the bottom 2/3 cut out and removed. It's just to raise the height of the first bucket I call net pot bucket. Then you add a third bucket that catches the run off and returns the water back to the res. In the third bucket you can place air stones, to hold them down you can use a 6" or 8" net pot upside down. The weight from the first bucket will keep it held down and the air stone in place. That is how you start growing KBS but there is so much more to KBS growing then that. That is just the bucket system for KBS growing. You still need thousands of dollars in parts, pumps, lights, & equipment but that is the basic of KBS buckets.

[Zandor]

If I recall correctly, Zandor drips because he clains to be anal ;) (hey, I'm just quoting Z) about having total control over his babies and wants to be able to add anything to his plants at anytime and drip provides for easier control,..after I do a quick aero grow in my big unit, I am going total drip from veg to flower...call me a copycat///roflmao...although I am growing some big motha's in dwc
Don't forget it's close to normal feeding for them, they are feed by nature from the top too.

But really for me it's easer to know if someone has a clogged drip line or not. When you water from inside the tub or what ever you use you are only hopping it's working. You can't see if a sprayer is clogged or working if it's inside the grow tube or what ever you use. That's the control I talk about. Playing GOD to a plant is an awesome responsibility and I take it very serious..........lol