Looking at your root mat makes me think of an idea I had which I will run past you. In my next design I was thinking I would make my root basin about 2 feet in depth that would be for fog only, no misters or sprayers. About every 10 inches I was thinking I might run a layer of chicken wire or something similar so that the roots could create layers and can grow horizontally instead of just vertically until they hit the floor like yours did. Do you think I would just clog up my fog zone with roots or do you think the fog could still flow around as needed even with two or three layers of roots in the basin?

One other idea came to me which I now run past you too. I want to stay away from misters in my next design. I attempted once already and failed in the high pressure misters area. So my other thought was that perhaps I could strategically lay in some pools of water in the basin so that the roots could tap a more consistent water supply then what my fogger can provide. I haven't seen a design that I really like yet, but various ideas pop in my mind on how to do something like this. I could put a shallow tray of water just under the roots and drop it lower every few days. I could put tiny fountains in the basin or maybe some sort of NFT method. The idea here would be that since I cant get the water droplets small enough to use with fog I probably better just leave misters out of my fog zone all together. I noticed that when I used fog and low pressure misters the droplets tended to butcher my fog roots. My thought process was that if I used pools of water instead, then perhaps they wouldn't damage all the roots. Any roots that make contact with a pool of water would slowly become a tap root I suspect, but it wouldn't be a shock to the plants. I find that low pressure misters require a heavier root then what fog encourages. I am aware that however I do the supplemental watering that i will need to circulate it. So whenever I say pool of water I am simply thinking of some sort of water supply that doesn't impact the roots as badly as misters do.

Another thought comes to mind. Maybe I could get a mat of water permeable material that my roots could come to rest on in the basin. A mat would allow me to start higher in the basin during the grow cycle and lower it as the roots grow longer.

My Goal: figure out a way to get water to the roots while not beating them up with water droplets and being able to use fog once again. Recall that I have a 3 head Aero Mist which tends to produce dry fog. And like you I want to grow from start to finish in one system, so clones will have trouble getting to water early on. Know what I mean Vern?