Help with roots plz

[Hotwired]

I use Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro and Protect in veg and now Moonshine. I've noticed the rooted clones growing a bit better since I started using the Moonshine but my roots are still slow growing. I'm not sure if it's me or the environment or the food but I have never gotten good roots since I started growing way back when. This is using several brands of food over the decades.

Right now I'm putting rooted clones into 1 gallon pots with B'cuzz Hydromix HP. My plants grow great and I shouldn't complain, but my roots always suck. Even after 4 weeks in veg they hardly fill the 1 gallon pot and I rarely need to transplant but I do anyways so they can flower in 2 gallon pots.

Once the plants are finished after 8 weeks of flower I empty the pots and take a look at the roots. All I see is a few new roots on the very bottom and sides with mostly empty space in the middle of the soil. I feel that it is such a waste of dirt but it does help give me bigger buds with the 2 gallon pot over leaving them in the 1 gallon to flower.

They take longer to feed this way tho. I have to wait 4 days between watering, 3 days if they have better roots.

It's not that I'm having problems but I feel that if I got a better root system I may actually do better.

I don't want to change anything big but I'm willing to change some small stuff. Are there any amendments that would help in my situation? Should I start with a half gallon pot instead of a 1 gallon?

These pics were taken after 5 weeks of veg because I let my cloning plants go a week longer. Even after 5 weeks the roots still suck...IMO.

This is from the side



This is from the bottom


Notice there is hardly anything on the bottom and much of the soil space is still empty in the middle. The roots are also not that white. This is exactly what I have been seeing from my plants year after year and I need to change it. 5 weeks and they look like this. Even less so @ 4 weeks.

B'cuzz mix has plenty of perlite. It's why I use this over Promix. So I don't think it's the soil. I use Gro-Pro heavy duty black plastic pots so I don't think it's them. There has to be something I'm missing........or not. But I've seen pictures of roots that came out of pots in 3 weeks and they blow mine away.

Any ideas? I'm willing to try something a little different. Thanks

 

[Gweedo]

Bennie tea may help bring your soil to a more lively state, which may help your roots take off

 

[Burned Haze]

I would suggest look into primordial solutions Rootamentary ( your talking .25ml-2ml max! ) Best nitrogen fixing bacteria and rooting tea I’ve ever used, def best bang for your buck ( hell for my whole grow it only cost me vegroom and flower like 25ish (Rootamentary) for the bucks per round and you use it till 4-6th week and you can foliar spray it with seagreen ) prolly the most powerful natural pgr tea I’ve used/bought

also always make sure to let the roots dry out as much ( even in coco, let your roots dry out as much as you can in the beginning to let them expand/map out or they want do shit for water ) as you can every time after you water in the beginning to get a root establishment base . Too many people start over watering too fast and then let the bad pathogens and pond their roots in water. That just equals in bad problems for pests to pathogens and your roots will never think to grow ( kinda like a fat person who thinks he does not need to get up to grab more food and is catered to and that makes the result of such results of no movement and cooking )

 

[badmofo529]

I would suggest grabbing a sample of Athena biosis, but it doesn't look like they are doing samples anymore and it's really expensive. It really made a difference in my roots. Any type of Bennie's like photo+ or a homade tea should give the same or similar results.

 

[Gweedo]

I run heisens tea recipe simple and it works great.

 

[Cob_nUt]

I'd suggest more drainage. Since you water so infrequently,some added perlite into your mix may be beneficial. It may increase water/feed rates also. It'll get more o2 to the roots. This coupled with some bennies should assist with root growth/expansion.

edit* If you do go this route,get a larger pellet size (Horticulture grade) than what's already in your mix. That size breaks up easily and the dust/sludge it turns into...fucks with shit.Roots mainly. The large perlite will allow you to add less than you would with that pellet size to your mix for better drainage in the end.

 

[Cob_nUt]

I fill 1 & 2 gal smart pots about1-" 2" down from the top with roots with 3-4 weeks veg and 2 months flower. I do rootbound my plants in solos before transplant tho.

This isn't soil tho,I get faster root growth due to medium pots and oxygen exchange.

There's coco and hydroton in this mix. I usually run Calcined Clay(turface) and perlite.50/50 as my main mix. I'm always experimenting though and I do love some coco.

 

[Cob_nUt]

My fault @Hotwired. I read fast and sometimes key words don't stick out.
You're using B'cuzz and or promix. Up that particle size of perlite,the trade off MAY be increased watering frequency by a day or so,but you'll definitely get more drainage and oxygen to the roots. Don't forget the bennies,they are beneficial.

 

[Waxman420]

I was having the same issue if not worse. I would've been happy with your roots I tried round pots square pots fabric pots hell uneven got scammed on those super roots pots with the steps inside, tried letting them wilt before watering tried keeping constant moisture.
In promix the best roots were always bottom watered when the top of the soil would sink in slowly. But then I tried coco!!!!! holy shit now I havent flowered out one of these coco girls but they are the exact opposite of my soil roots. My 4 inch square pots are all root like the roots eat the coco and make more roots . Roots everywhere nice white furry roots. Now I'm a little worried I wont get the tastes that I did when using supersoil or promix if that's the case I think I may try 4inch coco transplanted into soil or else add coco to the soil/soilless mixes.

I've just made the switch but so far I will honestly say 5x more root mass than I normally get

 

[Hotwired]

Great ideas guys and thanks for taking the time to write them

I noticed a few of you said "bennies". Am I missing something in my feeding new clones? What are these "bennies" you speak of? Is there something I could buy that needs to be added during veg?

I just want to keep things easy and not change them up so much

 

[Burned Haze]

Great ideas guys and thanks for taking the time to write them

I noticed a few of you said "bennies". Am I missing something in my feeding new clones? What are these "bennies" you speak of? Is there something I could buy that needs to be added during veg?

I just want to keep things easy and not change them up so much

Bennies = Beneficial Bactria

it matters on many factors if your organics, synthetics if your using them for protection reasons or letting of certain NPK helping intakes ( example true blooms )like for example certain beneficial microbes will help you intake more P or Nitrogen fixing ( example : Rootamentary ) or salt removal and help nute reduction ( seagreen ) and so many other bennies/fungi functions

 

[Hotwired]

Bennies = Beneficial Bactria

it matters on many factors if your organics, synthetics if your using them for protection reasons or letting of certain NPK helping intakes ( example true blooms )like for example certain beneficial microbes will help you intake more P or Nitrogen fixing ( example : Rootamentary ) or salt removal and help nute reduction ( seagreen ) and so many other bennies/fungi functions

I looked up some reviews for Rootamentary and it's kind of mixed. Some people love it, some say it's a waste. It seems to be very expensive. It also looks like a stand alone feed for new plants. Other users compared it to Superthrive.

The Seagreen sounds a lot like Moonshine. Just started using this a month ago and I notice a slight difference in leaf health but nothing else really.

I looked up other stuff for roots and it all seems mixed and no one really has a favorite. I'm starting to wonder if it's all genetics. I kept 4 clones from 4 different BBC plants recently and each type sprouted different sized roots in different amounts of time. On one type all 4 sprouted huge roots that filled the rapid rooter in 2 weeks. Another BBC had small thin hairs and took a week longer. One type all 4 had trouble getting started.

This was all done in the same tray. So maybe some plants are natural rooters and some need help.

One brand name kept coming up in searches. Great White.

 

[Deleted member 60]

DIEHARD™ Complete Organic – Horticultural Alliance

horticulturalalliance.com

ECOVAM™ VAM ENDO ULTRA FINE | Horticultural Alliance

7 Species of Endomycorrhiza & 90,800 Propagules per pound Packaging: 1 lb., 25 lb. bags, 40 to a pallet, 1,540 lb. tote General Purpose – Potting and Soil Amendment…

horticulturalalliance.com

First link is Biorush. Makes a dandy tea and builds nice, white roots. Has humics/etc. in it.

Second link is straight up VAM. Concentrated mycorrhizae....in granular form. Again....the roots love it.

Used this one this year. Tried to poke bamboo stakes into my 30 gallon pots yesterday to stake up some branches and could barely penetrate the soil with 'em there are so many roots...

Mikrobs- Microbial Superpack 8 oz.

Mikrobs consists of Glomus, Bacillus (plant probiotics), Trichoderma, and various supplements that provide microbes with nutrients and growing bed in the soil. The blending of multiple microbial inoculants helps manage rhizospheres, convert organic matters, solubilize phosphate, encourage...

mikrobs.com

Great White/Oregonism/OG Biowar/etc......are all good products......but they are aimed at pot growers with handfuls of Benjamins....so not the best deal out there for what they offer, IMO. Not a fan of the "talc" base to transport the microbes (OGBiowar is the worst). I like the products that make a tea...or are pure myc....not a jar of expensive filler.

Try something though...and see.....I think you will notice a difference. Here in my garden...it's all CHEAP insurance and well worth the outlay of cash...

good luck!

 

[Gweedo]

Great white is what i make my tea with, combined with molasses, ewc, and hydroguard and bubbled in a bucket for about 36 hours.

 

[Cob_nUt]

Not sure where you source you products from. But since you did state you are willing to try a "little" something to see if you get better root structure.

The beneficials and drainage would be the least invasive and cheapest(?) to your current way of doing things without effecting yield or end product negatively. I say cheapest because you can usually get samples of Bennie products from your local brick and mortar.

I'm still on samples of URB,Athena Biosis,&Recharge.
I also have mammoth p.I no longer use it. I'm not promoting any of the products I listed. I'm just adding to the list other members have presented.

Some beneficials are targeted for specifics.It's good to have a plethora off the lil helpers doing their thing.

 

[badmofo529]

If you can get some of the "chunky" perlite try adding some of that, it seems to work way better than the smaller stuff that's usually mixed in the bag.

Also, don't be afraid to get a skewer and jab a couple holes down in the soil once and a while. Helps to loosen up the soil some, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, braking up the roots some will force them to send out secondary shoots from the roots, similar to topping if that makes any sense.