Pruning roots

[Dandaweedman]

The plants we want to keep because they are special to us for whatever reason, are called mother plants or just moms.
We take clones from them every few weeks or so whether we need them or not to prune the plant and keep it a managable size.

Eventually the roots fill the pot or cup it is in and they start to droop and get sickly looking.
When the plant is weak for whatever reason it is easier for bugs and sickness to do serious damage.

Instead of potting the mom to a larger pot, I trim the roots.
I have limited room in my mom/clone chamber so I keep my moms in cups as long as possible.

I have done a pictoral thingy showing how I do it with my moms.

I have never had a plant react badly to this treatment and I have done it well over 50 times in total to about 9 moms.
The one in the picture has been in a cup for at least 80-90 days.

[Dandaweedman]

part 2

[Dandaweedman]

part 3

[Dandaweedman]

part 4

[Dandaweedman]

And the finish

[Dandaweedman]

The mom didn't need the sides cut, only the bottom.
I chose to cut her anyways for the picture.

She stopped growing for about 3 days, a week after this I took clones as per usual.

I love it,, a very nice tutorial on how to keep a mother alive.
It always is a sad thing to lose a good mother.
To keep a plant like canna alive,
in a damn dixie cup for 8-9 monthes is quite an accomplishment.
This method would allow for years of life, I recognise it from
"Bonsai" tutorials, I just never thought to apply it to canna,
Very nice Dan............ Kudos!

[slunt]

Lost knowledge...found again. Copy/Paste

[Xil]

Do the old roots die or something? Why is this necessary?

[Cerebro]

at the end of the roots is an area called the mychorrizza (lol, something moderately close to that) it's like tiny tiny hair like roots, they only extend a few mm's from the root but increase the surface area by 1000-10,000x, this is where most transfer of nutes etc takes place. if a plant is root bound there is nowhere for nutrient transfer to take place, all the space is taken up. or something like that.
thanks for finding this slunt, I hadn't seen it.

[SageTree]

This is what Mychorrizal are. We used to use a product that upped the level of these living organisms, but making them dormant until they come inconntact with water/plant roots. To much avail. There are natural sources available, without paying for lab modified fungus.

In British Columbia, where there is alot of leaching from rain on thin soil, really makes all the plants here thirvant on this little buggers.

Mycorrhizal Fungi – Renewing an Ancient Partnership with Crops

Millions of years ago a symbiotic partnership developed between plants and mycorrhizal fungi dwelling in the soil among plant roots. Both faced many natural stresses, and to survive each needed something the other could provide. The fungi needed sugars plants could manufacture for them as food. The plants needed greater root reach and numbers to draw in more nutrients so they could grow stronger, and stronger.

Mycorrhizal fungi began to serve as a secondary root system, organizing and extending themselves far out into the soil with tubular structures that extract mineral elements and water from soil and transport them to the roots of their host plant. The fungi in turn live off the plant’s sugars translocated to them by the roots.

Trees and plants with thriving “mycorrhizal roots” systems are better able to survive and thrive in stressful environments, such as the nearly biologically sterile soil conditions modern agricultural technologies have created for crops. Mycorrhizal fungi still exist in farm soil, but their numbers have been greatly diminished over decades of tillage, fumigation, chemical applications, fertilization, and too often, drought.

The scientists who launched Plant Health Care, Inc. researched and developed environmentally sound ways to mass produce inoculants that reintroduce into the soil appropriate quantities of mycorrhizal fungi, often in tandem with other essential soil bacteria. PHC now has a growing line of natural mycorrhizal products for agriculture that restore what Mother Nature intended – a soil ecological balance that enhances crop root systems, plant health and vigor, and ultimately improves yield and quality.

Plant anatomy: http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/...PLANTANAT.html

This is a good post Dan. I think is one of the most misconstued things people see about plants. When I worked in a greenhouse people would come in and be like 'fuck yea' these have some good roots, looking at a flat of grass grown to tha table, 'Nah man, make sure you cut off some roots before you root them into a bigger pot.' You want roots to have vigour and lots of fresh white roots, most important in getting a plant to a particular pot size.

The fungi aid that process by making more water and nutrients available so the new roots aren't scared to venture out more from the root mass.