It seems like nobody breaks up the root mass when transplanting. Coming from a nursery commercial background that is counter intuitive as taking a breath of water when submerged. Is this a real thing or a common misconception? I know we are dealing with a weed vs a long term landscape plant so i can see that it might apply. I just cringe when i see folks transplanting root bound plants into new pots without loosening the roots. thanks!
Breaking Up Roots
by GeorgiaGrowGuy | Mar 18, 2019 | Grower Questions | 5 comments
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I too grew up in a nursery and I certainly understand this question but I would never treat my cannabis plants like a ficus, marginata, arboricola, etc. I’d freak the fuck out if someone sleeved and tossed my cannabis plants the length of the semi trailer. lol. First rule is to never let cannabis get even close to rootbound.
I hear ya on the root bound issues. Most of us are using some sort of fabric or mesh type air pot that air prune roots to minimize that circling masses. But there are also techniques of pruning roots to increase the number of root tips and reduce the root length. Good thing to mention to the newer grower for sure.
That’s why I like to grow in a bed. Never have to worry about getting root bound in the first place.
Since cannabis is a fast growing annual the theory is to never let the plant hit the breaks from seedling or clone to chop. That means never letting the plant get root bound or stressed in any way.
Obviously in practice that’s far from the case for most growers. Something is backed up in flower so veg goes too long or maybe the weather was wrong so you keep everything stable for a couple more weeks or maybe you lose a whole bevy of cuttings and have to go back to moms to flower with, on and on. You’ll get a root bound plant eventually.
I don’t aggressively break up the roots like I would with a perennial transplant because I think it will stall the plant for several days or more while it recovers from the shock. I also don’t like the idea of root pruning for much the same reason.
Last thing I want most of the time is for a transplant to stall. Unless it’s a reset, it needs to move.
So I gently break up the tangle and make sure the root ball is pliable and nothing’s gonna get knotted up when I transplant.
I don’t have special authority in this, and it would be really interesting to know if root pruning or untangling stalls cannabis or other annuals at all.
Cheers! Good question!
I suspect this has a lot to do with the fabric pots we are using.
When I transplant out of a fabric pot, my roots are pruned up on their own, so breaking things up or teasing the roots at all seems kinda counter productive. Theres already root tips pointing in all directions ready to branch out into the new soil, so disturbing the roots further doesnt seem necessary.
Every once and a while I still use a few plastic nursery pots. With those I always tease out the roots a bit with my fingertips before transplanting.