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Root Pruning

crazy8

crazy8

As some of you may now I have a small hydroponic experiment I have been doing since this is my first shot at it. Well I was hoping to let the roots go all season but I am beginning to think that it would be best for the plants in the long run if I prune them now. Only thing is I want to make sure I don't prune to much. Here is what they look like now.
IMG00357-20100802-2103.jpg


So I am thinking of cutting them either half way down from the cup to where the "box" shape is formed or right where the "top" of the "box" shape is. That should be more than enough root left over for them right? I mean they will sill be submerged in the nutes. I don't know if it matter to know this or not but they are fruiting and have very nice big fruits on them right now.
 
I think that migh be good. Make sure to put a good bit of root stimulator in it to keep the plant from getting shocked too much. Looks good. Hope my setup thrives like that. Ill be assembling soon.
 
If you are going to prune them anyway why not move some of them to a new container? In my experience even 5gal per plant ends up being tight. I'd also harvest as much fruit as possible first. Give them some shade time to recover.
 
Well none of the fruit has started to turn yet so maybe should I do a "root trim" more than a "root hack/cut"? and once fruits are ripe and harvested, then do a root cut after a few days?
 
Hey, talked to my buddies at the horticulture shop, and they said it would be best to trim it once a week when you change the resevoir. Maybe an inch at a time, and to include root stimulator if not already, and if you are to just add a touch more.
 
Any suggestions on a root stimulator? I currently have nothing but root hormone for dipping clones in, that's it.
 
Theres a product called Green Fuse Root Stimulator. Its really good stuff. Ill be using it in my setup. Its one of the nutes in the hydro setup vid I put up last week.
 
I don't believe most of those roots are needed in hydroponics, so go ahead and prune away. You also likely don't need any root stimulator if you're trying to keep the root system small
 
My thought was to trim down far enough where the roots would still be in the water. As I said before I was thinking of cutting right above the "box" shape so that the straight stuff hanging down from the cups would be in the water. So you think its safe to cut that and not use anything at all?
 
The value of a thread like this is follow-up. After you decide what you're going to do; do it and tell/show us the result. That helps everybody. Cheers.
 
Yeah I am starting to think I should just leave them. I would hate to loose all the great looking peppers I got because the plant goes into shock and is to bad to recover....So maybe I will do a combination of suggestions. I will cut the "box" part off AND do 300ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide/gallon for 10-15 minutes. I will try this as soon as I have a moment to do it and I will come back with the results of how it went. ;)
 
crazy8 said:
Yeah I am starting to think I should just leave them. I would hate to loose all the great looking peppers I got because the plant goes into shock and is to bad to recover....So maybe I will do a combination of suggestions. I will cut the "box" part off AND do 300ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide/gallon for 10-15 minutes. I will try this as soon as I have a moment to do it and I will come back with the results of how it went. ;)
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From the look at the roots, everything looks good. If you've got a bunch of pods, then hold off for a while. There doesn't seem to be a reason to hurry this root trimming. I'd wait until there seemed to be a problem or the pod count drops off significantly. Cheers.
 
Ok cool. Well the only reason I was even thinking about it is because the container is getting kinda full. But ill hold off for now then. I mean yeah the plants are healthy and there isn't any kind of stress or anything so that would make sense to just leave it then.
 
I am thinking I want to keep my Orange Hab and Red Savina so I may transplant them to one of those plastic coffee containers or something of that size. In addition I think it would be wise to use use a bigger net pot. So I am going to trim the roots so that there is only about 5" or so of root. I think I am going to try the 300ml/g of peroxide since i figure it cant hurt to use it. I wont do this until I have harvested my pods from the plants. Once I have, I will also cut the tops back. I will be sure to let you all know of my progress with the cutting back of the tops and roots along with the over all health of the plant during the over wintering.
 
crazy8 said:
I am thinking I want to keep my Orange Hab and Red Savina so I may transplant them to one of those plastic coffee containers or something of that size. In addition I think it would be wise to use use a bigger net pot. So I am going to trim the roots so that there is only about 5" or so of root. I think I am going to try the 300ml/g of peroxide since i figure it cant hurt to use it. I wont do this until I have harvested my pods from the plants. Once I have, I will also cut the tops back. I will be sure to let you all know of my progress with the cutting back of the tops and roots along with the over all health of the plant during the over wintering.
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Great and some pics would be good as well. Cheers.
 
Oh yeah I will no doubt be taking some pics. I may need to pick up some of the supplies for the new homes of the two plants this weekend and maybe do the transplant next weekend. Ill take pics of the "new homes" I have made and the process along the way. Hopefully I will have better luck over wintering these hydro plants than I did the soil ones I did last season. As far as light goes for them would they be ok with just 8 hours of fluro light from my two 2-bulb 4 foot 35w lights?
 
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