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Stunted root growth... Any ideas?

jonnyb

jonnyb

I'm having a problem with my seedlings. After they germinate, their growth slowed down tremendously. I pulled a couple up that never quite got their hooks up and discovered that their roots are stunted, as in there is barely any root to them at all. I know from experience that at the beginning, the roots are meant to grow faster than the top part of the plant. Anybody know what's happening?

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/12302668285/sizes/l/
 
The nice white ones grew after the compost tea was added to this hydro setup. The ugly ones are the original roots and are still alive and working just not as healthy. As you can see, the tea greatly sped up the root growth (new roots bigger than original) and made them much healthier.
7o1gHU8.jpg


I will probably start another thread with similar images and info on compost tea - MODS IF YOU MUST MERGE THEM PLEASE PUT THIS POST IN THE NEW ONE THANKS!

one more thing - what I use isn't strictly "compost" tea, but the same principles apply
 
Thanks, looks interesting. Will try making a tea soon then. Since then they're growing a little better now but still slower than I would like.
I wondered if it could be from an effect of the soil environment, such as too wet, or too many/little nutrients in the soil? pH?
 
After reading an article on Coco coir I have a strong suspicion that my coir is inhibiting root growth.

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/45428-peat-vs-coco-fiber-what-one-study-shows/

The paper on this thread shows that coir has a high salinity and poor electrolyte balance, so I think the solution will be to transplant into some peat moss for the time being. The coir should still be fine if I run a lot of water through it to flush out the salts from it, will just be sure to mix it with other soils when transplanting up.
 
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