I’m writing a piece about the soil I make for my girls and it got me to thinking. Now, let me preface this by stating that I’ve never grown hydroponically–my experience is soil. At my last visit to my botany buddy’s store, he made the comment that roots grow by seeking moisture. He said, “it’s the seeking that makes them grow.” Now that can be taken out of context, clearly he knows that roots will grow regardless. But it made me think about the difference between hydro and soil grown plants.
One of the legal producers told me that the main reason they will stay in soil is because of the added support it gives the plant. This producer spent years collaborating with one of the big agricultural colleges here.
Also, isn’t the root system on hydro plants much smaller? Or, if you were to rinse all of the soil off of a plant’s roots, would they look like hydro roots?
about the size i guess the roots of hydro grown plant will be bigger as they have no restrictions like the soil grown.
about appearance i am sure they will look differently
Thing is, even medical professionals disagree on topics all the time. I’m going to chock this up to a case like that since the man who said those words, is a degree-wielding botanist.
I think this would require a side-by-side microscope comparison of the roots of hydro vs. soil grown. A not insignificant task IMO. A lot of the strength in roots lies in the microscopic roots that you can’t see, that also get damaged/ripped when a plant gets uprooted.
I also imagine the media used for the hydro grow will make a big difference.
These are my roots in Growpito sim mix 21 days , in a 20 L container with a net bottom. Our root checking shows superior root architecture with an ebb and flow. Our soft mineral wool and bio-matrix encourages over the top root growth.
