How deep do Oak sapling's roots go down?
merida72
8 years ago
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Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
8 years agowisconsitom
8 years agoRelated Discussions
how far down do rose roots grow?
Comments (6)I dug up a few mature HTs earlier this year. They had been in the ground 5 years. I have clay soil. The root balls were about 8-12 inches deep. I did not find any trunk like roots, even though these roses are on Dr. Huey root stock. I did find long shallow roots, some up to 10ft long. I just cut those and pulled them up (we were tilling up the bed anyway). A spade fork is very good for digging up rose bushes. You can start with a spade and force it in the ground around the drip line of the rose. Go deeper with each pass. Then lift it up with the spade fork. Keep your pruners handy to snip any long roots that will not come up. It will make the rose easier to replant as well....See MoreHow do you know how deep the roots grow?
Comments (10)PH - I forgot to commrent on that "over-potting" thing. Here is an ovedrview of what determines appropriate pot size, from something I wrote and posted to another thread or two past: How large a container 'can' or 'should' be, depends on the relationship between the mass of the plant material you are working with and your choice of soil. We often concern ourselves with "over-potting" (using a container that is too large), but "over-potting" is a term that arises from a lack of a basic understanding about the relationship we will look at, which logically determines appropriate container size. It's often parroted that you should only move up one container size when "potting-up". The reasoning is, that when potting up to a container more than one size larger, the soil will remain wet too long and cause root rot issues, but it is the size/mass of the plant material you are working with, and the physical properties of the soil you choose that determines both the upper & lower limits of appropriate container size - not a formulaic upward progression of container sizes. In many cases, after root pruning a plant, it may even be appropriate to step down a container size or two, but as you will see, that also depends on the physical properties of the soil you choose. Plants grown in 'slow' (slow-draining/water-retentive) soils need to be grown in containers with smaller soil volumes so that the plant can use water quickly, allowing air to return to the soil before root issues beyond impaired root function/metabolism become a limiting factor. We know that the anaerobic (airless) conditions that accompany soggy soils quickly kill fine roots and impair root function/metabolism. We also know smaller soil volumes and the root constriction that accompany them cause plants to both extend branches and gain o/a mass much more slowly - a bane if rapid growth is the goal - a boon if growth restriction and a compact plant are what you have your sights set on. Conversely, rampant growth can be had by growing in very large containers and in very fast soils where frequent watering and fertilizing is required - so it's not that plants rebel at being potted into very large containers per se, but rather, they rebel at being potted into very large containers with a soil that is too slow and water-retentive. This is a key point. We know that there is an inverse relationship between soil particle size and the height of the perched water table (PWT) in containers. As particle size increases, the height of the PWT decreases, until at about a particle size of just under 1/8 inch, soils will no longer hold perched water. If there is no perched water, the soil is ALWAYS well aerated, even when the soil is at container capacity (fully saturated). So, if you aim for a soil (like the gritty mix) composed primarily of particles larger than 1/16", there is no upper limit to container size, other than what you can practically manage. The lower size limit will be determined by the soil volume's ability to allow room for roots to 'run' and to furnish water enough to sustain the plant between irrigations. Bearing heavily on this ability is the ratio of fine roots to coarse roots. It takes a minimum amount of fine rootage to support the canopy under high water demand. If the container is full of large roots, there may not be room for a sufficient volume of the fine roots that do all the water/nutrient delivery work and the coarse roots, too. You can grow a very large plant in a very small container if the roots have been well managed and the lion's share of the rootage is fine. You can also grow very small plants, even seedlings, in very large containers if the soil is fast (free-draining and well-aerated) enough that the soil holds no, or very little perched water. I have just offered clear illustration that the oft repeated advice to 'only pot up one size at a time', only applies when using heavy, water-retentive soils. Those using well-aerated soils are not bound by the same restrictions. Al...See MoreCorn in sfg-how deep do roots need to grow?
Comments (14)If you wish to grown corn, whether it be in a small or large garden your best approach is first to do a soil test. Nearly EVERY county in the U.S. has an extension office that can found under government listings in the phone book. In most cases this is a 10-25 expense and well worth it as it will also tell you what will grow well and what will not in your particular soil. Many of the comments contain "blowing over" and the CEC/base saturation part of the test will tell one why. It has 3 parts - Ca,Mg & K. If the K figure is less than 4 you will get lodging(blowing over) in a 20 mph wind. Mine is 9 and 40 mph+ are common to my area but my corn risists wind, polecats and coons trying to push it over. Another important item with this crop is that it needs phosphorus in the initial growth to produce strong roots and as corn has two sets with the nodular being the production one, you have to till or spade this into the ground. It will not leach. The present record is over 500 bu/ac and you work that down into a small space you will find that you really can grow a lot....See MoreHow Deep Do Tomato Roots Go
Comments (7)My clay soil is so bad and so hard that roots of most plants can't grow in it. When I pull my tomato plants up at the end of the season I see they are hardly any longer than they were when they were in the four inch square pots I use for my seedlings. I have a rototiller that is supposed to till to eight inches deep, but my soil is so hard that it can only till to 4 inches, and that only after we get a rare rain during the winter. And that is after I put a more powerful 8 horsepower engine on it and carbide tipped tiller blades. I am not kidding, I bought a Bosch Brute 66 pound electric jackhammer (the big powerful one that costs $1300.00) and a clay spade to use for planting my fruit trees and tomatoes. It had a blade about eight inches long and half an inch thick made out of tool grade forged steel, and over the course of the years I have worn two inches of the metal away digging holes. What makes matters worse is my garden area in on a steep hill and water just runs off it so the only way I can keep water near my plants is to make circular dikes around them to keep the water next to the plant until it can sink in. I get very little help from mother nature as the previous three years were all drought years averaging about a total of seven inches of rain per year. I put seventy cubic yards of compost on my garden over the years but it hardly made a dent in the soil structure. During the winter rains it turns into sticky mud, and during the rest of the year it turns hard as a rock and cracks and crevices develop in it, some seem to go all the way to China....See Morepoaky1
8 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years ago
maackia
8 years agopoaky1
8 years agoscotjute Z8
8 years agopoaky1
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agowisconsitom
8 years agopoaky1
8 years ago
Wild Haired Mavens
8 years agowisconsitom
8 years agopoaky1
8 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years agopoaky1
8 years ago
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