I have received bare root berry plants over the years with nice long thick roots. However when i pot up a plant or grow a plant from a tip rooting or a root cutting…the roots fill the whole pot with a million tiny roots. I have tried also with my wicking tubs and i get mostly tiny thousands and thousands of root hairs.
What is the technique to get mostly thick roots that bare root sellers use?
Are they field grown? If so is it the dirt that causes the thicker roots? Does potting mix cause the tiny roots?
I have some plants that look like they might have been grown in PVC pipe the way the roots go straight down and tight.
How do i get these kind of roots in a year like the vendors do?
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Probably they’re grown in small cells or they are grown very closely planted in beds–then they cut the root tips (where hair roots would be located) before shipping.
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Not the small cells to get the foot long pencil sized roots…
I just wonder if its a lack of growing medium or less watering, or extra watering that makes them grow straight down and thick like the picture?
Or is it just dirt…not potting mix. Maybe Sand? Or just Peat?
If i pot up a root tip now and go to sell or trade it in the spring… the whole pot will be full of baby roots. Trying to figure a way so that doesnt happen. Want mainly thick ones like the bare root vendors sell…
Those plants with root hairs will be better than those without. They figured out root hairs help with water issues and may increase overall yield depending on the situation. That is why people use grow bags instead of pots despite them looking worse. The grow bags air prune the pot which creates root hairs instead of a long girdling root system. Significance of root hairs for plant performance under contrasting field conditions and water deficit - PMC
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