Rootmaker Questions

yoderjac

5 year old buck +
I got a PM from someone that bought some of my old Rootmaker containers (https://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/discounted-rootmaker-containers-for-sale.13557/) with some questions about how to use them. I thought it would be better to answer them and any other use questions here so others could take advantage:

QUESTIONS:
Never use these before. Hope you don’t mind if I ask a couple questions. For the 18 S, do you have another liner that you put in it? Or do you put the soil directly in the individual containers that you sent?

Any tricks or tips that you found helpful in putting the gallon and 3 gallon containers together?

Is there a reason why a person couldn’t go directly from the 18 us into the 3 gallon?


ANSWERS:

As for using the 18s. Rather than soil you will want to use Promix or similar mix. This is a chunky medium that has lots of air pockets in it. This makes room for the branching roots. You don't want to use a mix from the big box stores that retain water like miracle grow or regular dirt. There is no liner. The chunky mix has bark in it and it will stay in the container pretty well in spite of the holes. The holes in the bottom and the tapered design are intention and part of the root pruning process. Chestnuts (after cold stratification) are planted with the flat side down. Some guys just put them on top, I like to sprinkle a little mix on them. The root radicle will come from the pointy end and turn down immediately. You want that pointy end near the middle of the 18 cup. The stem will come from that same point and immediately turn up. Other seeds may be planted a little differently, but the concept is the same for how they work.

The tray elevates the bottom of the cups so there is air flow under the cups. As the tap root grows, it eventually grow into one of the bottom holes and hits the air. This desiccates the root tip causing up-stream branching. When the lateral roots grow out from the tap root, they hit the sides of the container and follow the taper down eventually going through a hole and hitting the air. This causes them to branch upstream as well. This process continues until all of the air pockets in the the mix are full of roots.

WATERING:

Chestnuts are sensitive to water. Rain water works best as it is slightly acidic. Most tap water is neutral. You can't use too much water but you can water too often. When you water in 18s, you want to water them until the water is dripping out of the bottom holes. This completely saturates the medium. You then wait. The method I like best for watering is by weight. When you first fill an 18 cup with promix get a feel for the weight of it in your hand. Then completely saturate it with water and get a feel for that weight. Consider those "Empty" and "Full" like on a gas gauge. You want to water when the tank is about 1/4 full. If you see the leaves drooping on chestnuts, you've waited a little too long. Water immediately.

TRANSPLANTING:

Studies show that when a root is air pruned, most of the upstream branching occurs in the 4" about the prune. So, in general, successive containers should allow roughly 4" on all 3 sides of the rootball. A 1 gal RB2 is a little on the small side and a 3 gal RB2 is a little on the large side for transplanting from the 18 cups. You don't have to be precise in this, so there are other considerations. I personally like to get two transplants in one growing season for my fast growing trees like chestnuts. I transplant into 1 gal first. They take up a lot less space. Keep in mind that when you grow from nuts or seeds, you are using sexual reproduction and that means genetic variation. Some trees will be great growers and other will be wimps. Some nuts won't even germinate. I like to cull trees at each transplant. I only have so much room, so I start a lot more trees in 18s than I intend to plant in the field. You can keep trees in 18s for about 16 weeks. You will notice that they get hard to water as the roots fill the voids in the medium. You will need to add a little water and it will pool in the top of the 18.. When it finally soaks in, you will need to add more. You repeat this process until water is dripping out the bottom holes. When you first start, water will run out immediately. When they are ready to transplant, it will take a long time to get water to drip out the bottom. Any runts get culled when I transplant to 1 gal RB2s. I'll cull again when the roots have filled the 1 gal RB2s and it is time to transplant to 3 gal RB2.

You can go directly from 18s to 3 gal, but you will have a denser root system if you go from 18s to 1 gal and then to 3 gal.

ASSEMBLY:

You will notice that the 1 gal RB2 containers have a seam. If you look at the bottoms they are concave and have triangle tips that will go into the bottom row of protrusions of the container. When you look at the container sides you will notice the protrusions angle. They angle downward. The bottoms go so that the are highest in the middle of the container and lowest on the outside. When roots hit the plastic bottom, they are directed out to the edges where they are pruned. Looking at the bottoms, you will notice two of the triangular tips are closer together than the rest. The seam in the container sides goes between these two tips. Wrap the container around the bottom from the seam. When you get to the end, two rows of protrusions should overlap. You can use the plastic rings or cable ties to hold the overlapped protrusions together. I use two of them on 1 gal containers and three of them on 3 gal containers (top, bottom, and middle)

Thanks,

Jack
 
Good info. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great advise, thank you! Any thoughts on holding off transplanting from the 1 gal to 3 gal for the first season and wintering in the 1 gal? I was thinking I would plant some trees directly from the 1 gal to the habitat and waiting until to following spring to move the remaining trees to 3 gal. This will be my first attempt. Thanks!
 
Great advise, thank you! Any thoughts on holding off transplanting from the 1 gal to 3 gal for the first season and wintering in the 1 gal? I was thinking I would plant some trees directly from the 1 gal to the habitat and waiting until to following spring to move the remaining trees to 3 gal. This will be my first attempt. Thanks!

It probably depends on a number of factors. One is the length of your growing season and whether you are starting them indoors under lights. I find that with my growing season and starting them under lights, fast growing trees will fill a 1 gal and need more room. Dr. Whitcomb says that to maximize growth, it is better to transplant to the next container slightly early rather than slightly late. On the other hand some trees, like Pawpaw are very slow growers. I could start them early and keep them in 1 gal containers for the full growing season.

How you overwinter is another consideration. You don't want the roots to freeze but you don't want them to break dormancy. If you have a cold room where you can control the temperature, there should be no problem. Most folks don't have this option and over winter them outside. How you do this will depend on your climate. Many folks group them all together and cover the containers with mulch. In this case, it is better to do the transplant to 3 gal before winter than after. The root system won't grow much in the winter, so the promix surrounding the root ball in the larger container acts as insulation for the roots.

By the way, if you overwinter them in a cold room or unheated garage or cold cellar or something, you do need to water them occasionally. They don't use much water in the winter, but they do use some and you don't want them to dry out completely. If you overwinter them outside, rain/snow will do the job.

Thanks,

Jack
 
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