Chicory roots?

SD51555

5 year old buck +
I got to wondering about chicory roots.

**If a chicory stand is left in place for multiple years, does the chicory plant put down new roots every year, or do they just keep growing the one they started with?**

I have consulted with my advisors, and we didn't know. I had one chicory stalk growing on the edge of my food plot in a pile of clay spoils. That stalk made over 8' tall/long.
 
Same tap root.
 
I don't know much about chicory from personal experience. But, I read and learn (sometimes).
I was surprised to find chicory develops a deep tap root. Before doing a little reading I thought it would have deep roots, it being a perennial but I would not have expected something 2 to 3 meters deep. Like with most plants most of the root mass - like 70%-80% is in the top 3 soil inches. Just a guess on my part. I didn't read enough to uncover anything definitive. That wasn't really the question, but I would think the root mass increases over the years meaning existing roots survive and news ones extend the mass.


https://link.springer.com/article/1... can grow,well-watered and drought conditions.
From the article at the end of the above link:

Deep root growth​

In accordance with our hypothesis, chicory demonstrated its capability to grow roots below 3 m depth and did so within 4.5 months. However, root intensity decreased markedly below 2 m in 2016 and below 2.5 m depth in 2017. The root intensity below 2 m depth at drought initiation, 2.5 m depth at tracer injection and 3.5 m depth at harvest in 2017 was very low and could be a result of roots from the 2016 crop still visible on the rhizotron surface. Studies covering a longer growing season have found extensive root growth in chicory down to 2.5 m, where equipment limitations prevented observations deeper down (Thorup-Kristensen 2006; Thorup-Kristensen and Rasmussen 2015). In the field, factors such as high soil strength (Stirzaker et al. 1996; Gao et al. 2016),
 
And this:
Perennials handle cold weather by allowing the exposed parts of the plant to die. However, the roots survive the winter due to some unique coping mechanisms. Sugars in the roots of a perennial act as a kind of natural antifreeze by lowering the freezing point below 32 degrees.

Search Google: do roots of perennial plants freeze and die
 
I wonder how deep some of the other native perennials go? The compaction thread got me wondering about it. I should get out and check compaction next month when it would/should show the highest for the year.


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Not sure on natives but I had to dig up a water line last summer with an old hosta plant over it.

I dug down over 7 feet deep and those roots were still going strong!!

Ever since then I’ve been strategizing a hosta plot😂😂
 
I wonder how deep some of the other native perennials go? The compaction thread got me wondering about it. I should get out and check compaction next month when it would/should show the highest for the year.


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Dont own a tractor right now, but my 2 or 3rd implement would be a single shank subsoiler. Seen waht it does over the year with commericla AG and replanting orchards. IF your going to disturb the soil, do it the right way.

Also seen subsoiler help with drainage too.
 
Not sure on natives but I had to dig up a water line last summer with an old hosta plant over it.

I dug down over 7 feet deep and those roots were still going strong!!

Ever since then I’ve been strategizing a hosta plot😂😂
I lived in Pittsburgh for a few years and the deer would walk right up to the edge of my house to eat the hostas in the garden. They’d chew them right down to the dirt & a few days later it’d be leafed out again. My neighbor used to joke that I should put ranch dressing out for the salad bar I had for the deer.

Ever since then I’ve always thought a hosta plot would be excellent 😂
 
I'm actually in the process of planning a hosta plot. My mother and sister have tons of hostas. I'm going to see how we can divide them this winter and continue to propagate them in a dedicated raised bed. Then I will plant them out bit by bit with cages so they can get established.

The cages are currently on small mulberry seedlings that I've been transplanting to form the base of the perennial component of a big food plot in Ohio.
 
I have a local doe that has hit my wifes perennial beds so hard this year I swear to God her fawns have to be hosta flavored.

She had dozens of plants, even the ones planted next to the foundation, that are all eaten down to stumps. Not one was spared.
 
They get them at my house too. Hosta fed deer taste pretty good though. I don't feel bad at all shooting them in my back yard.
 
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