Roots

[shawnintland]

While moving a big potted N. mirabils this morning we discovered that it has been (quite happily) growing hydroponically for the last year or so, with the roots dangling into a big water jug. Here's a couple shots;







~Shawn

[marvin1997]

WOW!Crazy healthy roots!

[arvin555]

There are lots of wow factors in this post Shawn.

1. Wow what a big Mirabilis. I didn't know they can grow that big!
2. Wow look at those roots! It looks like there are multiple plants in there.
3. Wow look at those pots
4. Wow about your system, I was thinking of using clay pots to keep some plants that want it cool at night, the idea is that the clay pots will wick water at night which will make things cooler for the plant on, near it.

Thanks for sharing Shawn.

TTFN
Arvin

[sooxiwei]

incredible...does this mean that nep can possibly be planted with purely water without any medium???

[shawnintland]

Hey Arvin, That's not even one of the 'big' ones! They DO get huge and pretty quickly too. That one has been in that pot for about 1.5 years now and I was prepared to whack it back to manageable size to move it but we managed to do it without breaking anything.

The roots blew me away as originally that pot was going to be for an ampullaria...I drilled about 10 very small (1/8") holes so it would drain slowly and stay moist longer. I didn't get a good look this morning but I imagine the original pot is stuffed full of roots as well and I'm surprised that after squeezing through those tiny holes they then created such a massive volume of roots! What I planted was a smallish plant that had 3 growing points. The clay pots - I'm still undecided, guess it also depends a lot on the species. But for water-loving species this pot-on-a-pot full of water appears to have made the plant pretty happy!

Originally Posted by arvin555

There are lots of wow factors in this post Shawn.

1. Wow what a big Mirabilis. I didn't know they can grow that big!
2. Wow look at those roots! It looks like there are multiple plants in there.
3. Wow look at those pots
4. Wow about your system, I was thinking of using clay pots to keep some plants that want it cool at night, the idea is that the clay pots will wick water at night which will make things cooler for the plant on, near it.

Thanks for sharing Shawn.

TTFN
Arvin

[Boris]

wow ... the roots are really incredible. Shawn ... you've reinvented the wheel. Now we know how they got the idea for hydroponic growing Mirabilis is a swamp plant. I wonder how the roots of plants with a tiny rootsystem would look.
Btw ... I wonder how the mirabilis was able to survive in your cold area looking at the guy with the thick wool hat

[Tommi]

that's really a very big and beautiful plant.the root is very huge.thank you for share pic.
but i think ,if you want change a new bot and keep the root full,that's must very difficulty

[NepNut]

Impressive root system... how often did you change the water if any?

[paphioboy]

Very interesting... I suppose this can be applied to other swamp-growing species like amps and bical too.. Should be a useful trick for those who grow in rather dry areas..

[shawnintland]

Rob, I never changed the water at all! The base pot was just to raise it up off the ground and I guess it just filled up with regular watering and rains. The big pot was filled about 1/2 way so the majority of those roots were dangling in mid-air in the darkness most of the time.
Boris - I never get it either but my workers often show up in those kinds of hats as well as jackets even though I'm hot even without a shirt on.
Tommi - Yep, looks like a hammer will be a useful transplanting tool in this case!