Clear cups for seeds? light bad for roots?

[quantbender]

it is nice to see those things and i dont believe the clear contanors will ruin the plant but you do notice burnt shriveled roots along the outside becasue of the light exposure, and a healthier root system equals healthier plant and more growth. so i beliee the outcome of the not exposed roots will be greater

 

[gladysvjubb]

Years ago I remember reading in one of the Florist magazines about a study conducted at Penn State between green and white pots. It was determined that plants in green pots exhibited better growth with stronger roots and stems. That is not to say that clear and white can be construed as the same. Personally I start my seeds in 9 oz. opaque plastic drinking cups. Then for growing on they go into 6 inch green pots.

 

[Dignan]

Clear containers are a great way to see how roots grow and how water migrates through soil mixes. You'll see easily if your plants are rootbound, etc.

It may not be something everyone wants to do, but for people who don't know anything about growing plants, it is a great learning tool. I highly recommend it for new growers. There is a lot to be learned by watching your plants root system...IMHO anyway.

This is nothing personal to you Dignan, but there is some myth propagating on these forums. People say all sorts of stuff because people before them said it was true, etc. etc. And I think this business that clear containers hurts roots is just one more myth that's been passed on...and probably will always be passed on by some folks.

MT

Thanks, MT. I agree it's a great learning tool and that starting plants in clear cups isn't going to ruin anyone's crop.

Given the choice though (outside of experiments/learning), I'll always use opaque containers. I don't base that on anything others have said here or elsewhere, though. My gardening philosophy emanates from a foundational belief that I should strive to replicate Mother Nature as closely and as often as possible.

In nature, plants' roots aren't exposed to light, direct or diffused.

However, I do think that roots have the ability to adapt to light exposure... after all, it's not uncommon for a plant's roots to be exposed to light in nature. I've had plants sprout roots from 1" above the soil; from the meristem, down into the soil. I've also had shallow roots exposed when soil is washed away/eroded. And of course, we all see trees and shrubs whose roots grow out of a rock outcropping or something similar.

Where exposed to light and air, roots will cease being white with the fine "feather" tips and shoots and will turn woody. I'm not sure that adaptation is something I want to see in my cannabis plants' roots, but there is much grey area, I admit. Like:

1. Maybe it's a function of the exposure to light and air, not just light, that turns the roots woody.

2. Even if the roots turn woody or otherwise adapt in an undesirable way to light exposure... only the roots at the edge of the container will be affected... the rest of the root mass should be just fine. That leaves you with at least 90% of your root mass functioning just fine. So obviously not a crucial thing.

I wonder about roots exposed to light during bloom though, when most plants tend to be much more sensitive to stresses. ??

Sorry for rambling. Interesting subject.

 

[Johnny Rotten]

Exposing roots to light and/or air will kill them in my experience. I can't say for sure, as it'd take a bit of an experiment to find out definitely, but from my experience the roots hate direct light. Too much air will definitely dry out and kill roots. I think the clear containers aren't exposed to direct lighting only reflected light so the effect is reduced. This can be a good thing as the roots are being pruned and you are achieving the same as if you were to top a plant. The root will split or the other roots will catch up giving you a better initial root structure to develop a more extensive one later on. This practice is used in bonsai but the roots are trimmed manually.

 

[quantbender]

all in all you can do whatever you want but covering your roots, if only by a little, is better

 

[Suby]

After seing this topic pop up in another thread I tried it with my clones and it didn't affect them at all but I clone under fluros.

It can be usefull with a small clone but when I hit the 2 gallon stage I can't see the benefit.
That double cupping one clear and one opaque is a great idea, one way or another byt the time they are in flowering the canopy should be thick enough to block all lower light getting to the pots.

As for BOG's double potting method I've tried it and I wasn't impressed, it took alot of vertical space and that is unacceptable for me and my grow conditions.
What I got out of it was his method of transplanting higher up.
The rootzone is dug 2/3 under the new soil level, essentially it makes better use of the top of the soil in the container.

S

 

[quantbender]

i thought all double potting was was raising the transplanted plant 3 inches above the new soil, i do that and live by it.

 

[Suby]

The real double pot methode involves having the bottom of the first container cut out so when your ready to transplant you take off the bottom and sit it on top of the new container.

I agree though, I'm all about transplanting above the soil line.

S

 

[Dignan]

Ditto^^ re: above soil line.

And I agree that the double-potting method never made much sense.

 

[Suby]

Sometimes whilst very high on some sweet kief I get distracted....

Well I picked up a near ready flowering beauty by the upper pot and not the lower...

I can still hear the tearing sound the roots made as the freshly watered lower pot stayed behind half hanging...

That was the end of my double potting experimenting lol.

 

[quantbender]

haha yeah that would end it for me

 

[JollyGreen]

I just transplanted some seedlings from clear cups and they're doing fabulous. Didnt seem to mind the clear cups. Thanks Suby for the info. Holla

 

[Capt.Ahab]

I have mixed feelings about this. Ive used clear cups before with no negative results. But if you go outside and look at trees and such that have roots exposed, the nature of those roots changes. They turn hard, grow "bark" of sorts and sometimes seem to have died. Usually these changes seem to have no negative effect on the plant they are attached to but the majority of the plant's roots are still in the dark earth.
Ill stick to dark containers. If you only have clear, go for it and use them but Mother Nature seems to like the dark when it comes to where most roots belong.

 

[pineappaloupe]

Someone gave me a good idea for pots. I am not going to use bags anymore because I like the idea so much.
Get the hard plastic pots, cut a long rectangle down the side that is wider than an inch. Insert clear plastic wide than the cut, use tape on the inside. you get a see through section that you can then cover up with some poly.

hard pots are nice if you are going to do some LST.

peace

 

[quantbender]

that sounds like a good idea, but annoyying to do when you could just have a clear cup inside a not clear up that way y6ou can see the whole root system by lifting up the cup instead of an inch of it

 

[Guest]

I've done my current grow so far in clear cups, verything from 5 oz dixie cups for clone rooting to the 3L clear Laffy Taffy containers they are in now. Plants are about 7 weeks. I did put the clear cups in opaque cups at first, but I'm now convinced it isn't necessary.

Clear containers may not be a good idea outside in the sun. Inside though I am utterly convinced that no harm will come to plants roots. The roots don't get much if any direct light inside...and the light they do get doesn't even approach the strength of the sun.

There are several real advantages of clear containers.

1. You always KNOW what your roots look like. You'll have a better idea when to transplant since you won't be guessing and no need to pull plants out of pots etc.

2. It is easier to learn to water too. You can see how the soil saturates. It is easier to see and feel what a well watered plant is like. You'll also learn why watering SLOWWWWWWWLY is better.

3. Some plant problems are easier to diagnose if you can get a good look at your roots.

You can see pictures here from beginning to now of my haze grow. They are thriving under 400watts and have been in clear containers without covers for several weeks.

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=74044 [/URL]

Here is a picture of the Durban Poison I had that turned out to be a male. I'll try to post a current picture of one of my haze plants. You'll see that the roots do not turn brown, nor do the fine root hairs suffer at all.

The bottom line for me is that people who claim "light" hurts roots on plants grown indoors...are just wrong. Period.

 

[Guest]

I just took these pics of my Mr Nice SuperSilverHaze male I'm keeping.

This plant is VERY healthy. Trust me.