RootMaker Knit Fabric 5" plant container bags with folded bottoms
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12" Tall (9" Tall When in Use)
5" Diameter
167 Cubic Inches. (3 Quart)
In-Ground or Cinder Block container that root prunes by constriction.
Root branching by constriction leads to an accumulation of energy and accelerated growth.
With openings 5/64th inch in diameter, root pruning is predictable and precise.
The RootMaker Knit Bag is specifically designed for in-ground production.
RootMaker Knit Bag Use
When planted in field soil, at least one inch of the knit fabric bag should remain above the soil line. Water management is less complicated in the field and the root system is protected from temperature extremes in the RootMaker® Knit Bag. At the time of harvesting, the fabric is removed, displaying a great majority of the root system intact, well-branched, and equipped to establish into the surrounding soil horizontally rather than just downward once installed in a landscape.
RootMaker Knit Bag Advantages
The Knit Fabric in-ground container allows in-the-field growing, but with the mobility and ease of harvest that containers offer. The fabric prunes roots by constriction and, thus, stimulates secondary root-branching. Water management is easier in the field and the root system is protected from temperature extremes. This technique can be valuable for nurseries as plants grown with the method have fewer production costs and maintenance.
RootMaker® containers work by stopping root circling and
stimulating root branching either by air-root-pruning or root-
tip trapping. Years ago while working with college students,
I coined the phrase, “Let’s ask the plant?” Meaning, give the
plant the opportunity to respond to several treatments and if
set up and evaluated with appropriate scientific safeguards,
namely, randomized and replicated to avoid bias, the plant
will typically tell which treatment it likes best. This is the
procedure I have used for the past 40+ years.
When we compared water loss from containers in Oklahoma,
conventional black plastic pots used 1.5 times more water
than a white RootTrapper® container of the same size. A
black, porous fabric pot used 3.2 times more water than a
white RootTrapper® container. The difference is due to
root-zone temperature and evaporation.
The RootMaker system works. To date, plants grown in
RootMakers® have outperformed the variety of other
containers on the market that have been used in comparison
studies here in Oklahoma. But it is important to note that our
studies have been done using the best cultural and nutrition
programs known. If nutrition is poor or if drainage / aeration
in the mix is marginal or poor, having a fibrous root system
provides few benefits to plant growth. A great fibrous root
system provides the greatest benefits when matched with
optimum nutrition and other cultural conditions.
Growing trees in the optimum way is a system of many factors and
any factor less than optimum will restrict growth. In talks,
I often use the analogy of my 57 Chevy. Nitrogen is like
gas in the tank, Phosphorus is like the lubricating oil, and
molybdenum is like the small wire that connects the coil to
the distributor. It is just a very small piece of the system.
But, without it --- you walk!
1. RootMaker® Propagation Containers.
Visual evaluations are especially useful when trying to
determine root branching and root numbers. For example,
at one point I set up a study with the objective to count
numbers of roots produced by plants grown in RootMaker®
propagation containers and then transplanted at the optimum
time. My plan was to count the number of roots growing
out from Catalpa seedlings in 18 cell RootMaker® cavities
after 4, 8 or 12 days. The photo showing catalpa roots after
0, 4, 8 and 12 clearly shows why I did not follow through
with my evaluation procedure (Figure 1). In my notes, I
simply wrote lots, as nothing practical would be gained from
spending hours and hours trying to count massive numbers
of roots