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Caceres, mid west of Spain

It would be nice to know about the space proportion growers like to let between roots and vines. Is it 1:1, do you let more room of worked soil for roots? how much more, 1.5:1, 2:1?
I myself am planning to give a little more room to roots, but not much, approximately 1.1-1.2:1
Don

4/13/2003 3:48:09 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

Carlos,
I would think the root system would be more important. You're gonna get more growth from the root system than leaves, with less expenditure of energy.
Just my thoughts...

4/13/2003 6:33:13 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

I believe that an harmony should be got, but where does it lie, in which proportion? I also think, Kyle, that the underground part should be bigger, but how much?

Don

4/14/2003 2:09:51 AM

[email protected]

This would be in soil surface area? Soil texture, aeration, & moisture availability would all influence the distance traveled by roots that are looking for nutrition. In general, most plants root systems are lacking when soils are heavy. Poorly drained or oxygen deprived soils nearly always result in diseased/weekened root structure. Personally I have no idea how far AG roots go in search of what they're after, nor the degree to which we can positively influence them. Quite a bit I'll wager.

I suppose the best means of measuring this ratio would be the dry weight method. Where all root material is collected, washed, dried & weighed, then compared to similarly treated vines & then leaves. These values should then be compared to actual fruit collection & overall quality standards.

Toss in some chemical nutrient tests from soil & tissue. Factor in daylight photo-intensity & length, insect & fungal/viral pest modeling....Some high low degree day modeling...& over time, we're on our way to a predictable growth patern indicator.

No question there is a correlation that follows a predictable patern. But given the hobbyist's limited funding & access to crop lab equipment, we may not be able to get much further than roots collected xx number of feet (meters) from trunk or main/secondary vines.

Some tenured growers have indicated here that their better plants have been extenive rooters. In these cases, genetics no doubt plays a large role.

4/14/2003 5:42:12 AM

Appalachian Mtns.

Whoa Steve!

4/14/2003 6:09:28 AM