Re: CULT: TB: Dusky Challenger, Roots
From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>
Walter and Linda,
The sharply elevated ridge probably allows for long roots but it is probably
the type of rock that causes the massive root system. The Japanese use a
special rock (very expensive) to encourage formation of fibrous roots for
bonsai. The rock is broken in small bits in the soil and has very sharp
edges that it shears the roots as they grow. Where the roots get cut, new
roots branch out so that where there was one root there would be three to
five offshoots. And as everyone knows, the more fibrous roots you have, the
more nutrients the plant gets.
MacMillan's (Norwich, Ontario Canada) also started cultivating last year
between the rows of iris. This did effectively the same thing. The roots
growing into the path between the rows got cut, and more fibrous roots
formed. Last year, the MacMillans brought in rhizomes for door prizes that
were huge and long with 4 to 6 buds along the sides. My daughter won one --
Helen Boehm -- which put out five bloom stalks on a first year plant!
Maureen Mark
m*@ottawa.com
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4)
> From: "wmoores" <wmoores@watervalley.net>
>
> On 26 Jun 99, at 9:29, Linda Mann wrote:
>
> > From: Linda Mann <lmann@icx.net>
>
> > Anybody have any observations about roots to share?
> >
> Growing rhizomes on sharply elevated ridges can result in long,
> sometimes bushy root systems. At Rocky Top, Phil Williams
> plants this way and the root systems on his plants always
> extend to China. Melrose Gardens did the same thing.
>
> Walter Moores
> Enid Lake, MS 7/8 (Wondering about Stockton Iris Garden's
> Catalog; where is it?)
>
>
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