Gardening on Cloud 9 » Water Roots

Watering Hydroculture Plants

Sandy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:34:46 +0000

How long a plant lives in a water culture greatly depends on the water source. Water should keep fresh and nutritious, for plants need mineral nutrients to grow healthy.

When roots become deficient in mineral nutrients, particularly calcium and boron, which are required in the external solution for normal functioning of roots, the roots die and decay. And as they die and decay, the roots release some mineral nutrients, which then presumably help new roots to grow. Some gardeners said they noticed this repeating pattern when they grew pothos in a mineral nutrient solution that was lacking of calcium.

Another stress on roots in water culture is that the lack of oxygen and pH extremes that the plant may suffer.

How do I water my plants?

In general, I treat the plants that grow in water more or less the same as those that are planted in soil. Different plants have different watering needs. After experimenting with several types of plant in the water culture, I have learned that plants draw up water whenever they need it, and let it sit whenever they don’t.

So, for me, I usually allow water to run out or nearly run out before adding more fresh water. And when I add in new water, I will dump away the old water that is left in the container, if possible. Fresh water contains oxygen, and the roots love it. While decayed roots release some mineral nutrients that help growing new roots, they also release ethylene that is poisonous to plants.

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Hydroculture – Water Roots vs Soil-Grown Roots

Sandy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:16:23 +0000

Hydroculture plants are houseplants that grown in water, and the roots of these plants are called water roots. Water Roots differ from soil-grown roots. Water roots often seem to be more brittle than soil-grown ones. This may due to the bigger aerenchyma – the airy tissue found in roots of plants that allows exchange of gases between the shoot and the root – which the water roots have. If we want to eventually plant our rooted cuttings in soil, it is usually not recommended to root the plant first in water, for it may become difficult to transplant the cuttings in soil later on.

New roots usually grow from the pericycle but there are exceptions. Many plants rooted in water perform root initials on their stems that merely elongate when cuttings are placed in water, for examples, pothos, wandering jew, and philogendron.

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So what is it called? Hydroculture? Aquatic plants? Water roots?

Sandy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:25:56 +0000

It was quite difficult when I first did my research online on this subject, for I couldn’t find what exactly it is called. It seems like that there is no one specific terminology for this type of plants.

Some call it “hydroculture.” However, instead of the plant itself, hydroculture is referring to a system, a simpler version of hydroponics, which involves the use of an inner pot, an outer pot, a water level indicator, and such.

And some books just call it “aquatic plants.” But often, if not always, aquatic plants are referring to those that grow in an aquarium, or a pond, and such. How about those plants that usually root in soil but are capable to root in water as well?

Another related terminology I have found is “water root”, which refers to the new root that the plant grows when it is planted in water or water solution. And while there are quite many information online about hydroponics and hydroculture due to the new hype across Europe in these recent years, it seems like there isn’t much on water roots. Instead of searching through the internet, more information on water roots can be found in some college textbooks, such as Plant Propagation by Hartmann and Kester.

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