The wonders of root pruning

The roots are sometimes called the engine of the plant. They are the unseen heroes in the production of fruits and flowers. Nothing can be produced from a plant without access to water and nutrients. The root mass provides everything (except carbon dioxide) that the plant needs. Without adequate root mass, the plant will never be able to reach its full potential in terms of quality or yield.

With a standard plant pot, the root shoot hits the side wall. It then stops growing for a short time and then orients itself around the "obstacle", turning slightly and then circling tightly around the inside of the pot.

This is an incredibly inefficient use of space and environment inside the pot. Only the outer centimeter becomes densely populated by roots. Most of the growing environment remains more or less devoid of roots. What a waste of space - literally!

Normal pots  -  Smart Pot


It's all about the roots!

In an air pot, the pattern of root growth is very different. The roots grow from the bottom of the plant as before, but when they hit the side of the pot, they encounter much drier air. The root cannot continue to grow in this drier environment, so further elongation of the root, which would lead to ringing, cannot occur.

In order to continue to grow, the plant must find a new strategy to increase the size of its root mass. The tip of the clogged root shoot produces a chemical messenger called ethylene (which is one of the 6 major types of plant hormone). The presence of ethylene signals to the rest of the root shoot (as well as the rest of the plant) that it can no longer grow and this has 2 main effects:

The root shoot responds to the increase in ethylene, making the most of the root that has already grown. This is done by thickening and significantly increasing the production of side shoots and root hairs coming from it.

The rest of the plant responds to the increase in ethylene by sending new root shoots in different directions from its base.

The concept of root pruning is fascinating. A pot that can stop the root shoots from constantly lengthening means that the plant will send more and more basic root shoots, inflate existing ones and promote root hair production, which means that the whole environment in the pot becomes filled with roots.


Double the roots in a pot of the same size!

Can you imagine that you can cut the size of the pot in half, but still be able to produce the same yields of similar quality? The savings in growth-environment and space are huge. Pots with root pruning offer all this and more. All sizes of Smart Pots that we offer can be found here.