It’s Electric: The Overall Importance of a Healthy Root System

Lying below the surface of the soil is a vascular entanglement responsible for maintaining the vitality of all living plants. All enzymatic processes begin and end with this essential plant organ. Any guesses as to what we’re referring to yet? This plant organ, lurking around the underground corridors of the Earth, is rightfully called “the roots.” We find this word oddly satisfying, maybe because of the “oo” inflection, or because we understand the importance of the organelle in which it describes. Either way, there is no way of denying the significance of the root system.

Blue Forest Farms’ Network of Plant Organs

We would go as far as to say that the impressive network of ramen-noodle-like organs currently present at the Blue Forest Farm breeding project at Botany Lane are the healthiest roots we’ve ever seen. They gleam in the dirt like a Cheshire smile. They are a pearly white vascular system pumping, soaking, slurping, and absorbing all the sustenance that these beautiful ladies need to survive and thrive.

The Translocation Principle

There is an essential principle to understand when considering the role roots play in plant growth, that being the principle of translocation. Translocation is the movement of one object, in this case: water, nutrients, and oxygen, from one place to another. Think of the aluminum cans we once tied to opposite ends of a string, miraculously transferring our voices from one end of the playground to the other. Roots act like those strings, tethering the plant to available food sources and water.
In this particular project the roots are contained in plastic pots and artistically woven into the synthetic fabric of our wood-fiber peat blend. Plants grown in greenhouses typically are fed daily with a scientifically fabricated food source (fertilizer), like a pseudo- “Soylent”. Since there is little to no microbe life available to break down organic inputs in a pre-made soil blend, synthetic fertilizers offer the most readily available means for plant nutrition. They also placate the very American ideal of immediate gratification by offering up a dump and go scenario for the grower on the other end of the hose.

Root System Behavior

From the beginning of this venture the head grower has been dumping out the compressed clump of dirt mass from each pot to observe the root systems’ pattern of behavior. The plants we began with started from seed, and therefore contain a long and sturdy primary root known as the “tap root.” Cannabis, if grown right, tends to be a rather top heavy plant with large flowers perched on top of sturdy stalks soaking up the sun’s rays like a sponge soaks up spilt milk. The fat little flower buds perched on top of the cannabis plant need to have structural support. The roots, specifically tap-roots, offer the foundation for which the plant relies on for structural integrity. It’s as though the roots are like a million little fingers holding on to the earth in an upside-down world, thus preventing the rest of the body from succumbing to gravitational injury.

Thrive with Healthy Roots

Sometimes we all feel like the roots in our lives have been the sturdy support network we needed to thrive and survive. We all can learn a lot from plants if we are willing to listen to the lessons they teach us. his particular plant organelle lives in the darker corridors of plant existence yet offers up the most important of functions, while humbly remaining out of the limelight. In this show boating culture, a humble existence is a rarity. So, let’s all try and take a moment to press our ears to the earth and appreciate the humility below. For without the roots we have nothing. 💙

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