It’s funny how much we don’t know about plant roots. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that they interest us little, which is a paradox, when the roots are the center of government of the plant. Without strong and firm roots, it is very likely that we will have a poor plant and subjected to the ups and downs of life. Without a solid foundation, a tree, a bush or whatever it is, becomes an easy prey to stress at the slightest difficulty. Yes, because plants also suffer from the stresses caused by the mere fact of existing, and in this case that concerns us also due to poor cultivation or other factors, such as a period of drought or drastic pruning of their anatomy.
There is an especially important moment, and we could say that it is even tragic, in the existence of any plant. It is about the birth of the vegetable. This awakening to life will greatly condition its future development. If a seed of a tree, for example, falls a few meters further, it can be born between some rocks that will prevent its root from unfolding freely, and it will remain linked to a more inhospitable substrate than if it had germinated in the flowery meadow next door. In this way, fortune is the one that will decide if that sapling becomes a robust tree or a weak one.
In gardening there is another fundamental moment for the vegetable, and that does not depend so much on fortune as on good work. It happens with the plantation, a decisive task that will make that plant grow in the fullness that its genetics and its environment allow. Therefore, neither haste nor lack of reflection are good companions then. A bad planting hole in the garden soil will lead that vine or that magnificent fruit tree to become a rickety being, impoverished and at the mercy of any slight attack. The plant will also, therefore, be more prone to contracting pests and diseases.
And everything, due to a basic problem, since its root, constrained and unable to become independent from that narrow hole to which we have confined it, will not be able to develop freely. It will be a living tomb. As a consequence, it is not uncommon to see plant growth slow and arduous for years and years, perhaps forever.
To avoid this suffering we must meditate. The root yearns to explore the land that surrounds it, and that becomes a chimera when the planting hole is made in the shape of a cube and with a size only slightly larger than the pot in which the plant has grown in the nursery. This can be extrapolated to any plant, whether it is a bush, a climber, a perennial or even seasonal plants. A small hole, with straight walls, will prevent the root from being able to conveniently pierce the earth that we have left compacted around it.
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The solution goes through a work of loosening the entire surrounding terrain, to leave the soil loose and spongy. A methodical and careful digging will be the best way to allow the vegetable, once planted, to explore the resources offered by its new home at will, without limitations. The planting hole should have smooth, rounded profiles, in the form of a bathtub, to avoid interposing a vertical wall to the advance of the root. Again, this can be applied to any type of plant.
There are more factors that will make the implantation a success, such as not burying the trunk or stem a single centimeter, or ensuring correct irrigation that hydrates its root ball and not letting it dry out, among others. And do not forget, above all, to put ourselves in the place of the roots of the plant and think if that place would be the one that we would like to grow, if we were it.
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