The Importance of Roots
July 23, 2024
Earlier this summer, I accidentally created a science experiment on the importance of root development. I am sure that many of you have heard when growing certain fruits and vegetables (great example is strawberries), you should pull the flowers off of the produce in its first year to promote root growth. For a new home gardener, this can be so difficult. You have prepared your soil, grown your seedlings, nurtured them and now you finally have flowers (which will lead to real food!). Now you are telling me to pull those flowers off and wait for produce until next year? How much difference can it really make?
Background- Each summer I jump-start my basil production by purchasing a single organic basil plant from the local store. I plant it in well-prepared soil and once it starts growing, I give it a trim every week and propagate the clippings until I have a full half barrel of basil growing. That is a lot of return for a little cost!
Being a Homeschool mom, I propagate my basil in test tubes in a test tube rack sitting in my sunny kitchen window. We take a break during the summer (other than math) and therefore, I can use all the fun "toys". This year while propagating my basil, I created a natural experiment. I had 5 basil cuttings, three rooted normally, one developed full flowers, and the final one developed flower buds. When I made the cuttings, they all looked identical.
Take a look at the difference in the roots! The three on the left grew roots normally. The roots are long and densely grown.
The basil cutting on the far right has small flower buds appearing. You can see that there was some root growth, but not near as dense as the ones with no buds.
The most surprising result was the second from the right. This basil cutting developed full flowers within the week of propagation and the roots are virtually non-existent! So much energy was used to create and sustain the flowers, that there was none left for root development.
So, when the plant calls for pulling off the flowers in the first year of a plant's life, remember this experiment and KNOW that you are helping your baby grow!
