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Partial Rootzone Drying (PRD) in Hydroponics: Enhance Yield Without Growth Regulators · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hi, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily. Today, we're talking about another alternative
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  to the use of growth regulators to increase yield and limit stretch in hydroponic
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  crops, especially tall crops.
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  So we want to avoid growth regulators wherever possible. They're hazardous to
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  your health and they produce a lower quality crop.
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  Partial root zone drying is a way of stimulating the natural hormones in a plant
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  that curtail growth and reduce stretch.
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  Now, unlike regulated deficit irrigation, which we talked about yesterday,
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  which reduced the amount of water available to the plant, here the plant has got plenty of water.
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  However, you use something called a split pot, which is a container,
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  a plant pot, that has a divider between 50% of the grow media and the other side.
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  The plant roots into both sides, and so while it's a vegetative plant,
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  you root it into both, and then as you go into flowering, you stop the water into one of the sides.
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  You still make sure there's a small amount of water in there so the roots don't
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  dry, but these are drying roots.
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  Drying roots produce abscissic acid that travels to the leaves.
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  Closes the stomata somewhat, limits growth somewhat, prevents excessive vegetative
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  growth, and produces all those sorts of nice chemicals you're looking for in a really good crop.
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  And then the other side you just keep on watering
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  as normally give it ample water so this plant never is
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  ever restricted in the amount of water it gets it's just
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  having some roots drying at every point
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  now if your plant's grown for a long time you might switch that
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  back over after a couple of weeks or after four weeks
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  and then these plants become the drying roots and
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  you get a massive burst of abscisic acid and other funky hormones that travel
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  up up the plant and then these plants provide the water so you want them to
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  be drying roots not dry roots because eventually this side will dry out once
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  it's dry those plants those roots will just go dormant and will stop.
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  Producing sap that travels up the plant you do want some sap going up there
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  with the hormones in hence the reason you you'll flip that now this is a split
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  pot that is that's an added complication.
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  That is the problem with partial root zone drying why it's not
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  adopted so widely is that you have to have a specialized
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  pot now you can make them you can sort of
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  get some resin and glue in the a divider into
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  the plant you could potentially 3d print
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  a divider as a great product potential for
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  if this took off if everyone suddenly started growing prd plants
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  and said hey dude you've got to do prd not growth regulators some
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  clever guy or girl will print 3d
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  dividers or 3d pots and you know it'd
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  be a great opportunity if you're growing really large pots
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  you know like these 60 liter pots you don't even
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  need a divider i've done prd where there's no
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  divider at all because my plants were massive and if
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  you water this side this side's never going to get wet because
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  of the the particular growing medium i was using that
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  in the time some growing medias the water will
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  flow but and so you do need a divider and then
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  anything like a three liter pot or a one liter pot you're not
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  going to get a good enough division between the well watered
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  and the drying side so i thoroughly
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  recommend partial root zone drying for anyone who's
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  looking for an alternative to growth regulators and use
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  this in combination with gold leaf or liquid gold our fantastic fertilizer and
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  you will produce a1 top quality produce thank you very much got any comments
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  think i'm talking absolute nonsense leave a comment below and let's have a an.
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  Email discussion or a comment discussion thank you very.