Photo Update: Roots!

While taking down the pepper plants this afternoon, we got a couple of shots of the root systems of the plants, and I thought you might find these interesting to look at.

This photo shows the root system of a bucket which had both an Ancho Magnifico and an Early Jalapeno plant in it. As I noted before, had I known how large these plants would eventually get I would certainly have given each their own bucket, something I'll be sure to do moving forward.

As you can see, the root systems of the two plants became co-mingled into one large network. Ideally the entire root system would be pure white like the bottom tips of the roots in this photo. The dark-colored portion at the center mass of the root network is slightly less healthy tissue, which hosts a small amount of algae. This is bad because the algae competes directly with the roots for resources in the nutrient solution. I have rectified this in the most recent bucket design by adding a wafer of mylar insulation to the top of the bucket lid to prevent light from penetrating the lid and supporting algae growth in the solution and on the roots.