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In seconds, a large oak is harvested in a knit fabric inground container. No large open wounds from shaving or cutting as with B&B. Thousands of fibrous roots within, ready to extend in all directions.
Grow Bag Harvest

PlantAnt.com is a dynamic data base which lets you locate or post RootMaker grown material (pay per click, set your own budget). RootMaker is a Feature Filter.
PlantAnt.com

Want to see what roots do AFTER transplanted out of a 24" knit inground container? Amazing Roots

A Nursery Management endowment has been created at OSU in Dr. Carl Whitcomb's name. New Scholarship Created

RootMaker technology now available for smaller, short-term crops like annuals and vegetables. 105-cell tray. 1 1/4 square by 1 7/8 deep.

Dr. Whitcomb's autobiography "Beyond Expectations" is now available at www.lacebarkinc.com. $10 (includes U.S. shipping)

Posted with permission from American Nurseryman, is Beth Gainer's article Containing Root Problems from the June 15, 1998 issue. Containers that help growers feel proud of their ornamentals' root systems.

NM Pro Editor, Tood Davis, interviewed several nursery industry professionals in the July 2005 issue to gather their thoughts about containers and how more people "are learning the value" of a fibrous root system created by air root pruning pots. Another important consideration is heat. (See image of white RootTrapper® soft-sided container.) Posted with permission from NM Pro, this article "Area for Improvement: Containers" points out the importance of root branching containers.

Visit www.drcarlwhitcomb.com for Dr. Whitcomb's latest articles as he continues his research and development of horticultural and nursery products & practices (from irrigation, aeration, nutrition, and weed control, to producing pecans with fibrous root systems, solutions to growing pot-in-pot, and growing Live Christmas trees that double as landscape trees), new plant introductions, and maybe even a good rant or two.

Posted with permission from NM Pro magazine, the September 2007 issue published Dr. Whitcomb's article Shrinkage Can Destroy Profits on methods to increase salability and survivability of landscape B&B trees harvested and merely surrounded in mulch.

Posted with permission from NM Pro, the March 2007 issue toured the Woody Warehouse and covered their success with RootMaker® containers to grow hardwood and native liners and landscape size trees.
A Time for Transition

Click here to read Dr. Whitcomb's article: "A New Look at Root Growth in City Spaces" in the June 2007 Landscape Superintendent and Maintenance Professional.

Follow this link to read Dr. Whitcomb's article published in Landscape Contractor to learn more about air root pruning, root pruning pots, taproots, and a growing system for producing a landscape tree with a high or increased caliper or diameter and fibrous root system that is equipped for transplanting success. Learn why the nursery landscape industry is growing away from bare-root, B&B, and standard pots with circling root systems. 'The Obsolete Taproot

Presented at the FarWest Show in August 2005, Dr. Whitcomb's paper Plant Production in Containers: Roots, the Next Step Forward", summarizes the importance of root pruning containers.

Dr. Whitcomb's research paper presented at IPPS 2004, "Solutions for Pot-in-Pot Root Escape, Root Circling, and Heat Shock at Harvest" , discusses a method which still utilizes an inground socket pot in nursery production but prunes roots to create a fibrous root system rather than the circling large, escaping roots found in standard smooth containers.

Currently, there are only seven options to force a root system to branch:

1) Herbicide. One example has herbicide pellets sewn at intervals within a fabric. Root tips contact the herbicide and die, causing some branching to occur behind that point.
2) Copper. If you haven’t already learned that this fading toxic fad is dangerous to the long term health of your trees as well as your nursery site, you might want to check out: 'Copper is not the answer
3) Mechanical. Large trenching-type machines can chop roots of field grown trees, causing branching behind this cut. This also causes large open wounds which can lead to pathogens.
4) Root Suffocation. Containers with water reservoirs in the bottom. Roots eventually find these reservoirs and are unable to obtain enough oxygen. This leads to root death and is suppose to force branching to occur.

*Or, methods developed by Dr. Carl Whitcomb. (RootMaker® Products is the sole source of Dr. Whitcomb’s patented container system).
5) Air root pruning. Directing roots to air openings where the root tip simply dehydrates and forces roots to branch behind this point. RootMaker® and RootBuilder® root pruning pots are revolutionizing the nursery industry.
6) Root constriction. Roots can be forced to branch behind a point of constriction while trying to grow through a fabric with precise hole diameters (Knit Fabric In-ground Container).
7) Root tip trapping. Additionally, roots can be forced to branch behind a point where the root tip is snagged/caught sufficiently enough to impede growth (RootTrapper®).

*Any way you slice it, we appreciate all promotion of growing trees with fibrous root systems. Education is an important part of improving growing methods.

*Anyone interested in the history/research that lead to RootMaker’s® unique, ground-breaking, fibrous-root-system creating products is invited to visit www.lacebarkinc.com and peruse the research papers presented and published by Dr. Whitcomb.

NM Pro Editor Todd Davis raises this important question in the May 2005 issue.
Davis states: "For container-grown plants, the market is becoming much more aware of root quality. Not only does the top of the plant have to look good, but circling roots and inadequately rooted plants are unacceptable.

Demand for container crops grown in root-pruning pots (both liners and finished material) continues to grow."
For the link to his complete NM Pro magazine article: Are you sure you grow quality?

When exposed to sunlight, all black pots get hot. If a black fabric container has a porous sidewall, some evaporative cooling occurs to release this heat build up but at the expense of losing large quantities of water. (Notice the salt buildup on the sides of a black porous sidewall container.)

Instead, the white root-pruning RootTrapper® container actually conserves water. So much so, that you may find it necessary to reduce your watering program. According to our research 8 hours after watering, a porous sidewall black container loses 64% more water than a conventional plastic pot and 80% more water than a RootTrapper®. RootTrappers® conserve water by slowing water exit which increases absorption by the growth medium. This unique soft-sided fabric container also has two layers. The white outer layer reflects heat, keeping the root system as much a 20 to 25 degrees cooler. The inner layer is a fabric which traps root tips and forces the roots to branch to create a fibrous root system, more efficient in water absorption.

Temperature insulation and water conservation. And a fibrous root system that more and more customers are beginning to expect with their trees. The RootTrapper® is the new generation of above ground (and in-pot) containers.

This is a link to the SNA Research Conference-Vol.49-2004, specifically, a research paper by March and Appleton titled "Use of Air-Root-Pruning Containers in Pot-in-Pot Systems." Although the white, soft-sided, laminated fabric RootTrapper® utilizes a different root pruning method (actually "root-tip-trapping", rather than "air-root-pruning"), this paper compares several pot-in-pot production options.
2004 March, Appleton Research

December 2003 article, reprinted with permission from NM Pro Magazine. This has been compressed and greatly reduced to a 1 page PDF for ease of downloading. Read about the legendary Rennerwood tree farm and their success story with RootMakers®.
Right In Line

Just because a container says it "air root prunes" does not mean it is a RootMaker®. Most air root pots who make this claim send all roots downward and only prune at the bottom. Other imitators have tried to duplicate the efficiency of RootMakers® rapid root branching by simply adding slots or holes to the sides, passively expecting roots to find the holes. RootMakers® are the result of years of research. They have strategically placed ledges, ribs, and holes to actively direct roots to air openings quickly and efficiently to create horizontal branching, as well as vertical. With plastic nursery container supplies from "plug trays" to hundred-gallon RootBuilders®, as well as leading the way with root-pruning, soft-sided fabric containers, RootMaker® has a product for each step of nursery production. This is why they have become staple nursery supplies of successful production facilities around the world.

Send your nursery's name and logo with your finished trees in RootTrappers®.
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