How deep to roots go?

I don't ever remember reading how deep various vegetable roots go. Does anyone have a link or a chart with such information? My raised beds are 6" deep. I must have read that guidline somewhere.

Thanks.

Years ago a guy at our market had a beet that he managed to get the whole root out of the soil. It was 43 inches long.
They say vine crops will go as deep as necessary to get water, some records claim 25 feet.
Bernie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root#Rooting_depths

This has some good info about root development....

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137toc.html

This has a simple chart for quick reference....

http://www.harvestwizard.com/2009/04/interplanting_vegetables_root.html

Thanks for the links. I'm amazed at how deep some of these roots go. I have very heavy, hard red clay and was wondering if the roots could penetrate into it.

Hey Ray,
Good to see you posting again. That is some great, interesting info. I really had no idea that roots went that deep. Supid question How do the plants manage in EBs and other containers?
Honeybee-I wondered the same thng but some how the roots do grow. I'm on rock, maybe the roots don't go that deep but I'm still getting tomatoes so they must be getting what they need.

Here in the arid southwest, we are encouraged to conserve water and there's lots of advice given for watering guidelines relative to root depth. Published info from various sources, such as County Extension Offices, almost always recommends that veggies be watered to a depth of 12 inches, fruit trees and such to a depth of three feet. In our naturally hard soils, we sometimes use smooth steel rods (think rebar minus the ridges) to determine the depth to which water has penetrated--the rod will only go as deep as the water has penetrated. Your soils may be friable enough that the rod thing wouldn't work so well, that is to say, maybe a rod will penetrate even dry soil in your neck of the woods. I guess the summary would be that 12 inches is a practical limit for the root depth of most veggies, even though some may send roots deeper. I realize that you probably weren't interested in watering per se, but watering depth was the basis for the info I had.

A bit late but here is an old, well done study.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137toc.html

Steve Solomon, the man who started soilandhealth.org and originally started Territorial Seeds wrote a book called Gardening when it Counts which I've been reading lately. He talks about root development and the importance of deep rooting for healthy plants but I think Ray's right; if the water and nutrients are there, they don't have to go that far. But SS moved to Tasmania and had clay soil like you Honeybee and he amended it with organic matter first and then built 12" of loam on top of it and says it's perfect now because the clay helps hold the moisture and the earthworms go down and loosen it for him.

PrissyJo - the clay soil here does hold moisture very well. I've noticed vegetables having strong root systems will get themselves down into it with no problem. Digging out the Burmuda grass loosened the clay layer. We then built our raised beds and filled them with organic matter.

Fall leaves are piled in the walkways for the earthworms. Right now, I'm taking worm castings from the walkways and putting it in the raised beds. Then we'll pile more leaves in the walkways for the cycle to begin again. FREE DIRT!

HoneybeeNC,
You got an updated picture of your setup you can post?

Gymgirl - I'm still working on changing the beds from 48" to 36". I ran out of funds, so will have only seven completed this year. The other three will have to wait.

The weather is supposed to be nice over the next few days, so I'm hoping to finish bed #7 - then I'll be able to snap some photos.

Ok. I'll be watching this thread for your updated pics!

Hugs!

Gymgirl - I started a new thread: Terracing the garden in "High Yield Gardening"

This message was edited Mar 18, 2011 2:49 PM

oooooooooooooooooo!