deeper or thicker hole

question about digging a hole.. couple questions.. is it better to dig deeper or wider

hole say i wanted to dig a hole big enuf for 1cf of soil should i dig 2 feet deep 6 inches

wide or dig 2 feet wide and 6 inches deep,,,, i know why not just dig 2x2 well i have to

pack soil in so that leads me to my other question. which is better to plant 10 plants in

2'x6" hole or 5 plants in 2x2' hole both use the same amount of baged potting soil

wait.....so all those plants are going in the same hole?

you need a hole that big PER plant.

I've seem people have great success digging only half a hole. Make your hole something like 2'x2'x2' and have quite a bit of the soil mounded above the surface. By creating a mound half of the roots will be naturally air pruned. I don't see why you couldn't just bypass a hole all together and make a circle out of hardware cloth and then fill that in with soil - the entire cubic yard of soil would be essentially air pruning itself. It would be a bit easier to monitor moisture content as well.

ummm, are we talking about 1 cubic foot of soil or one cubic yard of soil? because one cubic yard would be 3ft X 3ft X 3ft... where as one cubuc ft would only be 1ft X 1ft X 1ft. I am a little confused with the measurments that are being thrown out

wil2279 said:

ummm, are we talking about 1 cubic foot of soil or one cubic yard of soil? because one cubic yard would be 3ft X 3ft X 3ft... where as one cubuc ft would only be 1ft X 1ft X 1ft. I am a little confused with the measurments that are being thrown out

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Oh true. I was thinking a cubic yard.

zorkan said:

question about digging a hole...is it better to dig deeper or wider

hole...

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If you have the space, wider.

It's good for a plant grown from seed to grow a deep taproot, but if you're working with clones, which don't form a true taproot (but instead grow more lateral roots), you want a wider hole.

so for seed deeper is better and clone wider is better?

troythepooh14 said:

so for seed deeper is better and clone wider is better?

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Ideally deep and wide is the best (lol), but I know there are space limitations. But if given a choice, and I was growing from seed, I'd dig my hole deeper.

And if growing a clone, I'd dig it wider if I could (because I know the clones root won't send a taproot straight down like a seed plant, but instead grow many lateral roots around the plant to anchor it).

You'll still benefit by digging just a deep and not so wide hole if you're really limited in space.

Roots are roots, meaning they'll spread anywhere they aren't restricted, so if you do dig just a deep and not wide hole, you'll still be fine.

Strong roots mean strong and healthy plants. As long as the roots have water and/or the ability to move towards it, your plants will do well.

i just read recently that the limiting factor on how wide a plant will grow is how wide the root ball is.. so, if your looking for wide bushes, your better off having a nice wide hole rather then a deeper one..
i've often wondered this question myself for space saving reasons.. i had wondered if it were more beneficial to have a rather narrow container, but one that is super deep as i have plenty of height in my grow room, but not so much room going the other directions.. so i was thinking about just trying out a super deep but narrow container for a grow and see how the results looked.. then i read about the plants only getting as wide as the root zone thing and pretty much scrapped the idea.. i would still like to see some solid results on this theory though instead of just going off of what i've simply read in a magazine..