Old roots

rocky51 4/24/2017, 7:59 pm

Hello, I'm redoing my sq ft garden boxes and plan on using the soil over, question is do the small roots from previous planting need to be removed??

newbeone 4/25/2017, 6:25 am

Hi Rocky Welcome to the Forum: Not sure how Small Your talkin but when a plant dies Or I kill it, I always pull the roots top off the square with compost and I'm ready to plant again.

yolos 4/25/2017, 8:16 am

I cut the stalk of most veggies off at the soil line and I leave the roots in the ground over the winter. If planting in the middle of summer, the size of the root mass will determine whether I leave the roots in or remove them.

CapeCoddess 4/25/2017, 8:31 am

yolos wrote:I cut the stalk of most veggies off at the soil line and I leave the roots in the ground over the winter. If planting in the middle of summer, the size of the root mass will determine whether I leave the roots in or remove them.

Ditto

**sanderson** 4/25/2017, 3:59 pm

Small roots are fine. Big roots depend on if you are planting something before they decompose.

Roseinarosecity 4/25/2017, 9:01 pm

Welcome to the forum, Rocky!

I remove all tomato roots, small and large, to avoid root knot nematodes. I don't compost tomatoes plants. This was the advice from the UC IPM website.

I leave behind all brassica roots because there is some studies that they help suppress root knot nematode. I also bury the thick stalk of my brassicas by the edge of the boxes so they don't get in the way of the next planting.

I leave behind all legume roots to take advantage of any nitrogen they produce or "fix."

Where in So Cal are you located?
I'm not on this forum very often now that I'm working full-time but the advice here is always good. I learned a lot in my early years of SFG.

**Scorpio Rising** 4/25/2017, 9:10 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:Welcome to the forum, Rocky!

I remove all tomato roots, small and large, to avoid root knot nematodes. I don't compost tomatoes plants. This was the advice from the UC IPM website.

I leave behind all brassica roots because there is some studies that they help suppress root knot nematode. I also bury the thick stalk of my brassicas by the edge of the boxes so they don't get in the way of the next planting.

I leave behind all legume roots to take advantage of any nitrogen they produce or "fix."

Where in So Cal are you located?
I'm not on this forum very often now that I'm working full-time but the advice here is always good. I learned a lot in my early years of SFG.

Yep. Ditto. Depends! Tell us more! cheers

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Old roots

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