[GpsFrontier]

I see alot of designs using a setup similar to this (be it ebb and flood, nft or what have you), and I'm always curious about root management. Having experience with these types of systems, how to you manage that, if at all?

That's a good question, and for me it always comes down to the type of plant you are growing. Especially the size of the full grown plant that makes the most difference to me, because that will tell me how much support the plant will need as well as give me an Idea of the size of the root system. With hydroponics, the roots don't need to fan out to search for the nutrients they need because you are bringing the nutrients directly to the roots. Even so the roots seem to continue to do what they do best and keep growing. The type of system I eventually go with also is determined by how many plants I plan to grow, which also helps determine the type of growing medium I use, and of coarse the availability and price of materials I can get.

To be honest this is the first tube system that I have built, in retrospect I wish that I had made a few access openings (I still can, and plan to). I fully expected that the roots would intertwine with the other plants and keep me from pulling out the baskets. Though as I see the roots growing I have thought about the possibility of the system clogging with roots growing into the inlet and overflow ports, as well as the root mass interfering with the flow of nutrients from one side of the tube to the other. I plan to make access points on both ends to clear the inlet and overflow ports and possibly a few along the tube to clear any clogs there. Plants are generally pretty forgiving and don't mind root trimmings (like a haircut). I will just half to see how the rest goes.

I'd think the roots could very quickly get out of hand in a small-ish tube like that, especially if the plant was something intended to be kept for a longer term.

The roots would most defiantly be a problem in this confined space for long term plants, though these plants are generally seasonal and I don't plan to have them in there much more than 6 months or so. Which is one of the reasons that I felt this design would work well for my purpose. For longer term plants I probably would have gone with a bucket drip system.