I love plants and I have a couple of them, but in the beginning of keeping them I got root rot once or twice. This was with my plants in soil and getting too much water.
However, when you get propagations and are trying to grow out roots you put them in just water.
So how come you can grow them
in just water fine without getting root rot, but as soon as it’s in soil and gets a bit too much water the roots die???
In: Biology
Water contains dissolved air because it can filter in from the surface. Soil filled with water doesn’t because the air doesn’t circulate due to all the dirt keeping the water from moving. Hence the plant runs out of air
Soil roots and water roots aren’t the same. The two types of roots will die in the wrong substrate.
Soil roots take in air and water for the plant but stop breathing when the soil is too wet for too long. The plant most likely evolved in an area that didn’t get frequent rainfall such as an arid area or somewhat desertlike.
I think it’s interesting on a related note that some plants like to be rootbound in a pot. It’s not really that they like less soil but more likely that they do better when they dry out faster. Less soil and more roots means the soil dries faster.
Some advice is that if the plant has thick leaves or thick roots then it probably needs a fast draining soil that dries out fast. And, if it isn’t drying out fast enough in winter to use a heat mat to speed it up.
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