The Sarah Racine Root Research Laboratory

The laboratory was planned for experimenting with the root systems of different types of plants, including long term experiments with large arboreal species, to the duration of up to several years.

In this laboratory, plants the plants grow while their roots are in a dark cell - while watering and feeding the plants is done by spraying mist of a nutrient and water solution, every 3 minutes. the composition and temperature of the solution, as well as the length and frequency of spraying are controlled. 

The root chamber in the lab is large enough to allow uninterrupted development of full root systems (6 meters deep) throughout all the plants lifecycle. Since the roots are not uprooted from the ground, they can be measured over and over with no fear of interference. While the conditions in the lab are not identical to soil-growing, the plants here are used for comparison estimation of growth potential of the roots to the examined plants. 

The Roots Lab. | Picture by: Roi Kantor

Additional Reading: 
From America to the Holy Land: disentangling plant traits of the invasive Heterotheca subaxillaris - Marcelo Sternberg