ooh, I had an idea. you could submerge the lower half of a root in water and see if it survives. by this I don't mean the distal half, I mean cross section...that way that root segment is still aerated, but has constant access to lots of water. if my hypothesis about edema is correct, that constant access will be enough to turn that root soggy and dead, despite the air. you could even circulate the water or add fresh stuff to show that it's not infectious from stagnant water.
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