Spatiotemporal soil heterogeneity and the resulting edaphic stress cycles can be decisive for crop growth. However, our understanding of the acclimative value of root responses to heterogeneous soil conditions remains limited. We outline a framework to evaluate the acclimative value of root responses that distinguishes between stress responses that are persistent and reversible upon stress release, termed ‘plasticity’ and ‘elasticity’, respectively. Using energy balances, we provide theoretical evidence that the advantage of plasticity over elasticity increases with the number of edaphic stress cycles and if responses lead to comparatively high energy gains. Our framework provides a conceptual basis for assessing the acclimative value of root responses to soil heterogeneity and can catalyse research on crop adaptations to heterogeneous belowground environments.