Background : Classical plant uptake is limited to water soluble or dispersible material. Further, the knowledge of adhesion and uptake of hydrophobic particles is limited to mammalian and bacterial cells, but not studied in plants; so here first time, we tested the fate of hydrophobic particles (oleylamine coated Cu 2-x Se NPs) in comparison to hydrophilic particles (chitosan coated Cu 2-x Se NPs) by treatment on the plant roots and studied the mechanism behind the uptake. Further, Cu 2-x Se NPs are one of the most popular nanomaterial which has been used in various fields viz., electrical, semiconductor industries, biomedicine and in sensing. However, the effects of these NPs on plants have been seldom studied. So here, along with polarity-based uptake, the toxicity of these NPs is investigated in a model plant, tomato. Results : Here, hydrophobic NPs have been found to be ~1.3 times more efficient than hydrophilic NPs in tomato plant root penetration. An atomic force microscopy (AFM) adhesion force experiment confirms that hydrophobic NPs experience non-spontaneous yet energetically favourable root trapping and penetration. Further, a relative difference in the hydrophobic vs. hydrophilic NPs movement from the roots to shoots is observed and found related to the change in the protein corona identified by 2D-PAGE analysis. Finally, the toxicity assays showed that Cu 2-x Se NPs lead to non-significant toxicity as compared to control.Conclusions : The enhanced uptake of hydrophobic NPs by the roots proves that non-classical forced penetration is more efficient. Hence, this enhanced uptake and sedentary behaviour of hydrophobic NPs in root can be adopted for eco-friendly leach-proof fertilizer application.