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Picton,ON (j.vincent@xplornet.ca)

Anyone have any experiance with stim root, acer or any other rooting hormones?

1/28/2005 9:31:58 PM

Ontario, Canada.

Yes, I have tried all three stim root products this winter during germination tests. I have found that roots grow wild with these products. The best and fastest rooting plant I had tested received no applications of any enhancers. Stim root seams to make the main tap root grow into numerous branches and delays the depth of the tap root.

2/1/2005 4:53:25 AM

Follansbee, Wv

Is branching of the tap root necessarily a bad thing? For shallow soil growers, getting a long tap root may not help much if it bottoms out on hardpan clay. Of course, it could turn, but I am wondering what the benifits of a single, long tap root are over a multi-branched tap. It would seem that the multi-branched root system would penetrate more soil area for better nutrient uptake. Can anyone shed any light on this? Not really hi-jacking the thread here, just broadening the discussion a bit :)

2/1/2005 7:47:45 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Monty, I just can't answer your question with any degree of confidence yet. I wish I could find more test results to study. My winters testing of the 695* Landry 04 squash seams to demonstrate that for this untreated green seed it can do very well without any enhancements when. The cautious approach is that these tests really prove of little value but they still must be taken into consideration. Careful incorporation of natural amendments into you patches may be all you need to grow a whopper. High OM provides for a higher CEC level and can lead to a big pumpkin.

Good Growing

Russ Landry

2/6/2005 10:23:55 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

A single long tap root is better able to find water in a drought. While the root hormone induced branching has been observed many time, I don't believe a definitive corelation to fruit quality has ever been attempted.

CEC = more surface area on the soils exchange sites for nutrient exchange.
More roots = more surface area for nutrient exchange.

So assuming there is no negative affect from a proliferation of surface roots we might still realize a net gain from rooting hormones by season's end.

2/7/2005 7:24:18 AM

Ohio

what about putting root hormone at every leaf node once the plant gets going good, think this would help feed the pumpkin better?

2/28/2005 2:58:51 PM

Long Island,New York

My experience with rooting hormone at each internode resulted in a confused sex plant... for a couple months it produced male flowers with no inner parts and females with male parts....I wouldn't do it to a real competition plant. My work was with clones.

2/28/2005 4:01:30 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Rate....rate....rate....rate....

2/28/2005 6:03:09 PM