Yale University New Haven, Connecticut, 06511

SCHOOL OF FORESTRY &

ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES

 

THE EFFECT OF ROOTS® ON GROWTH OF RED MAPLE SEEDLINGS AT

NURSERY CONDITIONS IN COMMERCIAL FORESTRY NURSERY #203

 

INTRODUCTION

A field test was performed at the commercial forestry nursery #203 in Florida. The objective was to evaluate the effect of ROOTS®, a new growth biostimulant developed by Soilizer Corporation with the support of Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, on nursery seedlings. The test was performed on red maple (Acer rubrum) seedlings in operational nursery field conditions. A test area of 1000 sq. ft. of nursery beds was treated. with a solution of ROOTS® (1:50 water by volume) applied in five applications during the active growing season. In November 1988, a sample of treated and untreated adjecent plants were harvested and sent to Yale in cold conditions for analysis. Thirty seven seedlings from each group were randomly choosen and weighed for stem and root fresh and dry weights. Stem diameter and total height were also measured. Data were analysed with Statview II for one factor analysis of variance for repeated measures.

RESULTS

Treated seedlings showed higher values of stem diameter, total height and fresh weights of shoot and root biomass. All the increments were significant but the root and shoot increments were most impressive.