Stamford site. Warm—season plants ‘4cre transplanted on Hay 20th at the same site. All plants at the Killington site were field-planted on June 9th -

Each transplant was thoroughly watered at planting time with a one percent solution of ROOTS supplemented with soluble fertilizer (3—5—6). Controls were treated with an equivalent fertilization using the same soluble fertilizer component as added to ROOTS. These treatments were repeated at monthly intervals. In between times, normal watering was used. The black plastic mulch was used to reduce watering and weeding requirements. No pesticides were used during the trials.

RESULTS

Seeds treated with ROOTS germinated faster than controls. A typical comparison of treated vs. untreated flats is shown for geranium “Scarlet Border” (Figure 1). The first germination with treated seeds occurred four days before that observed with the controls. Germination was completed for both the treated and control seeds about the same time. For all cultivars tested, the ROOTS treated seeds always responded faster than the untreated seeds and had better germination rates.

All transplants treated with ROOTS during the seedling production stage showed increased root and shoot production relative to controls. Typical flats of treated and control plants are shown in Figures 2 through 6.

After washing the media off the root systems of transplants, both increased shoot and root development were visually observable in treated cultivars relative to controls.. Typical transplants with washed roots are shown in Figures 7, 8 and 9. It was interesting to note that root hair development on the treated transplants was also improved. This observation is easily visualized by the darker and greater mass of adhering organic matter on the treated transplants shown in Figures 7 through 10. These particles were not removed during the washing process, thus eliminating the chance of meaningful determinations of root dry mass. These improvements with treated transplants have now been observed for two consecutive years.

Measurable differences in shoot dry mass and root length are shown in Table I. These differences generally run 20 to 40% relative to controls. Biostimulation of bedding transplants has now been observed consistently for two years.

Biostimulation of field—grown bedding plants is shown in Tables 2 through 7. Broccoli was extensively examined for several, criteria (Figures ii and 12). Results are summarized in table 2. Results in terms of height, earlier flowering, increased flowering(figure 13) and fruit production are shown in Tables 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, respectively. A few cultivars that had spreading habits were monitored for width (Figures 14, 15 and 16).