DISCUSSION

The primary effect of ROOTS on seedling development was increased root and shoot development, as evidenced in Table 1 and Figures 2 through 10. A biostimulation effect is clearly present. The cause of the enhancement, however, is not as evident. One possible explanation is the earlier development of treated seeds. Germination was earlier for all cultivars when treated with ROOTS (Figure 1). One possibility is that the entire increase in root/shoot mass was due to the advanced development relative to controls. Another likelihood is that the effect resulted from physiological enhancement of growth, perhaps from the auxin or other growth regulators present in the combined seaweed/humic acid extracts in the product. It is also probable that the effect was a result of both. While experiments were not conducted to determine the actual cause, observations suggest a combined effect. Control seedlings, if corrected for time differences, showed less difference. However, the level of development was never completely identical in terms of root length, shoot mass and root hair presence.

Another unanswered question relates to germination. Besides earliness (Figure 1), the rate of germination appeared improved when seeds were treated with ROOTS . One explanation is that of biostimulation. It is also possible that the longer period of germination time led to increased susceptibility and loss of seeds to rot and disease. The earlier germination appears to be a biostimulatory effect, but the physiological basis is not known. A likely guess is that it results from growth regulator effects.

Causes aside, it is clear from the two year study that seedling production is both enhanced and earlier when ROOTS is used as a 1% drench on propagation media. Earlier transplants with increased root and shoot attributes would have definite advantages for commercial producers of bedding plants.

The first year of field studies has resulted in a number of interesting and commercially relevant observations. Bedding plants treated with ROOTS supplemented with fertilizer performed better than controls receiving only fertilizer. The main effect seems to be earliness (Tables 2, 5, 6 and 7 and Figures 13). Earlier flowering, fruiting and ripening were observed. While earliness varied with plants from three to ten days, most cultivars appeared to benefit by one week.

Increased shoot dimensions (Figures 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16; Tables 2, 3 and 4) and enhanced flowering and fruiting