Subject: Root stimulants

From: [email-masked] (HeritageNJ)
Date: 27 Aug 1995 00:10:46 -0400

Has anyone seen any studies that prove or disprove the effectiveness of
commercial root stimulants such as Ortho's "Up-Start", "Roots", or
"Super-Thrive"?

Jeff Speirs
Heritage Tree Movers
3311 Marne Hwy.
Mt Laurel, NJ 08054
609-273-7777

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From: Ben Levin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 12:24:50 -0400

> commercial root stimulants such as Ortho's "Up-Start", "Roots", or

 I haven't seen any studies,  but I've seen for myself,  and have heard 
>from  scores of other fellow growers,  that Superthrive (ST) works 
wonders,  at least on Nepenthes ssp. (tropical pitcher plants).  It has 
increased pitcher size and,  on one plant (N.gracilis) that hadn't 
pitchered for months after receiving it,  it induced pitchering (which,  
as I heard from others,  is not an uncommon effect of ST).

 As far as being a root stimulant,  ST contains naphthyl-1-acetic acid 
(NAA) which is an auxin analog and is used commercially for rooting.  
Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is the naturally occuring form of auxin in 
plants.  Auxins are one of the types of plant growth regulators which,  
among other things,  are know to induce rooting.

Ben
[email-masked]