On 10/07/2013 22:28, Emery Davis wrote:
On Wed, 10 Jul 2013 20:26:02 +0100, Jeff Layman wrote:

If that is accurate (and they don't seem certain as to what the
timescale really is!), why not save money by underdosing? Would 2 - 4
weeks make a real difference? Seems to me you could experiment with
varying the dose with a few identical seedlings to see if there really
is any difference after a couple of months.

Well, you do want to help the plant get established, sometimes the first
couple of months can be critical. I do underdose, but not as much as AT
did. That was a large tree, probably 70l pot, he tossed a little
handful the hole.

I think you'd need more than a few seedlings to really do a proper test,
seedlings vary so much anyway in terms of health and vigour.

Have you tried the stuff, Jeff?

No, but I've thought about it.

My main interest is greenhouse-grown Western Australian plants, and
those (particularly the Proteaceae) have very specific mycorrhizal
associations! They can take a very long time from seed to get going,
although after a few years they seem quite happy and flower well. I
wonder if they somehow adapt to our mycorrhizae?. I thought it quite
interesting that (according to FAQs at the Rootgrow website), ericaceous
plants won't benefit from Rootgrow. Maybe plants with very specific
requirements (acid pH/low calcium; low phosphate) need very specific
mycorrhizae to thrive. I see the FAQs say that Japanese Acers may
benefit. I assume you've found that as you are /The/. Acer man!

Maybe I should get some Rootgrow and try it - I've two or three Acer
palmatum cultivars to put in. Got a Pieris too, and even though
ericaceous, the FAQs say that should benefit. So perhaps it's time for
the taxonomists to reclassify it, methinks! ;-)

--

Jeff