Superthrive - Does it work or not ? Let's run some tests !

davetree

Omono
Messages
1,556
Reaction score
848
Location
St. Paul Minnesota
USDA Zone
4
I am going to run some small experiments with Superthrive on bonsai species, using it for cuttings and for bare-root transplanting. If we get enough people to participate, perhaps we could learn something. Anyone care to join me ? Maybe this is what bonsai forums should be about, I don't know, what do you think ?
 

bretts

Shohin
Messages
273
Reaction score
7
Nice one Dave. I would suggest pruning the roots and shoots to show the best effect of auxin. How many seedlings are you thinking off. I have considerd using the many trident seedlings that grow wild around my yard but. call me slack but it will be too much trouble finding many specimens the same size and the same size pots and then were do I put them.
Since I have been shooting my mouth of so much I will look at doing some sought of experiment in our spring Sep-Oct.
What we really need is a bonsai field grower with stock like this to do some tests
 

Attachments

  • SeijuElmJan09B.jpg
    SeijuElmJan09B.jpg
    98 KB · Views: 62

davetree

Omono
Messages
1,556
Reaction score
848
Location
St. Paul Minnesota
USDA Zone
4
Nice elms !

I am considering clones because they will be identical genetically. Let's face it, some seedlings just root a lot better than others - we don't want to skew the test results.

I have 20 rooted Caitlin elm cuttings I am going to bare root. I could root prune all them at the same time, or not. They are all from the same parent. I will also take many cuttings from this parent plant this spring and will test them as well. Maybe I will confine my experiments to this species. I also have a big trident I could take cuttings from, I think everything tested should be clones if possible. I have one or two or three of everything, not just in great numbers, but that can be remedied. I also can take cuttings of Acer palmatum, as they are a little more difficult to root. It would be nice to use 100 clones or more, but I am limited as far as time and space. Perhaps forum members could pick a single species and work with it.

I may also purchase a dozen small Amur maple to bare root. I think I may perform a shock test by punting them around the yard after the soil is washed off. Maybe let the roots dry out a little, smash em up a bit - all in the interest of science.

I have two huge nurseries, one commercial/wholesale and one retail/wholesale near to me. They propagate and bare-root millions of plants. I may just wander over there and ask their opinion on such matters, just for fun, not drawing any conclusions but out of curiosity.
 

bretts

Shohin
Messages
273
Reaction score
7
Not yet :)
Good thoughts on the cuttings verses seedlings it is a big undertaking to put a test like this together.
 

milehigh_7

Mister 500,000
Messages
4,920
Reaction score
6,096
Location
Somewhere South of Phoenix
USDA Zone
Hot
I am going to run some small experiments with Superthrive on bonsai species, using it for cuttings and for bare-root transplanting. If we get enough people to participate, perhaps we could learn something. Anyone care to join me ? Maybe this is what bonsai forums should be about, I don't know, what do you think ?

This is excellent Dave. Just try to control as many variables for growth as you can and document how they were controlled. Should be interesting!
 

DrBonsai

Mame
Messages
105
Reaction score
133
Location
Chicago, IL
USDA Zone
5b
Dave, digging through the Superthrive threads and found this old post. Did you ever do the Superthrive test ?
If you did, I would be curious about your results.
 
Top Bottom