Seaweed for rooting clones?

VerdantGreen said:

i read somewhwere that nitrogen tends to slow down rooting, or at least plants that were well fed with nitrogen produced clones that rooted slower. seaweed also has some growth hormones though so they may speed up rooting. tbh i have never had a problem just using water.
interesting results dignan!

VG.

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Dignan said:

Hey all-

I recently cloned some grapevines to share with friends and since I had so many I ran an informal side-by-side experiment where 1/2 were soaked in water for 48 hours and then put into soil... the other 1/2 were soaked in a mild seaweed solution and then put into soil. The 1/2 that were soaked in seaweed all rooted several days before the 1/2 that were soaked in water.

For those of you who clone regularly, do you ever use seaweed, either as a soak or by foliar spraying your cuttings while they root?

*I'm not looking for everyone's various methods of cloning... we've been through all that enough times. Just wondering if anyone else has found accelerated rooting times with seaweed specifically.

Dig

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Auxins in seaweed include indolyl-acetic acid (IAA), discovered in seaweed in 1933 for the first time. Two new auxins, as yet unidentified, but unlike any of the known indolyl-acetic acid types, were also discovered in 1958 in the Laminaria and Ascophyllum seaweeds used for processing into dried seaweed meal and liquid extract. These auxins have been found to encourage the growth of more cells -- in which they differ from more familiar types of auxin which simply enlarge the cells without increasing their number. One of the auxins also stimulates growth in both stems and roots of plants, and in this differs from indolyl-acetic acid and its derivatives, which cause cells to elongate but not to divide. The balanced action of this seaweed auxin has not been found in any other auxin.

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Seaweed can either be applied to the roots or foliage of the plant. When applied to the foliage it will induce a mild localized and systemic acquired resistance (LAR/SAR) response as well as aid the uptake of certain elemental nutrients into the leaves. When applied to the roots it induces a mild LAR/SAR response as well as stimulates the activity and increases the number of plant beneficial microorganisms found in the rhizosphere. To maximize these ”primary effects”, seaweed should be applied early in a crops productive cycle, initially targeting the roots and later applied to the foliage. An entirely foliage or root application program can also be followed.

Benefits to the Roots

Improvements in plant beneficial rhizosphere microorganism activity and numbers leads to an increase in their production of plant stimulating compounds for example, classic Plant Growth Hormones (PGH) such as cytokinins and auxins. That in turn leads to increased root and shoot growth. Those same microorganisms also produce natural chelating compounds called siderophores that bind iron in low iron situations and make it available to both themselves and the plant. Siderophores can lock-up iron, making it unavailable to certain fungi which may be potentially pathogenic to the plant. Applications of seaweed to seedling/ plant roots, “feeds” selective micro-organisms in the rhizosphere resulting in increased root growth and nutrient availability.

Those same rhizosphere microorganisms can be antagonistic to certain soil-borne major and minor pathogens through the production of specific digestive enzymes, the possible production of antibiotics and via competition for nutrients (such as iron), water and space, making the rhizosphere more suppressive to soil-borne diseases.

The digestive break-down products released from pathogenic fungi by the microbes will induce an SAR response in the plant; that, coupled with the direct, mild LAR/SAR effect of makes the plant more resistant to diseases.

The result of a more disease suppressive rhizosphere and an induced LAR/SAR effect in the plant leads to a reduction in soil-borne disease symptoms. The induced LAR/SAR effect also allows the plant to resist environmental stresses such as drought and salinity to a far greater degree.

The ultimate benefits of seaweed applied to the roots are:

• A bigger, deeper root system and larger shoots
• Greater nutrient availability to the plant
• Less soil-borne disease symptoms on the seedling & plant
• Increased environmental stress resistance

All these benefits result in better crop establishment and an excellent start to the productive season for biannual or perennial crops.

Benefits to the Foliage

Seaweed can be applied with any standard fertilizer or crop protection spray program. Foliage applications help maintain crop health by both inducing a mild LAR/SAR response in the plant and helping to increase the uptake of elemental nutrients into the plant through the leaves.

The induced LAR/SAR response is manifested in many ways depending upon the actual stress that the crop experiences. There can be:

• Increased production of phytoalexins (locally produced anti-microbial compounds) both in terms of amount produced and duration at those elevated levels
• An increase in a variety of different antioxidant enzymes and other quenching agents that mop-up destructive, excited oxygen moieties and free radical
• Increases in the amount and duration of other defensive proteins or protective compounds such as proline, used by the plant to help it withstand and resist water stresses

A consequence of the increased antioxidant levels and activities is reduced membrane damage, especially reductions in the damage caused to the photosynthetic apparatus, which can result in visibly greener looking plants.

The final result of repeated foliage applications of is a plant in a heightened state of readiness to better resist environmental stresses, diseases and certain, sap-sucking insect pests, ultimately leading to reductions in crop losses caused by any, or all of those stresses and the maintenance of the crops photosynthetic potential.

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GeorgeSmiley said:

I only have this maxi grow shit because I SWEAR it's what you told me to buy and then I re read and you said to get the Acadian lol..... Oh well, I'm putting all of this bottle out in the yard.... we gotta get that box of kelp soon CC

smiley

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EddieShoestring, those clones look very healthy.

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Acadian Seaplant's STIMPLEX® is an all-natural Plant Growth Regulator (PGR) and is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a General Crop Biostimulant. It features naturally occurring plant growth stimulatory compounds, the benefits of the premium marine plant Ascophyllum nodosum, and a complex matrix of elements. STIMPLEX is approved for use on over 80 crops including: Fruits, Vegetables, Field Crops, Cotton, Turf and Ornamentals.

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