Root Growth Stimulants After Repotting

[LobsterOfJustice]

Do you use a root growth stimulant after repotting, or find it unnecessary? If you do use one, which product do you use?


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[Ray]

While they may not be absolutely necessary, they do help the plant get reestablished faster.

Synthetic hormone products like SuperThrive and Dyna-Gro K-L-N are effective, but suffer from short shelf lives. Get a nice, fresh batch, and they're great. Get an old one, or one that was shipped and stored improperly, and it will do nothing.

Natural products, based upon seaweeds, especially kelp, can also be quite effective, but their efficacy varies all over the map, depending upon the species used, and how they are processed. Crushing, freezing, chemical extraction, and drying all degrade the chemistry to one degree or another.

That said, and acknowledging right up front my financial interest, university and farm research showed that KelpMax is, by far, the most effective stimulant available. (That, by the way, is why I sell it.). It was used on the new turf at Citizens Bank Park in Philly after the NHL Winter Classic tore up the old stuff, and and I have recently shipped some to the Bank of America Stadium (Carolina Panthers), too.

The manufacturer in South Africa does not want to retail it, preferring instead to sell to large-scale agricultural applications, and it took me almost two years of discussions to get their permission to do so.

[samfish]

I fully agree regarding KelpMax,
I have used it when establishing bareroot plants, and when repotting plants, and frequently get a "Flush" of new roots within 4-7 days of application.

I use it monthly for all my plants as well, and frequently see additional roots or root branching after application.


It certainly works better than what I have seen over years of using Superthrive and/or DynaGro K-L-N over the years

[Irielicious]

I have dried kelp powder I buy from the health food store in their bulk food section for less than a dollar. I mix 1/3 tsp per gallon of osmotic water. This has really helped my rootless orchids start growing roots. Keeping the dried powder allows me to mix it up as I need it. I'm sure it isn't as "strong" as the industrially made seaweed stuff but mine will last until all my powder is gone...