Rossizing seedlings (& tc)

On Oct 25 '98, I started seeds from Royal Standard.  Got good germination
and rapid growth so decided to try experiment on ten seedlings.  On Dec
12, '98 seedlings were fairly large with the crowns a little bigger than
diameter of ball point pen refill tube.  Plants were divided into 6
untreated and 4 were Rossized by using a scapel and cutting up through
the basal plate up to about half way into the crown, leaving 2 roots on
each side of the divided crown.  The root and crown were then sprayed
with a fungicide and allowed to soak for about 15 minutes before
replanting in ProMix.  All ten seedlings were kept under 24 hour lights,
and kept in same tray so they received identical treatment.  For the
first month, the Rossized seedlings were definitely set back by their
surgery and at 30 days post treatment the non-Rossized plants were twice
as big as the Rossized plants.  It is now ten weeks since they were
Rossized and all ten plants are same size.  The 6 untreated all have one
crown; the four treated: 3 have 3 crowns and 1 has 2 crowns.  It works!

I do not know if this has application for the tc plants per the recent
postings.  Might help those small plants to multiply and fill in the
space - assuming good cultural practices.

Charles Tuttle
Columbus  OH   Z5
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