Re: CULT:Root shaving revisited
From: John I Jones <jijones@ix.netcom.com>
Bill Shear wrote:
>
> Well, OK, I've been told that one of my weaknesses is that I can be
> convinced. If it works for you, by all means do it. I'll give it another
> try myself next year!
>
Well, I would encourage you not to abandon your observations from the fall of
'97 about which you wrote:
> I performed a brief experiment this fall with a group of very dry rhizomes,
> on which most of the foliage had whithered. On ten of them, I removed all
> the roots before planting, and on another ten I left the old roots on.
>
> After a week, the plants were give a "tug test" to feel for anchorage in
> the soil. The "shaved" rhizomes easily pulled out. The ones with the
> old roots could still be pulled, but were obviously more firmly anchored,
> and the old roots had produced new white branches.
>
> The "shaved" plants showed no signs of being well-anchored for another
> week and a half. The new roots they developed grew to 3-4" before
> branching and providing anchorage and water to the plant. By this time,
> new green foliage was showing at the center fan of the "unshaved" plants.
>
> The "unshaved" plants anchored faster, developed new foliage earlier,
> and are at this writing about 50% larger in foliage fan size than the
> "shaved" plants.
Maybe there is a greater difference the longer the plants are out of the soil.
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
________________________________________________
USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay)
Fremont, California, USA
Visit my website at:
http://members.home.net/jijones
President, Westbay Iris Society
Director, Region 14 of the AIS
AIS Special Committee for Electronic Member Services
Subscribe to iris-talk at:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/iris-talk
Archives at: http://www.mallorn.com/lists/iris-talk/
Subscribe to iris-photos at:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/iris-photos
Archives at:http://www.mallorn.com/lists/iris-photos/
________________________________________________
--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------
Choose from a wide selection of high-quality newsletters at ONElist.
For details on ONElist's PROS&PUNDITS newsletters, click below.
<a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/prospun2 ">Click Here</a>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
