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Improvement Of Carrot Stands With Plant Biostimulants And Fluid Drilling, Douglas C. Sanders, Jacqueline A. Ricotta, Laurie Hodges

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We determined if application of certain naturally occurring compounds would stimulate emergence, growth, and development of carrot (Daucus carota L.). The commercially available biostimulants Agro-Lig, Enersol (humic acids), and Ergostim (folic acid) were added at a concentration of 1.5% (w/v) to Laponite 508 (magnesium sulfate) gel used in fluid drilling. Agro-Lig, Enersol and Ergostim increased carrot emergence >2-fold as measured by number of roots as compared to untreated seed. Number of carrots increased 50% to 75% when biostimulants were incorporated into the gel, compared to fluid-drilled seed without the biostimulants. When biostimulants were applied as a drench over untreated …