Dark Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 I remember seeing some late-night infomercial about 8 years ago promoting a product called Root Blast. This stuff apparently produces greater growth in plants by stimulating root growth... i forget the specifics but, there are pictures of tomatos on the website! Does anyone have any idea what this stuff is comprised of, have experience with it or knowledge of those that do? I am trying to get some without paying for it, even though it is only $49.95 and comes with a free set of steak knives... does anyone know the secrets of this stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 mm this could be a good science experiment for this year. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 but wait theres still more! http://www.rootblast.com you do scientific type things Chris.L? i'm looking around on the net at the moment trying to find if someone has done a comparison or a breakdown... i'll shout if i find anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 but wait theres still more! http://www.rootblast.com you do scientific type things Chris.L? i'm looking around on the net at the moment trying to find if someone has done a comparison or a breakdown... i'll shout if i find anything I was thinking about this years science fair project that we have to do. I was thinking about doing a comparison on a plant and seeing if it really does anything. Was also thinking about seeing if it works in fish tanks and if it has the same effect as outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 mm I don't think this would work on aquariums. I want to order some now and use it on some fly traps and see how they grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 any reason why not? from what i can tell of the ingredients it should work OK excepting the secret ingredient ROOTBLAST® which is probably a glob of chewing gum from the executives boot or something, but still needs to be identified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 won't it all float at the top? I don't think I will put this on Fly Traps, forgot not to add fertilisers etc to them so this will have to wait awhile till we know what we have to do etc. If you get any it would be good to know if it works etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 i was thinking the same thing... i got a couple of them from California in the weekend along with some type of Drosera - been a long time since i have seen them around. i guess another point of research for you is what bugs have the highest nutrients for meat-eating plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 i was thinking the same thing... i got a couple of them from California in the weekend along with some type of Drosera - been a long time since i have seen them around. i guess another point of research for you is what bugs have the highest nutrients for meat-eating plants. I have some Drosera/Cephalotus/Venus Fly Traps etc. Not sure whether this product would harm the plants but I presume not. It would be cool to have a 3ft trap on the plant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 :lol: you'd have to start feeding it mice and the occasional chicken drumstick! i think that most of the aquatic substrate additions like peat, potting mix and rootblast would float but most even aquatic potting mix which is designed for underwater use is supposed to be added to an empty pond then covered with about 2 inches of gravel to stop fish from disturbing it and it floating to the surface. comparing the ingredients i would assume that the aquatic potting mix is just the stuff from the bottom of the pile that is sodden and has a better chance of sinking or staying down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Could be .. if you order some rootblast I'd be very interested to see how it goes Chris- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interfecus Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Chris, is there a particular reason why you chose to use carnivorous plants for the experiment? It'd impress the judges more if you used easier plants but on a scale that allowed you to claim that your results were statistically significant. If you did 30 with a full dose, 30 with a half dose and 30 with no rootblast then you could set it up as a full scientific experiment. At your level in college that would pretty much guarantee a high placing in the science fair if written up properly. I would suggest trying the blue lupin, Lupinus angustifolius, since the seeds can be bought in 1kg packs for about $3 per pack and have a very high germination rate. Planting 100 - 120 seeds would supply the 90 plants that you would need easily. Remember that you must have at least 30 in each trial before you can claim scientifically acceptable results. I can give you further advice if you want . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Chris, is there a particular reason why you chose to use carnivorous plants for the experiment? It'd impress the judges more if you used easier plants but on a scale that allowed you to claim that your results were statistically significant. If you did 30 with a full dose, 30 with a half dose and 30 with no rootblast then you could set it up as a full scientific experiment. At your level in college that would pretty much guarantee a high placing in the science fair if written up properly. I would suggest trying the blue lupin, Lupinus angustifolius, since the seeds can be bought in 1kg packs for about $3 per pack and have a very high germination rate. Planting 100 - 120 seeds would supply the 90 plants that you would need easily. Remember that you must have at least 30 in each trial before you can claim scientifically acceptable results. I can give you further advice if you want . Inter - I have not done the experiment yet, it is later this year. I wasn't going to use them for the experiment as such. Only thing with 90 seeds is that I don't have 90 pots I will take what you said into consideration, I am doing Bio this year so something on animals/plants is a must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriber Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Does your teacher have to phyically see your expt? When I was 7th form six years ago, the expts weren't done in class time and as the seeds didn't germinate at all first time I just made up the whole thing. Didn't get too bad a mark either :lol: Making it up would give you more time to admire your aquaria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Does your teacher have to phyically see your expt? When I was 7th form six years ago, the expts weren't done in class time and as the seeds didn't germinate at all first time I just made up the whole thing. Didn't get too bad a mark either :lol: Making it up would give you more time to admire your aquaria I made up last years science experiment on the last night. Luckily I passed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriber Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Good work. Remember this little phrase, I will work harder next year! Seriously though, there comes a time when slack buggers do have to put some work in Maybe this year is yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Good work. Remember this little phrase, I will work harder next year! Seriously though, there comes a time when slack buggers do have to put some work in Maybe this year is yours? Yeah lol, I have to put a lot of work in this year ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 My son did a plant experiment for the Science Fair and did very well. It impressed the judges because he had to do it over at least a 3 month period. His idea was to see if plant fertilisers actually worked. He had a 3ft tank divided into 3. All were set up identically. He then added to each - one baby tears, one sprite and one other (hygrophila I think) I can't remember. All cut to the same height so each of the 3 tanks had 3 plants. He noted down the plant lengths. In the first tank he used plant fertiliser tablets as per packet instructions, the middle tank was the control so had nothing added and the 3rd tank he used a liquid fertiliser. Each week he measured and noted the length of each plant and plotted them on a graph. For the actual fair he did not take the tank etc but drew graphs and stuff with pics of what he had set up showing the growth rates of all the plants and his results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Come on Caryl, don't keep us waiting. What were the results? Cheers Robbo btw congrats on your son's hard work! Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 just to add regarding the venus fly traps. It will take at least six months to be able to determine whether any experiments worked. keeping a vft alive for 6 months is a miracle let alone experimenting with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interfecus Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 You can buy those black plastic bags to put plants in quite cheaply. It might cost you $20 - $30 for the containers but parents are usually willing to pay for things like this . You'll need pots that have never been used before if you want accurate results anyway. I'd aim to run the experiment over at least two months, three would be better. Work out a regular plan of watering, place the bags in a pattern that will eliminate bias from levels of sunlight and within a few months the plants will have grown quite a lot. At the end of the experiment you should probably measure dry weight rather than height because it gives a more acceptable result. Ask your school whether they have a drying oven if you plan to do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 Robbo it was 6 or 7 years ago! If I remember correctly the fertilisers made a small difference over the 3 months but not a lot. May have made a bigger difference over a longer period, who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 Matthew said... > ... keeping a vft alive for 6 months is a miracle let alone > experimenting with it... Says who? I've had some plants for several years now. No worries. My plants aren't exactly 'molly-coddled' I don't think CPs would make good subjects for the kind of experiment suggested here though. They don't like too many nutrients at the best of times for a start. Secondly, VFTs are liable to go dormant on you half way through a long term experiment... Chris, if you wanted to use CPs and wanted to get really keen, you could experiment with Trichopel (a commercially available fungus) and Cephalotus, there is anecdotal evidence that plants of C. follicularis when grown with the fungus do better than without. I've been meaning to give it a go myself one day but my Cephs are too precious to risk. To reduce variation, you could take some leaf cuttings of your Ceph now and get them established before starting the experiment by the addition of Trichopel to some pots and not to others. I don't agree that 30 is any sort of minimum for scientifically valid results either. More replicates are better than less but if there is only one variable being tested, fewer than 30 should still give a worthwhile answer as long as all other conditions are monitored and controlled. I'd say even 5 of each (you'd probably want to start 20 cuttings to be safe) would give a result that's reliable enough to be 'fit for purpose' as far as a science fair goes. If you can't get 20 leaf cuttings started from your current Ceph then obtain a few more and randomly mix the cuttings (if they're from the same source they're probably the same clone anyway - no one grows Cephs from seed) so that any variation from this is removed. There are heaps of opportunity for cleverly planned experiments in areas like this. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 My VFT is 3 years old, and I think it's alright to get some cuttings off it, but I do not want to just incase I kill it :oops: Thanks all for the info, will come in handy!! Chris- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interfecus Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 For a science fair, 5 of each would be OK but if you want to do statistical analysis then it is practically impossible to get any results off a trial of less than 30. The advantage of doing a large experiment with statistical analysis for the science fair is that nobody expects it. Conducting an experiment like that would show significantly more planning and foresight than is expected and would guarantee a high placing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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