Winter plant trial results

This winter I have done some plant trails.  I was testing to see if a plant was light deprived and the extra length was buried as it grew, if additional roots would develop on the lengthed stem.  This is were I got he idea http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=65.

I did two different plantings and let them grow for 14 days.  Then I dug up the plants and compared the roots.  The first trial I had the light deprived plant 24 inches from the light.  The controls were positioned 2 inches from the light.  The controls grew normally.  The light deprived plant grew almost a foot tall but never actually grew a 1st true leaf, while the controls were starting the 4th true leaf.  The roots on the controls were well developed and very close to the same weight as the plant above ground (it was very hard to get all of the soil off without breaking the roots).  The roots on the light deprived one were almost non existants.  Barely 1 inch long and less than a dozen of them.  There were NO roots on the extremely long stem even though it was buried as it grew.

The second trial I moved the test subject to only 12 inches from the light.  The plant grew alot better, it was still leggy, but grew to the 4th leaf stage, however, the leaves were smaller than the controls.  There was one extra set of roots that developed on the stem, and the root ball had longer roots but not as much root  mass as the controls.  During this trail, I took one of the controls and added Bio-tone starter plus with Mycorrhizae (that I used last year) during a transplant after the first leaf stage.  This plant had bigger leaves, was greener, had started the fifth leaf and the root mass was about 20% larger than the controls. 

I will be getting some bio-endo plus mycorrhizae soon.  When I do I will be running a final trial to see the difference between the Bio-tone and it.  I will move the leggy plant to within 10 inches of hte light and leave it until it is root bound (maybe after planting season) and see if roots develop on the stem over a longer period.

My conclusions so far.  Light deprivation makes a weaker plant.  Pumpkins don't grow roots on the entire stem like a tomato does.  Bio-Tone created a healthier plant with a larger root mass.  I will update this after the final trial ends (around mid April).