Abstract
This study determined the effect of the granular humate Earthgreen (Menefee Mining Corp., Dallas) and the biostimulant ROOTS2™ (LISA Products Corp., New Haven, Conn.) on drought tolerance of the ornamental annuals
Impatiens wallerana
`Accent White' and
Salvia splendens
`Red Hot Sally'. Earthgreen was incorporated into the soil and ROOTS2™ applied as a root drench at transplanting and 30 days after transplanting, Transplants were established in greenhouse beds under irrigated conditions for 8 weeks, then subjected to a five week drought. Data indicates rates of 43.9 and 87.9 g·m
–2
of Earthgreen or 300 ml of 1% or 2% ROOTS2™ per plant had no significant effect on
Salvia
shoot dry weight or chlorophyll content of
Salvia
or
Impatiens
at the end of the 8-week establishment period. However,
Salvia
flower dry weight was significantly increased with the higher rate of Earthgreen. During the 5-week drought, Earthgreen or ROOTS2™ did not significantly affect xylem pressure potential of
Salvia
or relative water content of
Impatiens
. After the 5-week drought no significant effect of either product on shoot dry weight of
Salvia
or
Impatiens
or flower dry weight of
Salvia
was observed.