Table of Contents
Gibberellic acid can also influence the timing of flowering, flower gender, flower size, and number of flowers.
- Gibberellic acid is sometimes used in laboratory and greenhouse settings to trigger germination in seeds that would otherwise remain dormant.
- It is also widely used in the grape-growing industry as a hormone to induce the production of larger bundles and bigger grapes, especially Thompson seedless grapes.
- In the Okanagan and Creston valleys it is also used as a growth replicator in the cherry industry.
- It is used on Clementine Mandarin oranges which may otherwise cross-pollinate with other citrus and grow undesirable seeds.
- Applied directly on the blossoms as a spray, it allows for Clementines to produce a full crop of fruit without seeds.
- Gibberellins have a number of effects on plant development.
- They can stimulate rapid stem and root growth induce mitotic division in the leaves of some plants and increase seed germination rate.
Use strong solution, 500 ppm
- On very hard to germinate seeds and a 250 ppm on seeds that are just hard or slow to start.
- Seeds enclosed in a hard coat may be submit to a higher concentration, 750-1000 ppm.
- You can scarify the seeds at first.
- Soak seeds for at 24 hours and at most three days for the ones enclosed in a hard coat.
- Keep the seeds at room temperature with occasional careful shaking.
- The seeds may then be sown.
- Don’t use it on easy to start seeds unless you dilute it greatly like 25-100 ppm and soak them only for 2-3 hours.
- Normal easy-to-sprout seeds will become very elongated and stretched out, then die if GA3 is used on them. Concentrations of about 2 ppm can cause tubers to sprout earlier.