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seeds Seed sprouting experiment with Gibberellic Acid (GA3)

coheed196

coheed196

This is a real-time experiment (meaning you guys will be seeing the results at the same time as I will)

I have ordered and received 2 grams of 90% pure Gibberellic Acid AKA GA3. It is a plant growth regulator (PGR) widely used to break dormancy in seeds, produce feminized flowers (in certain plants) promotes branching (make a GA3 paste with Lanolin apply to cut end of branch and will cause rapid growth. Study on walnut tree showed 8.5 ft of growth in one season vs 1.4 ft of growth on untreated walnut tree) and general overall growth. I will of course be experimenting with seed germination.

I will be planting 4 seeds of 3 different varieties. (2) will be treated with GA3 at 500 ppm (experimental group. (2) will not be treated with anything (control group)

Every seed will be sown in the exact same medium (coco coir) same size cup, and all will be going into my reptile egg incubator (hovabator) which will be set at 86°F. Of course the purpose of this will be to see if GA3 increases germination time in Capsicum seeds. I have yet to choose the varieties butwill be doing so later this evening. I will nbe taking a lot of pictures to document all of this.

If you have a suggestion for a variety, post it here and if I havethe seeds for it, I will definitely consider it.
Well of to take the little one to the church fall festival :-) will check back in after a bit
 
A certain some one on here who has been nothing short of awesome to me since I've been here mentioned this stuff.  I didn't know what it was.  Definitely keeping an eye on this thread.
 
^^^ what he said.....
 
also make sure you represent all species possible. 
 
We used Gib on rare palm seeds and occasionally got interesting (weird) results.  
 
When I first started gardening early this year, I bought some gibberellic acid and indole acetic acid.
 
I planted 10 holland white cucumber seeds (seed savers) in a peat pot tray. I treated half of them with 300 ppm of gibberellic acid and the other half with nothing. This was a small test group, but I did not notice any difference in percent of germination or speed of germination. 9 of 10 seeds germinated. The one that didn't was one of the ones I treated with gibberellic acid. 
 
At my university they do basic experiments with gibberellic acid and indole acetic acid in plant biology courses. The gibberellic is sprayed onto plants to promote growth and indole acetic acid in a solution is poured into the root system to promote root growth. I attempted at treating some plants by periodically spraying gibberellic acid on my plants, but I gave up the experiments early on because it is too much work to mix up the solution of gibberellic acid. You cannot store the solution for long because it's potency weakens very quickly. I read a study that mentioned after you mix it up, it's only good for a day or two. If I can find it, I'll link you to it.
 
Hmm everything I've read said as long as the solution is stored in a cold (refrigerator cold) and dark place that it wouldbe fine. II'm only mixing 169ml though so I'm not worried about storing that much. I'll be making it 500 ppm.
 
Just remember there is a group here that will make light of the whole thing unless you use like 2000 test subjects..... :silenced:
 
I dare still consider this an actual experiment, cool deal
 
PrimeTime said:
Just remember there is a group here that will make light of the whole thing unless you use like 2000 test subjects..... :silenced:
 
I dare still consider this an actual experiment, cool deal
Click to expand...
 
Eh, I'm not worried about it. It's not like I'm going to submit it to Pepper Science Monthly or whatever. I'm just doing it for myself and figured that people might find it interesting
 
coheed196 said:
 
Eh, I'm not worried about it. It's not like I'm going to submit it to Pepper Science Monthly or whatever. I'm just doing it for myself and figured that people might find it interesting
Click to expand...
Oh im with ya...
 
Ok I have chosen the varieties I will be testing the GA3 on. Oh yeah I went up to 5 varieties lol.

C. Tovarii - Junglerain
C. Galapagoense -?
Peruvian Red Rocoto - from Nigel
Brazilian Ghost - Ford's Fiery Foods
Bengal Naga - cmpman1974



GA3 is easiest to dissolve in high purity isopropyl alcohol


Here is one scoop of the GA3


Added 2ml of alcohol.....


And then added that to 169ml of distilled water to make a 500 ppm solution. I will now put the test seeds in to soak for 6-8 hours
 
Experiment is underway!!!!

Planted 6 seeds of each variety (3 soaked in 500 ppm solution of GA3) 3 completely 100% untreated, not soaked in water, not peroxide, no nothing. Just straight from their baggie. Every seed was sown in the same medium, which is plain coco coir that was expanded in distilled water, then excess water squeezed out and placed in the cup. Anyways here's some pictures and the countdown begins!!!

Sown seeds in the incubator


Infrared thermometer showing 85.6°F


General pictures of everything






Hopefully I'll be seeing some type of movement before long. I won't bore all of you with pictures everyday.....mainly because it would just be cups with coco coir in it lol. Anyways, feel free to ask any questions or just talk about PGR's or anything like that. I will definitely post pictures the second something seems to be happening.

Thanks for following along.
Vincent
 
Also, just because I had extra really, I just Foliar sprayed a couple of my adult plants just to see what happens. I sprayed the aji pineapple, yellow primo, and UBSC.
 
I've been doing a few more experiments that I don't really plan on documenting unless something crazy happens. For example I soaked a few 7 Pot Savannah seeds in a 1000 ppm GA3 / 1000 ppm Sodium Nitrophenolate solution (not a PGR but more of a biostimulate) for 12 hours and sowed them this morning. I also made a 1000 ppm paste of GA3 and Lanolin and applied it to the apical meristem of 3 plants that I topped (supposedly causes faster growth/branching)

Still checking the original seeds every day. So far nothing has changed
I've been doing a few more experiments that I don't really plan on documenting unless something crazy happens. For example I soaked a few 7 Pot Savannah seeds in a 1000 ppm GA3 / 1000 ppm Sodium Nitrophenolate solution (not a PGR but more of a biostimulate) for 12 hours and sowed them this morning. I also made a 1000 ppm paste of GA3 and Lanolin and applied it to the apical meristem of 3 plants that I topped (supposedly causes faster growth/branching)

Still checking the original seeds every day. So far nothing has changed
 
Well we have ourselves a winner. The GA3 treated Bengal Naga is the first one to show signs of life. Planted on October 31st sprouted Nov 4th. Could just be a freakishly fast grower or could be ga3. Won't know until a few more decide to grow.


Actually I'm a lying bastard. Upon further inspection I found that ALL 3 Peruvian Red Rocoto treated with GA3 have sprouted!!!!

 
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