Gibberellic Acid
Gibberellic Acid (GA), which comes from a naturally occurring growth hormone, is a member of a type of plant hormone called Gibberellins, which regulate the growth rate of plants. It was first discovered in Japan, in 1935 as a result of the study of a condition common in rice plants called "foolish seedling" disease, which caused the plants to grow much taller than normal. The effects of gibberellins weren't widely understood until years later.
Gibberellic acid is a very potent hormone whose natural occurrence in plants controls their development. Since GA regulates growth, applications of very low concentrations can have a profound effect. Timing is critical: too much GA may have an opposite effect from that desired; too little may require the plant to be repeatedly treated to sustain desired levels of GA.
For people with little time to devote to their plants, gibberellic acid can produce terrific results with very little effort, giving you bigger and greener plants, making everyone think you have that "green thumb" touch.
For flower gardens, regular applications of gibberellic acid will maximize the number of blossoms that a plant produces, while also increasing the size of each bloom, making your flower gardens a showplace. When there is difficulty with fruit set because of incomplete pollination, GA may be effectively used to increase fruit set. The resulting fruit maybe partially or entirely seedless. GA has increased the total yield in greenhouse tomato crops both as a result of increased fruit set and more rapid growth of the fruit.
For fruit and vegetable gardens, applications of gibberellic acid can produce more fruit per plant. See our Applications Section for specific information on plant types. GA applied near the terminal bud of trees may increase the rate of growth by stimulating more or less constant growth during the season. In a Department of Agriculture experiment, the GA was applied as a 1% paste in a band around the terminal bud of trees. Treatment was repeated three times during the summer. Walnut tee growth was 8.5 ft. for treated trees, 1.5 ft. for untreated trees.
Limited growing seasons, whether for indoor or outdoor plants, often cause plants to become dormant. So even an indoor plant may go into dormancy, if regulated by natural light. Many of us have seen first hand the results of a Ficus Fig dropping many of its leaves in late fall. Using MegaGro will spur continued growth in your plants. Treatment with high concentrations of GA is effective in overcoming dormancy and causing rapid germination of seed. Concentrations of about 2 ppm can cause tubers to sprout earlier.
If a plant is sufficiently developed, premature flowering may be induced by direct application of GA to young plants. This action is not sustained and treatment may have to be repeated. Formation of male flowers is generally promoted by concentrations of 10 to 200 ppm., female flowers by concentrations of 200 to 300 ppm. Concentrations of more than 600 ppm markedly suppresses initiation of both male and female flowers.
Pollination within self-incompatible clones and between closely related species may some times be forced by the application of GA and cytokinin to the blooms at the time of hand pollination. Spraying fruit trees at full-blossom or when the blossoms begin to wither can offset the detrimental effects of frost. Gibberellic acid can also be written as GA3.
Synonyms: Gibberellin A3; Gibberellin; GA3
CAS No.: 77-06-5
Molecular Weight: 346.38
Molecular Formula: C19H22O6
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