pepperhead212
Executive Chef
For those of you here that start some of your things from seed, I thought that I'd share this with you.
GA-3, short for Gibberellic Acid-3, is a plant hormone, often used to stimulate seed germination. I experimented with it last year, and found that it definitely quickened germination of some seeds, but when I checked tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, the seeds were actually slowed down, compared to water, and saltpeter (the usual solution I soak them in). However, upon researching GA-3, I learned that some seeds can be speeded up by one concentration, but prevented from germinating by higher concentrations, and I was only testing 500 ppm at the time.
The herbs I tested - parsley, dill, cilantro, basil - definitely speeded up, esp. the parsley. It also seemed to work well on okra seeds.
Just last week I tried GA-3 on something that hadn't sprouted for me at all, in over 2 weeks - Japanese Spinach. Spinach is notorious for bad germination, and this batch was 2 years old! I also tried it on 2 alliums about a week earlier- also 2 years old, and notorious for not storing well. I put about 6 layers of paper towel in some petri dishes, then soaked these with some 1,000 ppm GA-3. Then I put some seeds of spring onions, garlic chives, and the Japanese spinach on top of the soaked PT, and put the tops on. In less than 48 hrs more than half of the chives, and a generous amount of those spinach leaves germinated! Not as many spring onions, but a bunch more eventually germinated.
Here's the dish of the chive seeds, after about a dozen sprouted ones had been planted. You can still see a few sprouts, and even more the next day.
Sprouting garlic chive seeds with GA3 10-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
Chives popping up a few days later:
Garlic chives, 10-23, started on 10-15 with GA-3 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
Japanese spinach seeds, germinated in less than 48 hrs, using 1,000 ppm of GA-3. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
Also trying GA-3 on a seed of a curry tree. I put one in a Jiffy-pellet about 2 weeks ago, with no results.
Curry tree seed, removed from the fruit, ready to try to sprout 10-21 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
GA-3 is cheap, and easy to use. It does not dissolve easily in water - to help this, add a few drops of isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the granules, then, since alkali de-activates it, add a few drops of white vinegar, to neutralize, or slightly acidify the solution, unless using distilled water.
GA-3, short for Gibberellic Acid-3, is a plant hormone, often used to stimulate seed germination. I experimented with it last year, and found that it definitely quickened germination of some seeds, but when I checked tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, the seeds were actually slowed down, compared to water, and saltpeter (the usual solution I soak them in). However, upon researching GA-3, I learned that some seeds can be speeded up by one concentration, but prevented from germinating by higher concentrations, and I was only testing 500 ppm at the time.
The herbs I tested - parsley, dill, cilantro, basil - definitely speeded up, esp. the parsley. It also seemed to work well on okra seeds.
Just last week I tried GA-3 on something that hadn't sprouted for me at all, in over 2 weeks - Japanese Spinach. Spinach is notorious for bad germination, and this batch was 2 years old! I also tried it on 2 alliums about a week earlier- also 2 years old, and notorious for not storing well. I put about 6 layers of paper towel in some petri dishes, then soaked these with some 1,000 ppm GA-3. Then I put some seeds of spring onions, garlic chives, and the Japanese spinach on top of the soaked PT, and put the tops on. In less than 48 hrs more than half of the chives, and a generous amount of those spinach leaves germinated! Not as many spring onions, but a bunch more eventually germinated.
Here's the dish of the chive seeds, after about a dozen sprouted ones had been planted. You can still see a few sprouts, and even more the next day.
Sprouting garlic chive seeds with GA3 10-17 by pepperhead212, on FlickrChives popping up a few days later:
Garlic chives, 10-23, started on 10-15 with GA-3 by pepperhead212, on FlickrJapanese spinach seeds, germinated in less than 48 hrs, using 1,000 ppm of GA-3. by pepperhead212, on FlickrAlso trying GA-3 on a seed of a curry tree. I put one in a Jiffy-pellet about 2 weeks ago, with no results.
Curry tree seed, removed from the fruit, ready to try to sprout 10-21 by pepperhead212, on FlickrGA-3 is cheap, and easy to use. It does not dissolve easily in water - to help this, add a few drops of isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the granules, then, since alkali de-activates it, add a few drops of white vinegar, to neutralize, or slightly acidify the solution, unless using distilled water.
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