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[New Wisdom]

Gibberellic Acid Germination Rates

I am making this thread because there is very little information on GA3 Germination rates.  I would like to compile more information about this. This way people can have a refference on what PPM to use for which seeds and have an idea of what the germination rates will be.

When you use GA3 with seeds please record your results! There really isn't much of this information documented and we can help out the entire growing community by compiling this information!

Please submit your germination rates as following:
[Species]
[Parts Per Million]
[Soak Time]
[Germination Rate]
[Extra Info. (Age, Vendor, Conditions of germination, Substrate)]

It would make it easier to update this thread if you make your first post, and then everytime you add another result to this thread, just update the original post.

Please don't clutter this thread non GA3 results!

I will be updating this periodically as more and more results are posted. I haven't figured out exactly how i'm going to do it, but I think I will make it into table format that has the species, soak time and the different "PPM's" with an avarage of each ppm range and for more information onlookers can just go through the individual's posts and check out a more detailed look at it.

Please keep in mind that fresh seeds usually do not need GA3 soaking.  It is usually the older seeds that need it.

***The 0 ppm row on the 12 hour soak time is just the normal germ rate without any GA3.***

Sources and Information

Here are some sources for information about GA3

• R.E.D. Facts Gibberellic Acid
• This is a source and has some information. JL Hudson Seeds
• Wikipedia Gibberelic Acid
• United Nuclear GA3
• More info

Mixing Gibberellic Acid

     There are several different ways you can mix GA3 into your distilled/deionized water solution.  You cannot just dissolve it in the water as it has very low solubility in water. You would have to disolve it slowly over a day or two for it to work.  You have to use a different solvent such as:  Alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, acetone, and chloroform.   
     So, first you pick your parts per million that you will be using. 100mg GA3 into 1000ml of water is 100ppm.  1000mg in 1000ml is 1000ppm.  It's pretty easy to calculate. Once you do that, weigh it out, then put it in a small dish or shot glas.  put just barely enough solvent to get it wet and cover the ammount of GA3. Mix that up till it disolves.  After it dissolves i like to add just a small portion of the water i'll be mixing in and then let it sit out for a few hours at room temp. This allows the solvent to evap off.  After the solvent evaporates then mix the rest of the water into the solution. 
     GA3 in a water solution only lasts about a week. Keep this in mind when choosing how much to mix. (Not sure if this is correct anymore)  Store your GA3 powder in a refridgerator with tin foil around the bag as to not let any light in.  Different seeds need different PPM mixtures.

GA3 Germination Rate Table 12 Hour Soak Time

	PPM	0	50	100	200	250	300	400	500	600	700	750	800	900	1000	1250	1500
Species
A. retusa
L. williamsii		22.5%

GA3 Germination Rate Table 16 Hour Soak Time

	PPM	50	100	200	250	300	400	500	600	700	750	800	900	1000	1250	1500
Species
A. retusa

GA3 Germination Rate Table 20 Hour Soak Time

	PPM	50	100	200	250	300	400	500	600	700	750	800	900	1000	1250	1500
Species
A. retusa

GA3 Germination Rate Table 24 Hour Soak Time

	PPM	50	100	200	250	300	400	500	600	700	750	800	900	1000	1250	1500
Species
A. retusa					66%
A. trigonus											100%
L. williamsii					30%
T. bridgesii			30%		44%
T. pachanoi			60%
T. peruvianus			30%

1 Like LIBERTYNY likes this.

[New Wisdom]

Ariocarpus retusa
250 ppm
24 hours
66% germ rate
Got these off ebay, germinated them on sand, not sure of the age

Ariocarpus Trigonus
750ppm
24 hours
100% Germ rate!!!!!
I got the seeds from This website.

Lophophora williamsii
0 ppm, 250 ppm
n/a, 24 hours
25%, 30%
got these from cactus plaza. they are supposedly around 1 year old. germinated on sand/worm castings

T. bridgesii
250 ppm
24 hours
40%
from World Seed Supply.  Germinated on pure coir.

These all are results of seeds from Koehres-kaktus.de below.

Lophophora Alberto
750 ppm
20 hours
80%

1000 ppm
20 hours
20%

Lophophora koehresii
1000ppm
20 hours
60%

Lophophora fricii
1000 ppm
20 hours
70%

Lophophora decipiens
1000 ppm
20 hours
40%

Trichocereus taquimbalensis
1000 ppm
20 hours
100%

500 ppm
20 hours
90%

Trichocereus macrogronus
1000 ppm
20 hours
10%

Trichocereus werdermannianus
1000 ppm
20 hours
20%

Trichocereus terscheckii
1000ppm
20 hours
100%

Trichocereus pachanoi
1000 ppm
20 hours
90%

More trials are under way right now.

[Sunshine]

"ariocarpus" williamsii
0 ppm/No GA3 used
N/A
20% Germ rate
I bought them off ebay from a guy in germany. I'm unsure of the age. I germinated them in coarse sand in a chinese take out container misting daily for a week or two.

I'm testing 600ppm now with seeds you sent me. I will soak them overnight (12-18hours) before surface sowing them in the take out container with coarse sand. Once my soaking case is freed up I will retest the "ariocarpus".

[Shpongle Lover]

Species:  Lophophora williamsii
GA3 Conc:  Zero ppm
Soak time:  N/A
Sow Date:  Aug. 22, 2013
Germ. rate:  30% after 1 month (7/23)
Seed source:  koehres-kaktus
Seed age: unknown

Species:  Lophophora williamsii
GA3 Conc:  500 ppm
Soak time:  24 hours
Sow Date:  Sept. 18, 2013
Germ. rate:  40% after 1 month (12/30)
Seed source:  koehres-kaktus
Seed age: unknown

Species:  Lophophora williamsii
GA3 Conc:  1000 ppm
Soak time:  24 hours
Sow Date:  Sept. 23, 2013
Germ. rate:  36% after 1 month (11/30)
Seed source:  koehres-kaktus
Seed age: unknown


S.L.

1 Like New Wisdom likes this.

[Mandrake]

I will update this if/when I see any new sprouts.

Trichocereus Bridgesii
100 ppm
24 hours soak
30% germination (after 1 month)
Gift of a STS member, age of seeds unknown. Germinated in coco coir under fluorescents, 25-30ºC.

Trichocereus Pachanoi
100 ppm
24 hours soak
60% germination (after 1 month)
Gift of a STS member, age of seeds unknown. Germinated in coco coir under fluorescents, 25-30ºC.

Trichocereus Peruvianus
100 ppm
24 hours soak
30% germination (after 1 month)
Gift of a STS member, age of seeds unknown. Germinated in coco coir under fluorescents, 25-30ºC.

[nobody]

Trichocereus bridgesii
500ppm
18 hour soak
60% germination (after 30 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand
originally from world seed supply, donated by sts member

Trichocereus bridgesii
750ppm
18 hour soak
95% germination (after 30 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand
supplier info same as above

Trichocereus bridgesii
1000ppm
18 hour soak
79% germination (after 30 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand
supplier info same as above

Lophophora williamsii
500ppm
12 hour soak (seeds were fresh)
70% germination (21 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand
local greenhouse

Lophophora williamsii
750ppm
12 hour soak (seeds were fresh)
82% germination (21 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand
local greenhouse

Lophophora williamsii v. caespitosa
500ppm
12 hour soak (seeds were fresh)
78% germination (21 days)
fine sand/ worm cast/ sharp sand

2 Likes New Wisdom and happyconcacti like this.

[happyconcacti]

Hi All,

Unfortunately I don't have any success to report because I made a big mistake with a GA3 soak. I wanted to post my mistake here so other beginners, like myself, avoid the same folly.

I had carefully made a 700ppm solution of GA3 and water. I put the seeds in for a 20 hour soak. I used small plates as my soaking containers. Most of the water evaporated over the 20 hours effectively raising the ppm to dangerous levels for the seeds. I'm guessing it reached over 2000ppm but thats just a guess. So far, 2/110 have germinated after 12 days.

So the lesson: In a dry environment, use sealed containers to do your GA3 soaks.

HCC

(New Wisdom or Mandrake, if you feel this post is better off somewhere else, please feel free to move it  )

5 Likes Mandrake, Caium, New Wisdom, Seed Collector and fairdinkumseeds like this.

[New Wisdom]

Yeah, I always make sure to use a covered container for the soaking. I actually use those little contact lens cases (for smaller amounts) and i close the lids

2 Likes happyconcacti and Sunshine like this.

[Roze]

Lycium barbarum (goji berry)


750ppm
4 hour soak
95% germination (after 3 days)
worm cast/ perlite
From dry berrys


It was a nice surprise to see that the seeds from dry berrys are still viable.

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