GIBBERELLIC ACID STUDY

The list below is seeds that I have right now. I will be using the following that have a star beside it, in my study. I will do 4 seeds in each of the following pretreatments (japanese maple will be emitted from acid scarification) :

-suggested pretreatment (but no stratification)
-acid scarification then suggested pretreatment
-acid scarification and soak in diluted gibberellic acid

I need suggestions on which seeds I should:
a) sow into soil in a small pot with a plastic bag over it
b) place in damp paper towel with a plastic bag over it

All seeds will undergo a light misting of diluted hydrogen peroxide whenever watering takes place (10% peroxide (3% drugstore kind), and 90% distilled water)

Beside the seed name you will see either "No germination" or " 'x' % germination" I have had no luck with germination of these seeds, except for musa ornata which I am using as a control

*TACCA integrifolia "Bat flower, Cat's Whiskers" - No germination
*WISTERIA sinensis, blue "Chinese Wisteria" - No Germination
*MUSA ornata - 33% germination
*ACER palmatum Japanese Maple - No germination
*ACACIA dealbata "Silver wattle" - No germination
*SANTALUM alba "White Sandalwood tree" No germination


Seeds I am NOT using in the study:

CEDRUS libani " Cedar of Lebanon "
PASSIFLORA caerula "Blue Passion flower"
PASSIFLORA sp. JS
PASSIFLORA quadrangularis "Giant Grenadilla"
PASSIFLORA edulis flavicarpa
BRUGMANSIA sanguinea
ERYTHRINA coralloides - Mexican Shower Tree
PROTEA repens "Sugarbush"
ENSETE glaucum "SNOW BANANA"
CANANGA odorata "Ylang-Ylang"
SOPHORA japonica "Japanese Pagoda Tree"
MUSA X sikkimensis "Daj Giant"
MUSELLA lasiocarpa "Chinese Yellow Banana"
MUSA paradisiaca
NELUMBO nucifera "Sacred Water Lily"
MUSA balbisiana
MUSA acuminata cv. "Dwarf Banana"
GUAIACUM officinale "Lignum-vitae"
GAULTHERIA pumila
EUGENIA victoriana
EUGENIA stipitata
FOUQUIERA splendens "Ocotillo"
FICUS auriculata Elephant Ear Fig Tree
RAVENALA madagascariensis "Travelers Palm"
FAGREA berteriana "Perfume flower tree / Pua Keni"
BLOSSFELDIA liliputans
CYRTOSTACHYS lakka - "Sealing Wax palm"
ENSETE glaucum "SNOW BANANA"
BACTRIS gasipaes "Peach palm"
HELICONIA psittacorum

If any of you want any other species listed to be used in this study, I would gladly trade any germinated seedlings for any plants that I will soon have listed under the seed/plant trading section of this website. Or I can sell them to you for a small price. I just don't have any room to keep them! Everyone, please watch this thread and my blog for any updates (should be about 2-3 weeks before I start). In the meantime I need your thoughts, experience and suggestions please! Also, if you would like to do your own study like this (even if it's one type of plant), or have done in the past, I would love to include your results with the results of this study

Blog link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/Janina5309/7059/


This message was edited Sep 13, 2007 2:26 PM

Why would you mist seedlings with hydrogen peroxide? You have picked plants with difficult germination or germination which I believe is extremely variable over the lot of seeds for that particular plant. When you get right down to it , cold stratification aside, germination comes down to fresh seed. It is interesting that the seeds you have selected as a group are primarily native to areas which suffer monsoon, which no doubt play a natural role in these plants' seed germination.

The hydrogen peroxide kills fungus, so it can help prevent things like damping off.

Thank you ecrane. I chose these seeds simply because I could not get them to germinate. I have not been able to find fresh seed, otherwise I'd be using them. If someone would like to donate these seeds, your completelly welcome to! But the purpose of the experiment, is to find if GIBBERELLIC ACID can break the dormancy of these seeds and/or provide a better germination rate of ones that I have proven able to germinate. I am really looking on other people's input as noted in my first posting.

As I am brand new at gardening, I have no recommendations. However, I will enjoy watching this thread. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We can all learn from science.

Traci

I have grown Pua Kenikeni / Fagrea berteriana easily from fresh seed. Lots of tiny seed in one fruit. Here in Hawaii I just put it in a tray of potting mix and stick it outside. Aloha

When I have germinated seed, I have used peat (soil, not moss). It has natural anti-fungal properties. If any of these have hard seed coats, chipping off the tips helps. I was able to get water lily to germinate in a few days using that method. The others, because of the tropical nature, I am less familiar with, other than to say, I believe some musa are sterile, and what could be seed is just aborted shells.

Thanks for your help! Instead of nicking the tips, I will use acid scarification instead. It helps remove the hard seed coat without damaging the seed. I have had a lot of luck with this

Hey Everyone! Letting you all know that I have recieved the GIBBERELLIC ACID. I am in the process of treating the seeds right now and will plant them Sunday. I will update my blog in the next few days as to how I treated the seeds and what soil mixtures / Paper towel I sowed them in.

I have succeded germinating tacca integrifolia seeds almost 100% after a month. The seeds was not fresh, I had them in my drawer one year after buying them.
This was my solution:
I filed the seeds with a nailfile (dont know if its important, but did it) before putting them in hot water (ca 50C) in a thermos one night. The next day I put the seeds in a plasticbag with wet vermiculite. The bag was laying in my livingroom-window until germination. It took one month before the roots was showing. I potted the seeds when I saw the first leave, and coverd the pot with a plasticbag to keep high humidity.
I also had 4 seeds of Tacca chantrieri and had the same experience with them. But I potted them a little to soon (I was a bit afraid to let them stay in the plasticbags to long and potted every seed when the first roots was showing.), and got only two plants from 4 seeds. I think its important to wait until the first leave is showing before potting, and not to plant to deep. In my second try of this I let them stay until one or two leaves was showing and they are growing faster than in the first try when I potted them earlier.

Thanks for your advice lineyri! Too bad I have already started the expirement. But the thermos idea is an excellent one! I think I will do this for alot of my future seed sowing. Thank you as well, for the aftercare advice.

HI Janina, I'm a little late in getting in on this conversation but how are you seeds doing. Are you using the ga-3 for the hard seed coats? I have a dog nail clipper which works great on larger seeds but small acaicia seed are impossible. I assume you have Dr. Denos book. I's good. Looking forward to seeing hw you are doing. I have had touble with some of the plants from new zealand like Richea and ranunculus lyallii or bauerii. Can't wait to see I love trying seeds. Thanks Heidi and Dragonfly

You know what? This study went horrible bad. Some of the soil I used was contaminated I guess, cuz in had these white wormy looking things in it. I had it by a large window and winter began, so there was a very cold draft. I think I will try this again come springtime.

I am trying to germinate Trollius Europaeus seeds. I soaked them in a 300ppm solution of gibberellic acid for 24 hours. I sowed them April 22 and today it's April 30 and they still did not germinate yet.

LOL! You need to wait longer than that! Many seeds can take 3 months or even a year to germinate. Check if the plant is deciduous (goes dormant in winter and loses it's leaves), if this is the case and they don't germinate in 3 months, put the pots in the fridge (called cold stratification) for 3 months, remove and put in bright light and they should grow

Those do need cold stratification.
Sow at 18-22ºC (64-71ºF) for 2-4 wks, move to -6 to -7ºC (19-21ºF) for 4-6 wks, move to 5-12ºC (41-53ºF) for germination

Yep, There you go!

So it looks like you started experimenting in 2007 with ga3 and PASSIFLORA seeds. We never heard back about your results. did the seeds germinate any faster?