That's insane! I love it.

Tell me about any environmental impacts? How dangerous the stuff is? How much the stuff costs? And how large your plant was at the onset of the year so I have an idea of the root system - and maybe soil type I guess?

Pretty slick if I may say so myself.

Dax

Interesting experiment, though it really needs a multiple test with untreated controls to find out for sure.

How did you manage to get hold of the GA3 solution?? Not exactly an off-the-shelf product at Walmart!

Resin

I have a pseudotsuga willsoniana from 2004 seed its now
3ft high. Its grown 12inches this year I add Osmicote
to the peat Im going to plant it out this year.

GA should be easily available in most states in the USA. It is not a controled/restricted use chemical....used in commercial cherry orchards for sure and probably other areas of agriculture. I would think the only time it would be hard to find is areas without a lot of ag./hort.

Here is another one. Axillary bud activation in the axils of all needles of 2-year old wood. I have certainly never seen this before. Again, pictures were taken in September 2007, GA3 treatment was during the 2006 growing season. 1st picture test, 2nd picture untreated control.

I am using a 90% pure, technical grade GA3. I got 100g of it from Advance Scientific & Chemical (www.advance-scientific.com, CAT# GIB100) a couple of years ago for $99.00, and still have almost all of it. At a ppm-level usage rate, 100g of GA3 will last me forever.

That is some wild stuff man.

Thanks for the info.

Regards.

If the 2006 treatment increased the 2007 shoot's length, it would have done so by increasing the number of stem units, or needles laid down in the bud. But from the looks of this fir shoot, the unusual length is due to extra elongation of the stem units, which occurred in 2007. So it's not a slam dunk due to the GA. Actually such a response would be more expected from an auxin variety hormone. Also, I don't think GA has ever been found to increase fir growth, or pine or spruce, though there has been a lot of such trials. (Its effects are usually in the reproduction department mainly in Cupessaceae.) This looks like the result of heavy watering and fertilization during the period of elongation.
With regard to the pine (what's the species?)---
These are interfoliar buds, formed from the tiny apical meristems that formed the regular fascicled needles. They form in several hard pines (I've seen them in taiwanensis and they have been reported in ponderosa,contorta, plus others I can't recall) after injury from sawfly defoliation and browsing, respectively. In foxtail pine and the bristlecones they form spontaneously without injury. In the hard pines they form just below the injury when it's on new shoots, but the apical meristems usually only live part of the first year. So you can't be sure these interfoliar buds had not started their development prior to your treatment.
This is why replication is important, both in space and time.

"With regard to the pine (what's the species?)"

Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris. A uninodal species in subsect. Pinus.

Resin

Pinetree - Obviously, I don't have answers to many of the points you bring up. But believe me, there is a whole lot of unusual things happening in my yard since I started to play around with GA3, including what is shown here. (I am changing my conclusions - there are now at least a dozen plants that appear to be affected vegetatively by GA3). I am convinced that there is something there, and I will definitely continue/replicate the testing next season.