Anyone used Promalin or another growth regulator to induce branching? I am familiar with notching to induce branch but I am interested in inducing branching in sweet cherries. Due to the risk of canker I would like to use a method that doesn’t involve cutting tissue.
I’m planning on getting some from midwest grower supply for this spring, they were out of stock a couple months ago and I haven’t checked back yet. for my cherries and a couple really whippy apples. here’s some random background info I had bookmarked:
greg lang mentioning promalin on cherries
promalin + notching, also greg lang
an article on notching and promalin effectivness on apples
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I found some here but I would like to find a smaller quantity. I really don’t need 32 oz of the material.
Some other references for promalin-
If you do a search for Giberellic Acid 4+7, you will get more useful hits than by searching Promalin.
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ga 4+7 search finds this but it doesn’t have Benzyladenine which promalin has. Benzyladenine helps branching. can you recommend some specific product? my searches aren’t getting anything that matches the promalin label with Benzyladenine and ga 4+7
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I believe it is the active ingredient in Keiki paste. It is commonly just called cytokinin, or BAP on labels.
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so 32oz of promalin has 1.8% weight/weight of BA/BAP (16g) and 1.8% weight/weight of ga4+7 (16g). $100
a guy on ebay sells BAP powder $25/50g and GA3 (not GA4/GA7 but studies I googled show it has similar effects) $42/50g. this would be about triple the amount in 32oz of promalin for a bit less money so I guess it’s a better deal? and he has smaller sizes available
they’re both water soluble, I have a nice gram scale, so using powders and mixing my own seems like a fine idea - right?
50g- 6 Benzylaminopurine Plant Hormone-Cytokine BAP 99% Certificated | eBay BAP
Gibberellic acid 99% 50 Gram Plant Growth Hormone CAS#77-06-5 | eBay GA3
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I can’t guarantee the same effect as GA 4+7, but it looks interesting. I have been looking into doing the same thing, but have not gotten around to it yet. I am interested to see how it turns out.
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It appears that generic versions of the grow regulators are available. They’re mentioned at the bottom of this link.
Brand / Generic
Maxcel = Exilis Plus
Promalin = Perlan
Perlan is cheaper on a per oz. basis but it ships in a larger container. Perlan is for sale at this link-
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I did some more reading and the general idea is BAP/BA helps branching and GA helps shoot growth. maxcel is BAP alone. I don’t need shoot growth on my trees, I’m trying to fix blind wood, so I ordered 50 grams of BAP on ebay for $25, that should be a lifetime supply or at least a shelf life supply. I would have gotten less but the smaller quantity sellers didn’t look as trustworthy
The maxcel + latex paint rate is 5000-7500 ppm of actual BAP. So in 1oz (~28g) that would be .14 - .21 g of BAP. I have an 8oz sample container of paint that I’ll use, that would be 1.1-1.7g BAP which is easier to measure with some accuracy
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I used it on my apples and cherry trees and a few others this spring, along with scoring above buds. I didn’t do anything scientific but I did generally get some nice branching where I wanted it. So I can’t say whether it helps but my literature review was enough to convince me to buy a $20 (lifetime) supply on ebay and use it
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Did you mix with paint or just with water? Was the branching quick? I have ordered some but read in an article mid July is too late to use?
I used it in water in a spray bottle with the dilution ratio from one of the papers I found. I scored and sprayed in the couple weeks before growth started through the start of growth. yes it might be too late the usual recommendation is just before the first warm days in spring
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