paroxide and germination breaker
Rodger Whitlock (Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:34:16 PST)

On 11 Jan 2015, at 9:52, Peter Taggart wrote:

You have been badly misinformed. Rooting powder contains an auxin (often indole-
acetic acid) that stimulates root development. Gibberelic acid (GA) is a
different compound altogether. Wikipedia has articles on "auxin", "gibberelic
acid", and "gibberellin" for those seeking further enlightenment.

Generally speaking (and very, very broadly) auxins promote root growth and
gibberellins promote vegetative growth. This is a gross simplification, but may
indicate why it's important not to confuse the two.

If you run into your "informant" again, Peter, do take the time to correct his
or her misinformation.

I used to know a guy who bred hybrid tea roses as a hobby. He used GA to
improve germination, but his first tries failed. He then carefully traced back
through the literature to the original source of the recommended concentration
and discovered that the recommended concentration in subsequent publications
was ten times the original. When he reduced the concentration of GA
accordingly, success followed. These plant hormones are very powerful and you
must avoid overdoses.

Ordinary drugstore hydrogen peroxide (3%) is suitable for sterlization of seeds
bearing diseases on the seed coat. Another friend repeatedly failed to
germinate seeds of Linum flavum compactum, apparently due to some kind of
fungus carried on the seedcoats. A short soak in hydrogen peroxide led to
success. I do not know of hydrogen peroxide affects germination, but it
apparently doesn't hurt it.

Incidentally and PS: Please, people, do not casually abbreviate chemical names
like "hydrogen peroxide" to "peroxide". There are many different peroxides and
only one of them is under discussion. Also be careful about spelling: it's
peroxide, not paroxide. If you don't know how to spell a word, Google is your
friend.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate