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GIBBERELLIC ACID-3 INFORMATION SHEET
Thanks to: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/GibberellicAcid.htm
GA-3 Quick-Start Instructions
Gibberellic Acid (GA-3) is safe and easy to use. If you want to get started right away, before reading the full instruction sheet, here is how. Some people have written that the full instruction sheet is needlessly complicated or intimidating, and they didn't feel ready to use GA-3 on their seeds. Sorry! Don't let my overly-scientific instructions keep you from trying it. It can all be summed up as:
1) Make the 1000 ppm stock solution, and the 500 ppm dilution.
2) Soak seeds overnight in one of these solutions.
3) Plant like any other seeds, and watch them grow. Easy!
Start by making your 1000 ppm (parts per million) stock solution. This is done by dissolving a 100 mg packet of GA-3 powder in 100 ml of clean water. This is a little less than 1/2 cup. If you have a 1000 mg (1 gram) packet of GA-3, add it to 1 liter (about 1 quart plus 1 cup water). If you have one of our kits, add the GA-3 powder to the container marked "1000 ppm", and fill with clean water up to the top mark on the side. Distilled or purified water is best, but most tap water is fine.
GA-3 takes a while to dissolve—overnight if you use cold water. If you are in a hurry, you can use hot water, or you can put the GA-3 powder in the container and add a teaspoon or so of rubbing alcohol. With frequent swirling, it should dissolve in a half-hour or so. Then add water up to the top mark. You can check to see if it is fully dissolved by shining a light up through the bottom of the container and swirling it to see any undissolved crystals.
This is your 1000 ppm stock solution. To make the 500 ppm dilution (which is used most), just mix equal parts of the stock solution and water. If you have one of our kits, fill the 500 ppm container up to the lower mark with your stock solution, and then add water up to the top mark.
You don't need much of the solution to soak your seeds—just enough for the seeds to fully swell. Most seeds can be soaked in the small poly-bags (in the kits). Tiny seeds should be folded up in a filter paper for ease of handling when soaking. Larger seeds can be soaked in a pill bottle, small jar, or one of the culture tubes supplied in the kits. Use the stronger stock solution on very hard to germinate seeds, and the 500 ppm on seeds that are just hard or slow to start. Don't use it on easy to start seeds unless you dilute it greatly. Normal, easy-to-sprout seeds will become very elongated and stretched out, then die if GA-3 is used on them. Use it on hard-to-start seeds only.
Is GA-3 Natural and Organic?
GA-3 is a naturally-occurring plant growth regulator. It is a completely natural, organic substance that is present in many plants, and in fact is essential to certain life-processes in many plants. There is absolutely, positively, nothing unnatural about it. It is produced by growing a naturally-occurring fungus in large vats and extracting the GA-3 from it. It is NOT produced synthetically by any chemical process, but is EXTRACTED from a plant (fungus), so it is just like many vitamins which are extracted from plants, or penicillin which is extracted from fungus. Its chemical structure is not changed in any way. Yes, it is sold under the chemical name, so it SOUNDS "chemical" but is no less natural than the vitamin C that is extracted into the water of a cup of rose-hip tea, or the vitamin E extracted from wheat germ. For example, "2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-(4',8',12'-tetramethyltridecyl)-6-chromanol" sounds like something you would not want to put on your garden, but this is just the chemical name for vitamin E.
GA-3 is NOT produced from a GMO as far as we know - we would very much doubt it, since it has been produced abundantly by the natural fungus for many decades, and there would be no reason to GMO it.
It is more natural than aspirin (a semi-synthetic) and safer than vitamin A. If you ate an ounce of pure vitamin A it would kill you!).
GA-3 is APPROVED BY MOST ORGANIC CERTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS. Commercial GA-3 formulations such as Pro-Gibb are certified by OMRI, the Organic Materials Review Institute - contact them at info@omri.org or (541)343-7600.
We cannot imagine that any organic certifying organization would not allow GA-3 for use in stimulating difficult seed germination. It is used in such microscopic quantities for this purpose - only a few micrograms enter the seed and it is utilized in the seed's growth so will not persist in the plant. In fact it is produced in many seeds by natural processes which break dormancy. Prohibiting it would be a crazy as banning putting seeds in your refrigerator to break dormancy, because this is "unnatural" cold, and since this will trigger GA-3 production within the seed. No matter how organic and careful you are, far more toxic chemicals are entering your growing grounds from air pollution and toxic rain, or leaching out of plastic pots or plastic or metal irrigation lines or even from the soles of your shoes. Pollution is a global reality for the entire biosphere. Pesticides have even been found in Antarctic ice. No portion of the planet is free from man-made toxins. GA-3 is already in many natural seeds and plants and compost on your land, and its use to help the germination of rare and difficult seeds has such great conservation value by helping to propagate these plants that its use is clearly justified. It is currently being used to help germination of endangered species in order to build up their populations, and to help propagate medicinal plants which are threatened by over-collection from the wild.
We now have a single report that one grower has been prohibited from using GA-3 to stimulate seed germination by her biodynamic certifying board. If your organic or biodynamic certifying organization will not allow you to use GA-3 to stimulate seed germination, please object strongly and have them contact us for more information. Point out to them that such a prohibition is extremely counterproductive and only serves to discredit organic and biodynamic methods. We are very interested to hear any reasons given for such prohibition. We are very interested to see any evidence that that the use of GA-3 for stimulation seed germination is in any way "unnatural" or harmful. We welcome open and productive discussion of this matter with any certifying organization.
Thanks to: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/GibberellicAcid.htm
GA-3 Quick-Start Instructions
Gibberellic Acid (GA-3) is safe and easy to use. If you want to get started right away, before reading the full instruction sheet, here is how. Some people have written that the full instruction sheet is needlessly complicated or intimidating, and they didn't feel ready to use GA-3 on their seeds. Sorry! Don't let my overly-scientific instructions keep you from trying it. It can all be summed up as:
1) Make the 1000 ppm stock solution, and the 500 ppm dilution.
2) Soak seeds overnight in one of these solutions.
3) Plant like any other seeds, and watch them grow. Easy!
Start by making your 1000 ppm (parts per million) stock solution. This is done by dissolving a 100 mg packet of GA-3 powder in 100 ml of clean water. This is a little less than 1/2 cup. If you have a 1000 mg (1 gram) packet of GA-3, add it to 1 liter (about 1 quart plus 1 cup water). If you have one of our kits, add the GA-3 powder to the container marked "1000 ppm", and fill with clean water up to the top mark on the side. Distilled or purified water is best, but most tap water is fine.
GA-3 takes a while to dissolve—overnight if you use cold water. If you are in a hurry, you can use hot water, or you can put the GA-3 powder in the container and add a teaspoon or so of rubbing alcohol. With frequent swirling, it should dissolve in a half-hour or so. Then add water up to the top mark. You can check to see if it is fully dissolved by shining a light up through the bottom of the container and swirling it to see any undissolved crystals.
This is your 1000 ppm stock solution. To make the 500 ppm dilution (which is used most), just mix equal parts of the stock solution and water. If you have one of our kits, fill the 500 ppm container up to the lower mark with your stock solution, and then add water up to the top mark.
You don't need much of the solution to soak your seeds—just enough for the seeds to fully swell. Most seeds can be soaked in the small poly-bags (in the kits). Tiny seeds should be folded up in a filter paper for ease of handling when soaking. Larger seeds can be soaked in a pill bottle, small jar, or one of the culture tubes supplied in the kits. Use the stronger stock solution on very hard to germinate seeds, and the 500 ppm on seeds that are just hard or slow to start. Don't use it on easy to start seeds unless you dilute it greatly. Normal, easy-to-sprout seeds will become very elongated and stretched out, then die if GA-3 is used on them. Use it on hard-to-start seeds only.
Is GA-3 Natural and Organic?
GA-3 is a naturally-occurring plant growth regulator. It is a completely natural, organic substance that is present in many plants, and in fact is essential to certain life-processes in many plants. There is absolutely, positively, nothing unnatural about it. It is produced by growing a naturally-occurring fungus in large vats and extracting the GA-3 from it. It is NOT produced synthetically by any chemical process, but is EXTRACTED from a plant (fungus), so it is just like many vitamins which are extracted from plants, or penicillin which is extracted from fungus. Its chemical structure is not changed in any way. Yes, it is sold under the chemical name, so it SOUNDS "chemical" but is no less natural than the vitamin C that is extracted into the water of a cup of rose-hip tea, or the vitamin E extracted from wheat germ. For example, "2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-(4',8',12'-tetramethyltridecyl)-6-chromanol" sounds like something you would not want to put on your garden, but this is just the chemical name for vitamin E.
GA-3 is NOT produced from a GMO as far as we know - we would very much doubt it, since it has been produced abundantly by the natural fungus for many decades, and there would be no reason to GMO it.
It is more natural than aspirin (a semi-synthetic) and safer than vitamin A. If you ate an ounce of pure vitamin A it would kill you!).
GA-3 is APPROVED BY MOST ORGANIC CERTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS. Commercial GA-3 formulations such as Pro-Gibb are certified by OMRI, the Organic Materials Review Institute - contact them at info@omri.org or (541)343-7600.
We cannot imagine that any organic certifying organization would not allow GA-3 for use in stimulating difficult seed germination. It is used in such microscopic quantities for this purpose - only a few micrograms enter the seed and it is utilized in the seed's growth so will not persist in the plant. In fact it is produced in many seeds by natural processes which break dormancy. Prohibiting it would be a crazy as banning putting seeds in your refrigerator to break dormancy, because this is "unnatural" cold, and since this will trigger GA-3 production within the seed. No matter how organic and careful you are, far more toxic chemicals are entering your growing grounds from air pollution and toxic rain, or leaching out of plastic pots or plastic or metal irrigation lines or even from the soles of your shoes. Pollution is a global reality for the entire biosphere. Pesticides have even been found in Antarctic ice. No portion of the planet is free from man-made toxins. GA-3 is already in many natural seeds and plants and compost on your land, and its use to help the germination of rare and difficult seeds has such great conservation value by helping to propagate these plants that its use is clearly justified. It is currently being used to help germination of endangered species in order to build up their populations, and to help propagate medicinal plants which are threatened by over-collection from the wild.
We now have a single report that one grower has been prohibited from using GA-3 to stimulate seed germination by her biodynamic certifying board. If your organic or biodynamic certifying organization will not allow you to use GA-3 to stimulate seed germination, please object strongly and have them contact us for more information. Point out to them that such a prohibition is extremely counterproductive and only serves to discredit organic and biodynamic methods. We are very interested to hear any reasons given for such prohibition. We are very interested to see any evidence that that the use of GA-3 for stimulation seed germination is in any way "unnatural" or harmful. We welcome open and productive discussion of this matter with any certifying organization.
20 Year Old Malawi Gold"
. It was worth a shot but time to move on 
