Great reply thanks!!
If you happen to have links, or even keywords / authors, on any of the following concepts I'd love to read them- using auxins on collected materials (you meant using on tissue that is already exhibiting root phenotype to 'juice it up' basically like steroids in males right?), practical usage of powdered auxins on air-layerings (am about to do ficus.b and kumquat layerings this season and very-much want these first two layering attempts to make it!), and other synthetic hormones used in-general (I wish I could remember their names but I'd found a hormone, can't recall if it was an auxin, but it basically forced back-budding, I couldn't help but thinking it could be useful for coaxing otherwise-resistant species to back-bud, an activity I and many others could make great use of!!)
Thanks again, especially for the general-use advisement that less is better, I'm working with a 0.1% powder would you consider that a stronger or weaker product? The manufacturer advises using it straight, I've no idea how to approach the math for dosing the things I'd want to dose (as interested as I am in the ficus/kumquat layerings I'm just as curious about whether IBA could be used in a practical manner to boost survival% and speedy recovery of collected materials (bc's/bougies/whatever)
You tend to ask a lot of consecutive questions, nothing wrong with that, but for me personally that makes things a bit blurry. I'll try to answer them as best as possible.
using auxins on collected materials (you meant using on tissue that is already exhibiting root phenotype to 'juice it up' basically like steroids in males right?)
Exactly. Just do it. There's no harm in extra hormonal signalling. Auxin signalling is always from the growing end to growing end. Auxins are produced both locally as well as apically. But when you cut down a bunch of roots, that signalling gets disturbed, a source disappears. If you want growth at both ends equally distributed, then I personally believe it's best to supply some extra. I have bookworks on it, but those are proprietary. Keywords could include: rooting behavior, cutting, microcutting, in vitro regeneration, multiplication of [plant name], auxin response, auxin sensitivity, and so on. Unfortunately, there's no clear line on which keywords are used most in these kind of studies, so switch them up until you find something!
practical usage of powdered auxins on air-layerings (am about to do ficus.b and kumquat layerings this season and very-much want these first two layering attempts to make it!),
Powdered hormones can be taken up when there's moisture. But they're usually composed out of talc powder and/or ground clay, that repel water. This makes it sticky on damp surfaces, and slow releasing. Double the benefits. I personally do prefer gels, because they don't have large amounts of calcium in them.
and other synthetic hormones used in-general (I wish I could remember their names but I'd found a hormone, can't recall if it was an auxin, but it basically forced back-budding, I couldn't help but thinking it could be useful for coaxing otherwise-resistant species to back-bud, an activity I and many others could make great use of!!)
"The effect of plant growth regulators on [insert plant species]" is always a good start. Phytohormones, plant growth regulators, and the like can be found on wikipedia with sometimes pretty extensive functionality descriptions. In general, there are auxins (elongation) and cytokinins (adventitious growth). As well as actual steroids, that have a whole other function compared to human steroids. I do have to note that science just hit the tip of the iceberg. New hormones and steroids are discovered monthly and they are all added to inventories of laboratory suppliers. There's this supplier with a absolutely great catalogue, not because I want you to buy things, but because they have descriptions of both every single nutrient (and its function in plants) as well as almost every known plant hormone. You can find the PDF here:
http://brochure.duchefa-biochemie.com/Duchefa_catalogus_2010_2012/
Very much worth saving to your hard drive! A paper version can be bought for just a few cents (at least, that's what I see on their website).
I'm working with a 0.1% powder would you consider that a stronger or weaker product? The manufacturer advises using it straight, I've no idea how to approach the math for dosing the things I'd want to dose (as interested as I am in the ficus/kumquat layerings I'm just as curious about whether IBA could be used in a practical manner to boost survival% and speedy recovery of collected materials (bc's/bougies/whatever)
0.1% is pretty 'general' in strength. It's one gram per litre (a kilogram of water). Pines require at least 3% to root vigorously. Now, 0.1% could be strong enough, don't get me wrong!
If the plants are sensitive enough. If you use too much, they might
not root at all. So in general, less is always better. I'm using IBA and NAA both to speed up recovery. I'm not sure if it works, because I'm not risking a 'blank' control. Up until now, I'm at 95% survival rate based on 2018 and 2017. But it might drop to 70% in 2019 because I collected some plants in the dead of winter.
Let me rephrase that, I am sure it works, I'm just not sure how much of a difference it makes compared to no addition of rooting hormone.
My findings on a giant study I performed last year, over 5000 plants, are that rooting behavior with IBA compared to without is as follows:
- Higher amount of roots (higher overall number of roots)
- Roots have greater length (covering more distance in less time)
- Roots divide/branch and grow faster (faster restoration, by half a month)
- Roots have less girth and fewer hair roots (a big negative!)
In general, we concluded that A. restoration is faster and B. regular growth continues earlier and C. Auxin doesn't deplete as fast as literature says it does but also that D. plants require a cooldown period without auxins to invest in qualitative growth; the type of growth that matters for us. That same cooldown period is needed for plants to regain their auxin sensitivity and restore normal functions that were in high gears before. So using auxins continuously, is a very bad practice.
Activated charcoal can be used to suck auxins out of the soil. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can help preserve auxins in a solution.