Hello fellow hybridizers,
I am toying with the idea of doubling the chromosomes of some diploid roses I’m hoping to use in
my hybrid programme. I hope to use the method described the David Z. on the forum.
My biggest problem as yet is securing some Trifluralin in the form of a liquid EC. I have a bag of granular Rival which contains 10% Trifluralin
Has anyone dealt with this situation, and what rates should I use to obtain the concentrates specified by David?
Chuckp
Canadian Prairies, Z3
As an adventurous type person, I’d try to see if I can extract the treflan from the granules. Obviously when it is applied to soil it dissolves and is taken up by plants. It isn’t a powder that you dust on them as I understand it. so it will be water soluble. You get 1 part per thousand active ingredient if you dissolve 10 grams of the 10 % solid in a liter of water. So two teaspoons per quart is about right. Then dilute to whatever is recommended. 1 part per thousand is 1000 ppm. You are presumably putting a small drop of this on the growing point between cotyledons. It’s more art than science. Enough to inhibit cell division without killing the plant is the target. Plant size makes a considerable difference, so does drop size.
You could practice on radishes or turnips if you thought they have the same sensitivity as roses. Very cheap, fast germinating dicots about the size of rose.
Chuck: Rival also contains a compound called Triasulfuron, its action is on the plants metabolism and would kill your seedlings. You would need some fancy equipment to seperate these two compounds from each other. Trifluralin acts by stopping the formation of the spindles which pull the doubled chromosomes to poles located at each end of the cell. If you live in a rural environment or know some one ask a farmer for some Trifluralin, thats how I obtained mine. The concentrations you can use are between 1: 70,000 down to 1: 130,000. Do not exceed 1:70,000 otherwise cell damage will be too severe with death. Interesting work has been done using this as long as you know the limitations. Chin up.
Great idea Warren!! Trifluralin for farm situations is sold under the brand Treflan. You can also get Surflan which has oryzalin as an active ingredient that is similar to trifluralin. Both of these are liquids that can be diluted down easily. Farmers usually by it by the gallon and you can hopefully get just a small volume from someone. That’s a great idea Larry to practice on some other easy to germinate seedlings!!
Thank you Warren for pointing out the hazards of brand names. I checked up on what we call the MSDS (now officially just SDS - Safety Data Sheets). In the U. S. Rival is only Triasulfuron. But in BC of Canada Rival is only 10 % trifluralin (Treflan brand name in US). So rather different products but same name. The one in Canada is restricted to certain regions for reasons totally obscure to me, whether about trade names, or usage licensing I have no clue. So for ChuckP my suggestion is still OK, but maybe nowhere else in the world. I don’t know if the Treflan is still patented. Treflan 5G is 5 % trifluralin. 3.8 % kerosene or other oily solvent applied to clay or limestone, depending on distributor in U.S. Other kinds of Treflan as a liquid are available here too.
I recently read an article,My “lazy mans"method to double the chromosomes of diploid or triploid roses”.
This link takes you there.
http://home.roadrunner.com/~kuska/chromosome.htm
Henry, thanks for publishing it. Has anyone else tried this and what was the outcome?
chuckp
Zone 3,
Would be happy to have an answer to that question too.