W.D. Gobbee wrote an article for the Amateur Rose Breeder
I read that report and optimistically tried that treatment in 1978 on my whole seed crop. I might have gotten the soak a trifle too strong or left the seeds a few minutes too long, but whatever I did or didn’t do wrong, it was a disaster. I wrote about it in an article called “Radical Radicle Surgery” in the RHA Newsletter (1980 or so). Carefully constructed studies since then have shown essentially no advantage for rose germination with GA3 or other gibberellic acid variants. GA does help with germination of some other plants, but apparently does not help significantly (or at all?) with roses.
If you go to the articles part of the main page of this web site, there is a review that I wrote last year, detailing all results from all studies that had numerical data. fpr all the different GA products, and much else besides.
Larry Davis, couldn’t find your review but did find info under gb search and read accounts from 2005 which gave negative reviews from members.
Peter Harris, amazing how someone can write an article with distorted info. Easy enough to do and especially if you work for say, GB manufactures. There is a lot of that on the internet these days. May as well use spit.
Thanks for the feedback, all.
I just looked and the article is there- “A Century of Rose Germination Studies”. One complication is the identities of GAs. Naming is complex, purity uncertain, stability unknown. So mixtures that were sold might be what they were labeled, or might not.
And a extremely good article it is. I spent days off and on reading and thinking.
There is a big difference lab vs. general use in the pricing which reflects purity.