Hello.
Someone gave me 5 grams of this hormone. He said to me that it promotes branching, flowering and dwarfism.
I was wondering what effect does it have on citrus trees. I can't find any free article on the internet about it.
Thank you!

As with any new chemicals that I would handle, I will first read up on the MSDS:

http://www.penglaichem.com/OLDPAGE/MSDS-6-Benzylaminopurine.htm


Then experiment with it to find out for yourself what it can do, especially if articles are scant.

covrig, 6-BA is a cytokinin - you will find a lot of general information by googling cytokinin. Cytokinins are used in plant tissue culture, to induce the formation of shoots from callus tissue, and in the orchid world they are used to break dormancy on lateral buds. There is a commercial product called KeikiGrow that is sold for getting dormant buds on orchid flower stems to produce new plants.

It would be interesting to try using it with citrus to get stubborn buds to break. I bought some for this purpose, but the concentrations required are small and measuring is a challenge. I think it requires a milligram scale to do things right. It's a project I haven't gotten around to doing yet.

Let us know what you do with it!!

I know what it is but I asked what effects it has specifically on citrus plants. I know some of the effects on some other plants.
Since I found only sparse information on the internet and I have some citrus trees to play with I'll try to experiment with them.

It's going to last a while but I'll post my results if someone is interested in them.
I am going to sacrifice 5 trees:

-a 4yrs old grafted clementine mandarin (already fruiting-but now it doesn't have any fruit on it)
-a 2yrs old Meyer lemon cutting (not fruiting yet)
-two 8 months old kumquat and calamondin seedlings
-a 1year key lime cutting (non fruiting yet)

I'll spray a 300ppm solution on each of them for 3 days in a row (this is the recommended duration of the treatment for other plants). After 2-3 weeks if nothing will happen I'll increase the concentration to 600ppm. After that to 1000ppm.

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I sprayed on some other plants 14 days ago and I already see something happen on some of them.

5 months old bougainvillea: induced base branching (every bud has grown a new branch) and I can see some flowers forming on the older branches.

cactus (bishop hat)-induced heavy flowering (inconclusive because it already had a flower when I sprayed it)

1year old washingtonia filifera- some leaves yellowing for now

punica granatum nana-massive leaf drop followed by bud activation

hibiscus- practically every bud on the plant (visible and invisible) is growing something).

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I'll be back with some results.

The mandarin is starting (I think) a high growth flush. In a couple of days I'll be sure.

I have never used 6-Benzylaminopurine on a citrus tree, however, I strongly believe it will act just like it does on other trees. The problem with using it on citrus in the USA, is that citrus is not listed on the label. I would expect that it will work well in reducing the distance between the internodes, and will await upon your tests, as to how well it works on branching.. - Millet (1186-)

You'll likely have to do a lot of pruning to thin out the excessive number of branches you get. Otherwise, the tree will look like it has a witch's broom disease. Because of the tendency to produce way too many branches, the synthetic cytokinins (including 6BAP) are generally not sprayed on fruit crops. Indeed, the only tree crop I'm aware of that they're used on (more often kinetin in this case) is Christmas trees, to make them fuller the season they will be harvested.
Malcolm

I know you can end up with a witch broom but that's why we have scissors. You can have a lot of cuttings after that.

For the "treatment" I used a very low concentration.

You can get a well balanced tree (on one of the seedlings I only touched specific buds with this hormone to see if they start to grow), keep the tree dwarfed, recover the tree faster after a leaf loss, induce flowering in stubborn trees or if you are selling citrus, have lots and lots of cuttings.

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I have noticed on the hibiscus that the flowers are not so big than before but I was expecting that.

The mandarin indeed is starting a ultra-high flush and only after a couple of days. One more interesting factor is that all the trees are in medium with a 68-70F (20C) temperature.

nice try , but what if you want to eat the fruits , are they suffering some changes or not.
I mean with all this E's in the food do you need your lemon on the tea to be over-hormoned
On calamondin tree did you applied on several bud or you used a mist spray on all of the tree to get that flushy leaves growth?

thx

I don't know why did you contact me here since we use IM every day.

6-Benzylaminopurine is a cytokinin hormone that exists already in all plants. 200ppm is a low concentration (200ppm sprayed.. and the plant doesn't absorb all that). In spring lots of budding plants have higer ppm of cytokinin than this inside their system. If you prune a branch for example, that branch will build-up a higher ppm concentration than I had sprayed.

What are you saying is a matter of choice.

Think about this: by applying synthetic feed, spraying with systemic insecticides or even non-systemic, watering them with treated tap water don't you get the same results?

If nobody had experimented before with anything, were would we have been now?
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I sprayed entirely the calamondin and the kumquat only a few buds.
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PS: I sprayed only the ornamental plants not the ones I use for the fruits. But if I get some nice results I'll apply them on all my citrus.

Covrig, Do you have a reference that 6BAP exists naturally in plants? I don't believe it does. The natural cytokinins in plants are normally zeatin and dihydrozeatin. Not that its being synthetic necessarily makes it in any way dangerous; I just have never heard that it actually exists naturally in plants.

Malcolm you are absolutely right. 6BAP is obtained artificially.
But if you compare 6BAP and the natural occurring cytokinins, their chemical formula are very close. If I remember well 6BAP is chemically stable compared to the natural cytokinins.
Sorry for not being that specific.

This BAP is some very interesting stuff. I have been familiar with it's use for a couple of years in my association with the daylily industry. The paste is used to increase proliferations which in turn, increase clones of a choice cultivar. Some daylily enthusiasts prefer BAP over tissue culture to increase their stock. With BAP, the clones are true to variety, it is not always so with tissue culture. It is easily obtainable. The chemicals to mix it with is readily available on eBay.

Covrig, keep us updated on your 6BAP experiment. I'd be interested in what your findings are.

Because of the central heating being turned on I think the results will be not so conclusive on some of the plants.

Citrus:

The mandarin tree still growing it's flush despite the cold weather.

The Meyer lemon cutting I think is starting it's flush but maybe it is because of the central heating.

Kumquat seedling started a witch broom flush.

Lime cutting: doing nothing yet.

Other:
The hibiscus is flowering profusely but the flowers are 50%smaller, they are produced 50% faster and they last 2days longer (they lasted only a day before) plus is growing like mad despite it has the worst possible soil and conditions.

Washingtonia filifera started to grow after some leaf loss.

Surprising results only after a week after spraying.
Every plant more or less has started a new growth flush (except the cactus).
We'll see in a week from now what happens. But only after 7 days to have all the plants in growth mode is something.