What's new
  • ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!

gibberellin + jasmonic acid = more trichomes?

I want to increase trichome production on my buds. To this end I read several studies available on the internet. From a study entitled “Interactive effects of jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and gibberellin on induction of trichomes in Arabidopsis” by Traw and Bergelson, I learned that that, “…gibberellin and jasmonic acid had a synergistic effect on the induction of trichomes, suggesting important interactions between these two compounds.”
http://www.citeulike.org/group/2438/article/853395

From this PGRs thread, I leaned that a good economical source of jasmonic acid was Jaz Rose Spray (thank you Spurr). :thank you: I already had some gibberellic acid that I bought a while back. Now I had everything to start my experiment.

The strain I used were six Bubblicious from Nirvana in their fourth week of flower, all in the same cabinet. I broke them into three groups. With two, I did nothing, Two others I removed from the cabinet and administered a spraying of Jaz Rose Spray (jasmonic acid). And the last two I removed from the cabinet and administered a dose of Jaz Rose Spray and gibberellic acid, as described by Traw and Bergelson. After the four plants had dried, I returned them to the cabinet.

Ten days later this is what I see:

The plants that received no treatment are progressing as Bubblicious always does, with light visible trichs on the buds, but very little frosting on the sugar leaves.

The plants that received jasmonic acid treatment only, show heavy visible trichs on the buds, as well as a light frosting of trichomes on the sugar leaves.

The plants that received the mix of jasmonic acid and gibberellic acid also show heavy visible trichs on the buds, a light frosting of trichomes on the sugar leaves AND a great deal of FOXTAILING. Foxtailing is considered a disagreeable trait by most gardeners.

Because of my strong attachment to my freedom, and a lack of technical prowess, I will not be posting any pics. :angrymod:

I hope this provides fodder for people more expert than me to examine more carefully the effect of jasmonic acid on trichome production.
 

bigwity

Active member
Veteran
yeah baby id like to do this test where did you get your products, did you notice any other affects on th plants
 

messn'n'gommin'

ember
Veteran
I knew that plants emit Jasmonic acid when under attack as a sort of early warning system to plants downwind, but I thought Gibberlin was a growth hormone? Maybe that would explain the foxtailing. :dunno:

Any tips on when, how much, and how often to dose?

Thanks!
 
I will not be using gibberllin ever again. The entire bud (tops and sides) are foxtailed almost 6" out!

What this experiment showed is that the jazmonic acid alone is all I need. Its effect on trichome production is dramatic.

I just followed the instructions on the bottle of Jaz Spray. I sprayed just once at week four.
 

grapeman

Active member
Veteran
Gibb is not for this crop. It causes stretching in most other crops on which I've used it on so I've never used it here. Thx for the report and the confirmation of my thoughts.
 
Gibb is not for this crop. It causes stretching in most other crops on which I've used it on so I've never used it here. Thx for the report and the confirmation of my thoughts.

Amen brother.

But as Traw and Bergelson (the authors or the study) write, there is most defiantly a "synergistic effect" when gibberellin and jasmonic acid are used together.

The plants that got just just jasmonic acid are much more frosty than the untreated ones, but the plants that received both gibberellin and jasmonic acid are just insane with trichomes, and getting more white by the day. I can't imagine what they'll be like when I chop in a few weeks.

If aesthetics or bag appeal mean nothing, than perhaps the combination of gibberellin and jasmonic acid just MIGHT be for you. It does work, but with foxtailing as a side effect.


Read the study here:

http://www.citeulike.org/group/2438/article/853395
 

softyellowlight

Active member
Nice experiment, brother! I can't wait to see the pictures if you have some!
edit: Just reread the first post. Well, at least would love to hear some smoke/yield reports =)
 

grapeman

Active member
Veteran
Amen brother.

But as Traw and Bergelson (the authors or the study) write, there is most defiantly a "synergistic effect" when gibberellin and jasmonic acid are used together.

The plants that got just just jasmonic acid are much more frosty than the untreated ones, but the plants that received both gibberellin and jasmonic acid are just insane with trichomes, and getting more white by the day. I can't imagine what they'll be like when I chop in a few weeks.

If aesthetics or bag appeal mean nothing, than perhaps the combination of gibberellin and jasmonic acid just MIGHT be for you. It does work, but with foxtailing as a side effect.


Read the study here:

http://www.citeulike.org/group/2438/article/853395
Too bad the authors did not just give us measurements in parts per million (ppm). Just makes everything easier.
 

spurr

Active member
Veteran
I want to increase trichome production on my buds. To this end I read several studies available on the internet. From a study entitled “Interactive effects of jasmonic acid, salicylic acid, and gibberellin on induction of trichomes in Arabidopsis” by Traw and Bergelson, I learned that that, “…gibberellin and jasmonic acid had a synergistic effect on the induction of trichomes, suggesting important interactions between these two compounds.”

There are many other papers studying effects from exogenous jasmonic acid application (often as methyl jasmonic acid, aka methyl jasmonate; MeJA) and trich production. See my post here with many studies, all full text, incl. the one you posted: link

The main reason exogenous application of the hormone jasmonate, ex., as jasmonic acid (JA), increases trich production is that JA (as MeJA) is critical to the formation/production of trichs. If a plant is a JA mutant, whereby no MeJA is formed, or MeJA is inhibited, the plant will not form trics (for the most part). GA3 also plays a key role in formation of trichs, that is why co-application of JA and GA3 has a synergistic effect often equaling greater trich production than just JA alone. That said, increased trich production, i.e., "density", as you found from Jaz alone, is quite noticeable.
Note: "JAZ" is the abbreviation for "jasmonate proteins". In this post when I refer to Jaz I mean the Jaz spray, not jasmonate proteins.
From this PGRs thread, I leaned that a good economical source of jasmonic acid was Jaz Rose Spray (thank you Spurr). :thank you: I already had some gibberellic acid that I bought a while back. Now I had everything to start my experiment.
No problem, but it was Oswizzle who told me about Jaz. However, Jaz is not the most ideal 'type' of jasmonate molecule in terms of increasing trich production. Jaz is "methyl di-hydrojasmonate" (MDHJ), which is far less well studied than other types of jasmonates for trich production, i.e., jasmonic acid, such as MeJA.

When a plant is sprayed with jasmonate molecules (e.x., JA) it converts them into at least two forms, one form being MeJA.

Of the forms of JA naturally produced by the plant, it's MeJA (an ester of JA) that effects trich production. What that means is (at least IMO) it's better to use MeJA than MDHJ (i.e. Jaz spray), because MeJA is already in the form best used by plants for trich production. MeJA is very well studied, and it's the type of jasmonate molecule most studied in terms of trich production from exogenous foliar application.

Using Jaz spray is good, but IMO, using MeJA is better, and when using MeJA we can control ppm. Like I wrote in my PGR thread, 50-100 ppm of MeJA is a good application rate. Testing with lower ppm is also a good idea, it's always best to use a little as possible for sufficient efficacy. I have tested MeJA for a few grows, and I plan to more thoroughly test it at various ppm's, with trich density assays using my microscope, in the very near future.

GA3 has a few uses for cannabis culture, and using it for trich production is a worthwhile goal. I have tested GA3 at various ppms and each time I used too much. I plan to test using 0.01 to 1 ppm in the near future, at 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 ppm. Applied alone and with MeJA, to study the effects on trich production. GA3 has also been used for sex reversal in cannabis.

The strain I used were six Bubblicious from Nirvana in their fourth week of flower, all in the same cabinet. I broke them into three groups. With two, I did nothing, Two others I removed from the cabinet and administered a spraying of Jaz Rose Spray (jasmonic acid). And the last two I removed from the cabinet and administered a dose of Jaz Rose Spray and gibberellic acid, as described by Traw and Bergelson. After the four plants had dried, I returned them to the cabinet.

Ten days later this is what I see:

The plants that received no treatment are progressing as Bubblicious always does, with light visible trichs on the buds, but very little frosting on the sugar leaves.

The plants that received jasmonic acid treatment only, show heavy visible trichs on the buds, as well as a light frosting of trichomes on the sugar leaves.

The plants that received the mix of jasmonic acid and gibberellic acid also show heavy visible trichs on the buds, a light frosting of trichomes on the sugar leaves AND a great deal of FOXTAILING. Foxtailing is considered a disagreeable trait by most gardeners.
Thanks for posting your results, and for testing. :tiphat:

FWIW, here is a good guide to designing plant experiments, re sample size, randomization and replication, etc:And here are two pretty good into wikipedia articles:
 

growshopfrank

Well-known member
Veteran
if you want to experiment with gibberellic acid Rambridge's blossom blood would be a good choice. the stuff causes stretch but if you apply it on a heavy indica strain around 3/4 finished or whenever the plant stops gaining vertical height the stretch will help increase yields,as the buds elongate then fill in

the statements above are from personal experience not some crap I read on the net
 
Last edited:

grapeman

Active member
Veteran
if you want to experiment with gibberellic acid Rambridge's blossom blood would be a good choice. the stuff causes stretch but if you apply it on a heavy indica strain around 3/4 finished or whenever the plant stops gaining vertical height the stretch will help increase yields,as the buds elongate then fill in

the statements above are from personal experience not some crap I read on the net

Actually, if I were to use gibb, this is what I would use.
 

Jaymer

Back-9-Guerrilla☠
Veteran
on the gibb so what are the foxtails just from the buds swelling past containment.

That way of literally applying hormone to culture terpine resin crystal s??????? you got me thinking about growing resin right in a petri dish. That would be neat to do mid flowering and somehow scrape the resin and then apply once more for before harvest, not to rip the plants but experimenting with specific resin harvesting boggles.
 
Another study I recently came across compares the effects of three different elicitors on the accumulation of the terpenoid essential oils in basil over a three-week period.


Terpenoid Essential Oil Metabolism in Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Following Elicitation

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4091/is_200611/ai_n17189964/

While basil is not cannabis, the same effects MAY carry over. The elicitors studied were chitosan, methyl jasmonate, and methyl salicylate.

This is what the study showed:

Chitosan: The plants treated with chitosan resulted in no induction of the monoterpene limonene and the response on concentration of the other terpenoids was more varied compared to methyl salicylate and methyl jasmonate.

Methyl Jasmonate: The plants treated with methyl jasmonate took192 hours after spraying to show a significant increase in terpenoid production, but “resulted in the most uniform response in biosynthesis” compared to the other two elicitors. Methyl jasmonate was the only elicitor that resulted in total percentage increase of β-caryophyllene, 1,8-cinelole, linalool and limonene.


Methyl Salicylate: While induction in the methyl salicylate treated plants occurred faster than with the other elicitors, the total percentage increase of terpenes showed a lower effect on methyl salicylate treated plants.

So, this study seems to show that methyl jasmonate is the most effective of the three elicitors studied in increasing terpenoid essential oils in basil.

The low showing of chitosan is interesting, since it is the active ingredient in so many hydo store potions that claim to increase trichome production.
 
on the gibb so what are the foxtails just from the buds swelling past containment.

This is foxtailing (not my pic)



29197SBHaze_9wksfoxtail2.jpg




But my two plants that received hormone treatment plants are much more severe, with very spindly stalks covering the bud, the calyxes on these stalks are spaced out about 1/2" apart. They are a mess.
 
B

BigTex

I'd like to try this experiment on my outdooor patch. Should I get Jaz Rose Spray or Jasmonic Acid in another form? Also apply the Jasmonic Acid about 4 weeks from the end of the flower cycle for peak effectiveness?
 
Also apply the Jasmonic Acid about 4 weeks from the end of the flower cycle for peak effectiveness?

Timing the application of Methyl Jasmonate in the form of Jaz Spray at the 1/2 way mark was based on some guess work.

I reasoned that at about four weeks, most of the the bud is formed, and the trichs start to appear. I feared that if I applied it any earlier, I might risk the plant devoting its energies being devoted to herbivore defense (trichome production) at the expense of weight.
 
Top