GA3 can enhance work of the bee


Blueberry growers now have access to gibberellic acid, a plant hormone used at bloomto induce production of fruit without fertilization.


By Judie Steeves I


t isn’t expected to replace the work of bees to pollinate berries, but there’s a new game in town to help enhance fruit set, especially in seasons when bee pollination is low due to weather conditions or other factors.


Gibberellic acid (GA3) has been used for years in other parts of the world, including the United States, to enhance fruit set in blueberries. Ken Curry is a chemist with more than 35 years experience in drug development and he is vice-president of GroSpurt Canada, which has sole registration in Canada for GA3. He explains that it is a naturally- occurring plant growth hormone used at bloom to induce parthenocarpy (the production of fruit without fertilization). Pollen, he notes, has a high presence of GA3. Without pollinators, or adequate pollination, GA3 alone can be used to induce fruit set. Pollination results in development of the seed, not the fruit. The fruit is used to protect the seed and lure creatures in to eat the fruit to spread the plant’s seeds. The two are not


necessarily linked.


Curry describes the use of GA3 at bloom as “an insurance policy for blueberry growers,” although he says this year they intend to look at the potential for enhancing fruit set in cranberries as well.


Despite what is a revolutionary product, he doesn’t feel it will ever replace bees in inducing fruit to set. For one thing, the resulting fruit tend to be seedless, so the fruit can be smaller.


However, another use for GA3, and the use cherry growers have been making of it for years, is to increase


size and firmness when the fruit begins to ripen, before harvest, and he says berry growers could also use it at that time for similar results. The trade name is FruitSize, following its common use on cherries for helping them size up well. Since GA3 was only registered for use on crops such as blueberries in 2015, last year was the first it was used by blueberry growers in the Fraser Valley. Curry says he hasn’t talked directly to growers yet about its success, but “I’ve heard they were very happy with it.”


British Columbia Berry Grower • Spring 2017 21


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