The persistence of effects of paclobutrazol or uniconazol on stem elongation was determined for several years after large-leaf Rhododendron and Kalmia latifolia were treated with a single-spray application of these triazol growth-regulator chemicals. Potted plants were treated in the second year from propagation, and transplanted into the field in the following spring. The elongation of stems was measured in the year of application and in the following 2 to 4 years. Treatments with a wide range of doses were applied in 1991, 1992, or 1995. For all except the most-dilute applications, stem elongation was retarded in the year following application. At the highest doses, stem growth was inhibited 2 years following application. The results could be explained by a model of growth regulator action that assumed stem elongation was inversely related to amount of growth regulator applied. The dose response coefficient for paclobutrazol was less than that for uniconazol. The dose that inhibited stem elongation one-half as much as a saturating dose was about 0.5 and 0.05 mg/plant, for paclobutrazol and uniconazol, respectively. The dose response coefficient decreased exponentially with time after application, with an exponential time constant of about 2/year. The model predicted a dose of growth regulator that inhibited 0.9 of stem elongation immediately after application would continue to inhibit 0.5 of stem elongation in the following year.
Photosynthetic activity and chlorophyll pigment concentration in Medicago x varia T. Martyn leaves treated with the Tytanit growth regulator
