I'm really not sure but I think your teacher is confused with 2,4,d. I have heard of 2,4,d used as a hormone, but I can't find a referance

Ethan

hey
I don't think he was confused.
I guess I will have to experiment for myself :( I hope I don't kill everything!!!

I believe Roundup inhibits synthesis of a protein which then kills the plant. I learned about it in Biochemistry years ago. If that's the case, I wouldn't think you would have any luck in using it to speed up plant growth.

oh... well, I'll just try it on beans or something.

Why not do a google search for plant growth hormones - like cytokinens, auxins and gibberellins instead of spraying with Roundup.

My understanding is that roundup is comparable to soap. 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T etc. destroy plants by the abnormal growth of their tissues, much the same way cancer does in humans. I do know that they do use 2, 4-D in plant cloning. I've read this in the Journal of Medicinal Plants & Spices. kevin

Regarding Roundup's mode of action on plants, kiahjk has it right. Alpha, Roundup will not act hormonally on plants. Although I think the world of teachers, they aren't always right. If you want to try plant growth hormones do a google search. Many experiments use gibberellic acid.

Here is a link that might be useful: experiment

I would start by doing serial dilutions. I recall that 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T worked best between 1:1,000,000 and 1:10,000,000,000 depending upon the plant tested. If RoundUp works there is no way of guessing what dilution to start with. You will either have to try them all or find where someone else has done it. The Biological Abstracts would tell you in someone else has tried it. I think BA is now called BIOSIS. You will need access to a university library to find BIOSIS unless you are in a magnet school with a bunch of money.

Hello, did anyone read kiahjk's post or JAYK's post?

Round up kills plants by PREVENTING normal plant action, not accelerating it to an abnormal level. All diluting it will do is kill the plant slower, or have no effect.

If you've seen any threads on round-up on GW, and they're have been many L-O-N-G ones, you'll know that JAYK has extensive knowledge of this product. I can understand experimenting and all, but if the hypothesis you are trying to test is decidely incorrect, you are only shooting at stars and hoping something good comes of it.

ok
thanks. I won't try it then. Im going to try w/ that 24-d thing.

Roundup (Glyphosate) works by interfering with photosynthesis. It does not change the "age" of the plant. You could still try subcritical doses just to see what happens.

Perhaps your teacher was refering to a quote similar to the following:

"When applied at lower rates, it serves as a plant growth regulator."

See the following definition of "hormone":

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hormone

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above quote

In college many years ago, I did an experiment with 2,4,d and 2,4,5,T (essentially Agent Orange) on the marine algae Crypticdinium codii. My position was that marine algaes could have been effected by the runoff and subsequent dillution of these agents when used as defoliants in Vietnam. It was an interesting experiment, whose final results are burried somewhere in my old college papers.

I do remember that the serial dillutions I used were pretty weak (1:1,000,000 or so), and that there was a definite effect on the algae. Higher dosages (1:100,000) caused blooms that quicly died out, while lower dosages caused the concentration of this algae to skyrocket.

I did not try this experiment on plants, nor did I try it on terrestrial organisms. Please be careful if you try this experiment, as both of these chemicals have small amounts of Dioxin as a contaminant in the manufacturing process.

Joe 'I have called poison control more than once, myself' DeRosa