Using Flower-Inducing Agents (Growth Retardants) to Force Flowering

The main factor affecting flowering in plants is the nitrogen element, which must be at a low level to fall within the range suitable for flower induction. Nitrogen varies directly with the gibberellin hormone — that is, when nitrogen is high, gibberellin (GA) increases, and when nitrogen decreases, gibberellin also decreases. In nature, factors that cause nitrogen levels to drop, or reduce gibberellin production, include falling temperatures, plant stress, or, in the old days, smoking the plant's canopy, and girdling branches to create wounds, among others. These natural factors stimulate the plant to flower.

Today, further research has led to the use of certain hormone-based substances to reduce nitrogen levels within the plant, in order to suppress gibberellin production inside the plant. This causes the plant to move rapidly from the vegetative growth stage into the reproductive growth stage. Examples of such substances include paclobutrazol, uniconazole, and daminozide. These substances must be used in the proper proportions to force each type of plant into the production (fruiting) stage. This field of practice can be referred to as the balance of growth-inhibiting hormones.