Ben-Jaacov, J., ARO, Volcani Center (Emeritus), P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, 50-250, Israel

Flowering buds, about 40 mm long, were sprayed with aqueous solution of 1000 ppm gibberellic acid (GA3, using Berelex® produced by Valet Bioscience, USA) and 0.025% Triton® x-100 surfactant (produced by BASF, Germany). Treatments started on July 15, 2003 (in Israel, N. hemisphere). Treatments were: Control which was sprayed with water and surfactant; Single spray with GA3 and surfactant, only on July 15; Four weekly sprays with GA3 and surfactant, starting on July 15. Buds were measured on August 15, one month after treatments started. Lengths of the buds were: Control - 53 mm, Single spray - 81 mm and Four weekly sprays -105 mm. At harvesting time the control flowers were 93 mm long and those receiving four weekly sprays of GA3 were 121 mm long. The coloured involucre bracts were also much longer in the GA3 treated flowers than in the control flowers. The GA3 treated flowers were more attractive than the untreated control flowers. It seems that the vase life of the treated flowers was better than that of the untreated ones.