Well, its been about 3 weeks now since I applied Gibberellic acid to my plants. There were several observations I’d like to report:
1) If the plant already had an almost mature spathe present, the spathe opened up prematurely.
2) If the plant had a immature spathe, the spathe had a growth spurt, and then slowed down. In some cases, it then melted.
3) Some plants showed spathes starting to develop within days of the application. Within this group, some spathes proceeded normally and opened up just fine. In other cases, the spathe was deformed.
4) In some plants, the petioles have elongated about 33% – even on existing leaves.
A few case examples:

In the C. elliptica pictured here, immature spathes opened up early. But then other spathes came up looking normal.

The C. alba pictured above had a spathe develop more or less normally, though I think its smaller than it should be. Not that I’ve ever flowered this plant before. Just a gut feeling here.

C. minima spathe pictured here is clearly deformed. The limb is greatly elongated.
It hasn’t opened up yet in this picture.

In the C. zukali pictured here, you can clearly see a twisted malformed immature spathe.

This L. narii ‘Red’ had a spathe develop more or less normally.
So, what’s the conclusion? It seems gibberellic acid does work, both on crypts and lagenandra plants to induce flowering. However, this acid should be used with caution, with a much less concentration than I used if you are to prevent malformation. What that concentration is? I’d start with 25 mg/l vs. the 250 mg/l that I used.
Hi there
These articles are cutting edge…
Sorry to leave this comment here but I’ve been trying to find a contact for you to see if you’d like to write a guest post on AquaDaily, but I can’t find one on your site.
I thought a guest post could be a good way to reach new readers, and obviously for us as we’d love to have some wisdom from you on the site. (Maybe 10 top tips for growing Crypts?)
I’ve already linked to your blog from here:
http://aquadaily.com/2009/01/01/eleven-excellent-aquarium-blogs/
If you’re interested, could you email me please using this form:
http://aquadaily.com/contactus/
Many thanks!
Owen
You are getting really good things into the Cryptocoryne´s world. Follow this way, I like it!
By the way, nice Blepharostoma trichophyllum, as pot covering in the 3rd picture.