What Does Daminozide Mean?
Daminozide is a plant growth retardant that’s often used to facilitate harvesting while preventing the fruits from falling off the plant or tree before they’re completely ripe. Once commonly used on apple trees, this chemical used to help ensure that the apples remain firm and red prior to storage.
Daminozide was one of the first plant growth retardants to be developed. First developed for ornamental plants, it was later used on food crops. Since it was approved for use back in 1963, Daminozide has since been withdrawn from the market by
manufacturers after health concerns were raised by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
In addition to Daminozide, Chlormequat Chloride and Paclobutrazol are similar plant growth regulators (PGRs) that are present in a number of popular products on the market and are used by a significant percentage of growers in the indoor gardening industry. Their safety regularly gets called into question by conscientious growers looking for a purer end product.
Maximum Yield Explains Daminozide
In 1963, Daminozide, which was manufactured at the time by the Uniroyal Chemical Company, was approved for use on certain fruits such as tomatoes, grapes, pears, peaches, and cherries.
Daminozide has been known to encourage fruit firmness as well as fruit-set maturity. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Daminozide carries a cancer risk to consumers. This is why it was withdrawn from the market in 1989.
Daminozide remains classified as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA. It is listed as a known carcinogen under California's Prop 65.
Daminozide, which is still widely used on ornamental plants, is often used with Chlormequat Chloride to increase efficiency. To enhance its benefits, gardeners often use it in spray applications on humid days since the sun can dry out the spray before it can affect the plant. Overhead irrigation should be avoided for a few hours after applying Daminozide.
As soon as the chemical penetrates the leaf tissue, it spreads fairly rapidly through the plant to inhibit growth of leaves and stems. Drenching this chemical is not recommended.
Right now there are two major commercial products on the market in the United States and Canada that contain Daminozide; Daminozide is an active ingredient in B-Nine (from OHP) and Dazide (from Fine Americas). Both of these products are in the form of a water-soluble granule and contain 85% of the active ingredient.
Daminozide can sometimes go by the names Alar, Kylar, B-NINE, DMASA, SADH, or B 995.
