Abstract
Magnolia grandiflora 'D. D. Blanchard' trees have sylleptic branches that form in several growth flushes during the year. However, the buds that break are not always evenly spaced around the tree as required for top grades and standards. A series of experiments were conducted to test the effectiveness of 6-benzyladenine (MaxCel, Valent BioSciences) in promoting bud break from May 2004 to August 2005. Results were inconclusive. Painting individual buds was not effective. Two or three weekly sprays of 5000 ppm increased main branch numbers in some experiments, but not others. Growth rate, age of tree and environmental conditions may affect response.
