Is Triacontanol Nature’s Gift to Growers?

Everest Fernandez looks at the natural plant growth regulator Triacontanol and its use in ‘bloom booster’ products.

Does your preferred bloom booster claim to have a ‘secret ingredient’ that will elevate the quality of your produce straight to the top shelf? Chances are, your ‘secret sauce’ contains a little triacontanol.

Triacontanol, sometimes abbreviated as “TRIA,” is a naturally occurring fatty alcohol located in the epicuticular wax of plant leaves. This biodegradable and non-toxic substance is found in the highest concentrations in sugarcane and alfalfa. Bees’ wax is another noteworthy natural source. It can also be derived from worm castings fed on a diet of 15% alfalfa meal. 

Five Key Benefits of Triacontanol

Extensive research has corroborated the significant role triacontanol plays in plant development. This compound is known to augment photosynthesis, increase plant biomass, enhance the efficient use of water and nutrients, and improve both the quality and yield of agricultural produce. 

TRIA induces the swift synthesis of adenosine, which serves as an intracellular signal within the plant cells, triggering an array of physiological reactions conducive to growth. This incredible capability to simultaneously influence several key biochemical processes is triacontanol’s superpower, making it a potent agent for regulating plant growth and energy metabolism.

1. Enhanced Photosynthesis: TRIA turbocharges the activities of enzymes related to photosynthesis, sending them into overdrive. This helps plants produce more of the glucose they need to grow big and strong. More fuel for growth is always a good thing!
2. Increased Biomass: After treatment, plants are visibly boosted, and biomass notably increases. Growers often report enlarged foliage—leading to higher photosynthetic rates—more robust stems, and a general increase in physical robustness.
3. Improved Nutrient Uptake: This organic plant growth regulator is well-known for enhancing a plant’s efficiency in extracting and using the available nutrients from the soil and in hydroponic environments.
4. Stress Resistance: TRIA can help plants tolerate harsh conditions better by improving their stress resilience. Your crops can power through when the going gets tough.
5. Yield Enhancement: With improved growth metrics and stress resilience, plants treated with TRIA generally produce higher yields with increased secondary metabolite production.

TRIA Products

Triacontanol can be applied as a root feed or via a foliar spray. It is insoluble in water, so emulsify it first by dissolving the compound in organic solvents or blending it with surfactants and wetting agents.

While commercial triacontanol products are available in large-scale agriculture (e.g., wheat and rice production), tracking down triacontanol at your local hydroponics and indoor gardening store might be more complex, depending on your local regulatory environment.

Several products branded as ‘bloom boosters’ and ‘terpene-enhancers’ in the UK and Australia contain triacontanol.

“Sumo Boost” and “Sumo Active Boost” by Shogun in the UK both openly contain triacontanol. “Nirvana” by Advanced Nutrients contains TRIA derived from alfalfa meal. (Note that this product was recently rebranded to “Tasty Terpenes”.)

There are many other products rumored to contain the booster, including SuperThrive and other popular boosters marketed to cannabis cultivators.

But, appositely enough, as soon as we call out cannabis, that’s when things start to get sticky. This is because cannabis is consumed within varying legal landscapes around the world. Countries like Canada have a federally legal and regulated cannabis market that proscribes the use of any form of PGR (natural or otherwise). Consequently, since Canada legalized cannabis, TRIA has been quietly removed from the formulation of some bloom booster products available there. (Nobody seems to have noticed.)

In the US, things are done differently with fertilizers and additives regulated at the state level. Cannabis cultivators should check with their local cannabis board. Generally, US state regulators have set limits that mirror concentrations typically found in nature. This means that organic living soil cultivators using alfalfa meal in their soil mixes (a natural source of triacontanol) should have nothing to worry about. Foliar-feeding triacontanol, especially close to harvest, is more likely to create residue issues than root feeding.

Application, Assimilation, and Fate

A little triacontanol goes a very long way! Around 0.1 mg/L or 0.1 PPM is considered an efficacious dose for root feed.

When TRIA is root-fed, its fate within the plant system is primarily determined by its role as a plant growth regulator and its physicochemical properties:

1. Absorption and Translocation: TRIA is absorbed by the roots from the growing medium. Once inside the root cells, it can be translocated through the plant’s vascular system, particularly the xylem, which transports water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant.
2. Physiological Effects: As already mentioned, TRIA can promote various physiological responses once inside the plant, such as increasing chlorophyll content, enhancing photosynthesis, stimulating the production of proteins and nucleic acids, and improving the efficiency of nutrient usage.
3. Growth Promotion: These physiological effects contribute to the overall growth promotion observed in plants treated with it, such as increased root and shoot biomass, larger leaf area, and sometimes earlier or more abundant flowering and fruiting. Note that some studies have also found that its effects can also be enhanced by additional magnesium. (Moaaarrrr calmag!)
4. Metabolism: Like other plant-derived compounds, TRIA undergoes metabolic processing within plant tissues. The exact pathways and transformations in cannabis specifically are not extensively detailed in scientific texts. However, it is postulated that it could convert into various compounds, potentially impacting plant growth and morphogenesis.
5. Residual Fate: Given its organic origin and affinity for fats, it will likely integrate into the plant’s waxy surface layer or other fat-rich structures. Its susceptibility to biological decomposition implies a reduced likelihood of remaining within plant tissues or the environment over an extended period.
6. Harvest and Quality Effects: TRIA has been observed to have implications on the harvest’s attributes, potentially amplifying yield and affecting the levels of cannabinoids and terpenes. Research conducted by Dr. Callie Seaman has indicated that applying it at the root level resulted in a notable uplift in CBD concentration, with a single treatment showing a 28-37% rise and dual treatments showing a 37-42% increase relative to untreated samples. Interestingly, despite the observed uptick in terpene synthesis, such enhancements were not statistically substantial in her findings.

Growers typically start incorporating triacontanol into their nutrient regimes at the beginning of flowering once actual flowers emerge. While some TRIA-containing bloom additives recommend use throughout the flowering period, many growers discontinue use by week five or six of flowering. There are some anecdotes of overuse or late use of triacontanol contributing to a ‘muddy’ flavor in harvested flowers.

So—in summary—a little TRIA goes a long way! Use it as a root feed for the first four or five weeks of bloom and then discontinue. And, if you’re growing cannabis within a regulatory framework, be sure to check whether it’s permitted or not.