Plant hormones can be used by us for many things rather than just for the plant to bend the shoot towards the light or bend the root downwards because of gravity.
1) Selective weedkillers.
2) Rooting powder.
3) Seedless fruit.
4) Fruit ripening.
Selective weedkillers are made from artificial auxins. These only work on broad-leaved plants like daisies and dandelions - weeds! They make the plants grow out of control and die. So, you could use this weedkiller on your lawn or a farmer spraying his fields to kill weeds and so leave more room for his crops.
Rooting powders also use synthetic or artificial auxins. Here, plant cuttings are dipped in the rooting powder which causes the bits of plants to grow roots faster.
Seedless fruit can be made when the flowers are sprayed with plant hormones that cause the fruits to develop but not the seeds. Some varieties of grapes have naturally seedless fruit but they are too small. These can be sprayed with gibberellins to make them bigger.
Fruit ripening can be controlled by spraying with plant hormones. This could speed up the fruit ripening or even stop them falling off the tree and getting damaged. The fruit would also get bigger.
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