Uses:
Ethephon is used to promote pre-harvest ripening of top fruit, soft fruit, tomatoes, sugar beet, fodder beet, coffee and many other products.
Ethephon is also used to facilitate the harvest of fruit and berry crops (by loosening the fruit) and to accelerate post-harvest ripening (e.g. bananas).
Ethephon stimulates latex flow in rubber trees, hastens the maturing of tobacco and prevents lodging in cereals, Maize and flax.

Mode of action:
Ethephon is a plant growth regulator with systemic properties.
Ethephon penetrates into tissues and is translocated. Ethephon decomposes to ethylene which is the active metabolite.