Proceedings Library

One of the most common problems encountered in grafting is that of incompatibility. This inability of two components when grafted together to produce a healthy plant has been known for many

The site for stock plants grown for softwood cutting material should be convenient to the greenhouse so that collections may be made frequently when the wood is in just the right condition. On the other hand, plants grown as a source of seed, scionwood, or hardwood cuttings, may be grown wherever space is available. Neither the best nor the worst land should be used for this purpose. Sloping land should be planted on contour in conformity to good soil conservation practices. Fertility and available water are always prime requisites for the production of propagative material.

Nurseries and arboretums often feel compelled to keep propagating material of a large number of different clones, even though

Let us first consider the advantages of a stock block. The establishment of such a planting will enable us to:

1. Have our source of supply close at hand.
2. Give strong healthy cuttings as a result of controlled fertilization and cultivation.
3. Enable us to secure our cutting material when we want it with a minimum of time.
4. Be sure our materials are disease free by use of proper controls
5. Help preserve juvenility.

Now the disadvantages of planting and maintaining a stock block are as follows:

1. We will have to invest some capital to set aside an adequate amount of good land

A good stock block enables one's entire production to be taken from plants that are true to name. It is possible to produce more cuttings of better quality than when cutting plants which are destined to be sold. In working over material to be sold there is always the conflict of wanting to take the best propagating material and simultaneously doing whatever is best for the plant being cut. A stock block allows more flexibility. We may treat salable aged plants, or those being grown to be sold, to produce the maximum amount of body and to encourage flower bud development, while treating mother plants to produce the maximum amount of vegetative growth and to hinder or halt reproductive activity.

In addition a stock block provides a more reliable source of cuttings year after year.

Before we began to use a mulch, the soil in these beds, consisting of a heavy loam, was very hard in the spring, after the heavy winter rains and quick drying spring winds. Trying to break up that soil in the spring with a scratcher was slow work and was hard on the wrist, which has bothered me for years. So I started to look around for a better method to control these weeds and the hard soil condition After looking around I started to eliminate various mulch materials for one reason or another.

I had seen the sawdust used, which I thought had disastrous results. It broke down too fast, robbing the soil of nitrate nitrogen. As a result the plants turned yellow and needed constant feeding with nitrate. For that same reason I did not dare to use wood chips, chopped straw or hay. Then we

The most common practice is to graft on potted seedlings of J. virginiana, since they are easy to get in large quantities. The result, however, can be very alarming. You may have the misfortune of having the entire crop hit by blight, which results in very heavy losses in the potted understock. Last winter we did not have 50 per cent of our stock fit to graft on. For all the time and land it takes to produce a two year seedling, I have never seen a good ball dug on a juniper that was grafted on J. virginiana. Taking these four points into consideration for a ten year period I doubt if the overall stand in the field would be over 50 per cent.

Those varieties grafted on

As you all know the ginkgos are readily propagated from seed. In this seedling population you get both female and male trees. These female ginkgos produce a lot of seeds which, when they do drop off in the early fall and are stepped upon, leave a very unpleasant odor. To eliminate this serious problem many nurseries have been grafting or budding the male ginkgo. However, as with many other plants the question of ease and expense of production arose. If there was an easy method of propagation the male ginkgo could be sold at a more reasonable price and produced in larger quantities.

We, as propagators of small plants,

My father, who ran the Evergreen Nursery Company in Wilton, used frames exclusively for the propagation of evergreen cuttings. He was supplied in the wintertime with horse manure, until Bordens and Sheffield Farms turned from horses to trucks. When there was no manure available, they continued to propagate in frames but with inadequate bottom heat. It was their procedure to make cuttings in the summertime, starting about July.

Now this encompassed all sorts of evergreen cuttings that are familiar to you, such as arborvitae, chamaecyparis, taxus, and the junipers. They had rather good success. I think it was to some extent similar to mist propagation, because when the cuttings were once in the frame they were kept nearly airtight by bags placed underneath the sash. The frames were not opened unless it was necessary to syringe them, which was done on a sunny

The title that was assigned to me is "Will Seed From Northern Plants Produce Plants Hardier Than Those From Southern Regions?". This may be a controversial subject. I am sure that some of you feel that you have an answer to that question.

Many of my comments will stem from my own experience, some from work of colleagues, and some from work of others about which I have read or heard.

With your permission, I may deviate a little now and then from the subject of hardiness and swing occasionally into the subject of adaptability. They seem to go together, and it is often difficult to discuss one without also mentioning the other.

I feel that the propagators work does not stop at putting roots on a cutting. If he can not produce a finished plant economically, he is soon in financial trouble in this very competitive world. The transfer of this rooted cutting into the field has been a challenge to all of us. Many are getting good stands by placing them in bands or pots for a time and then transferring them to a field. There are a number of variations of this procedure but it is very costly in time and labor.

In order to reduce this high labor cost, we started six or eight years ago to transfer these rooted cuttings directly into the field. We were well satisfied with the results in all ways. The stands

The group is widely represented in the north temperature zones of both the eastern and western hemisphere. The native species of this country may not equal their asiatic cousins in spectacular flowering and fruiting characteristics, but they include several of the most adaptable forms. The species widely cultivated are natives of Asia, Europe or North America. In Addition to the few forms known to most nurserymen there are innumerable choice species that are practically unknown. As seen on the map of the distribution of Viburnum the major centers of concentration are in Asia, Eastern

It is an interesting tree from several aspects, ie, it belongs to a genus that is composed of only one species, and no other evergreen resembles it, in fact, no fossil records of it have ever been found. It is thought by some people to be a remnant of an age long past.

There is a natural stand of these trees in the mountains of Japan, (Mount Kojasnin), where they have attained a height of from 79 to 90 feet. Specimens are only rarely seen in this country. However, more people are now becoming quite interested in this plant and there are several nurseries in the New England area that are growing them. The umbrella pine is fairly hardy, growing as far north as Portland, Maine. Most umbrella pine are found in the East. Also, I understand that there are some

The term "pre-emergence" when used in reference to weed control usually means an application of chemicals after planting, but before the emergence of the crop or weeds. In the case of transplants or liners, however, it would be pre-emergence to the weeds only. The selection of the chemicals to be used for pre-emergence weed control will depend on whether it is being used on direct seeded crops or whether it is to be applied as a directed spray on lining out stock and also whether a liquid or granular application is being made. Certain sprays cannot be used on liners even when it is directed at the base of the plants without taking some chance of producing some injury The same chemical might be applied as a granular formulation without any injury.

Any material that will kill certain types of plant growth while allowing others to grow is dangerous if indiscriminately used. When using any of the materials on the market today, it will certainly pay to follow the manufacturer's recommendations and try the material to be used on a small scale to ascertain how it will act under local conditions.

In our case, the young stock planted in beds was the most expensive area of the nursery to keep clean. The material planted in field rows is planted so that mechanical cultivation is possible, leaving very little hand work to be done. Labor in our section of the country is probably quite a bit higher than it is in most, making it nearly economically impossible to grow our own liners.

Our area of bedded stock consists of about 2&frac12 acres. In an area

With increased production and sales of ornamental plants grown in containers, both the producer and merchandiser would like to find a substitute for the Number 10, black asphalted can that has been used to produce much of the stock grown in the "one gallon" size of container. Emphasis on packaging has called the attention of nurserymen to the need for a dual purpose growing and selling container for the smaller sizes of landscape ornamentals. Functional, colorful, plantable, cheap pots would have an increasing, expanding market in the years ahead.

It was therefore the purpose of this study to determine if the 6" &times 9" experimental peat pot* fitted with a polyethylene jacket might serve as a forcing container for hybrid tea roses, which are usually potted early in the spring, forced, and sold during the summer months.

It is a common nursery practice to grow ornamental plants in various sized containers for periods of time varying with the type of plant and size desired for marketing. It is possible with plant types which make up quickly, to start in the early spring with a well rooted cutting and produce a finished, landscape sized plant in one gallon container in one growing season. Slower growing plants, which includes many of the evergreens take much longer to reach marketable size, and for this reason are often shifted up from smaller containers before they are sold.

The purpose of this study was twofold, first to determine the feasibility of using a peat pot having a polyethylene jacket as a growing container for a rapidly growing and a relatively slow growing plant, and second to establish the response of these two types of plant materials to different mediums.

Past experience and observations made at the Gwenn-Gary Nursery, Columbiana, Ohio, in large-scale production of cuttings has shown that those cuttings with nodules on the stems rooted more quickly and produced more roots than those without nodules The differences were particularly noticeable with cuttings of Spiny Greek juniper (Juniperus excelsa ‘Spiny’) as those with nodules rooted 70 to 80 percent, while tip cuttings without nodules rooted as low as 10 to 15 per cent A study was therefore made at Michigan State University during the winter of 1960 to compare the

It is customary for the speaker to begin by saying how pleased he is to be here, but I do so on rather a different level because it is not often that a speaker has the opportunity to give essentially the same speech under the same title twice in ten years

It was in 1951 that the Plant Propagators Society came into being, and quite by chance it fell to my lot at that time to put forward some ideas as to how our society should be organized. Last week, as I read through the proceedings of this first meeting, I realized that I could hardly improve on what I had said ten years ago. It might be simpler if I suggested you read the first three or four pages of proceedings Number I and sat down. However I feel you expect a little more of me than that.

I am deeply conscious of the importance of this meeting to you and of my responsibility to it. Fortunately my position is rather an impregnable one, because events have proven that the ideas of ten years ago have

Techniques of propagation which insure the successful production of a dependable number of strong grafted plants for nursery sale are essential to the program of providing the planting stock for the expanding horticultural industries of this state.

Various types of mechanized grafting techniques have been used for several decades in the European grape industry. Many hundreds of thousands of bench-grafted

First of all, let's take the non-infectious diseases. They are usually easy to correct. You can get 100 per cent results with them, but you don't have any interest in these because you know the answers to them.

Cankering is common on taxus after it has been lined-out in the field. We find it

Present economic conditions in the U.S. prohibit such an operation. It wasn't long after benchgrafting became a reality that enterprising nurserymen and growers began to develop

Before the use of machines, vines were budded in the field. A good budder, working with two assistants, would bud from 300 to 400 vines in an 8-hour day. There were other disadvantages besides this relatively slow rate. To find mature budwood before the rootstocks run out of water and cease growing is difficult in non-irrigated vineyards. This relatively short period, when field budding is possible, occurs in late August and early September, at the beginning of the vintage, the busiest season of the year. If the bud-graft does not take, that portion of the vineyard is idle for another year

In the winter of 1951–1952, the Novitiate purchased a grafting machine from Mr. Leon Brendel of St. Helena, California. This machine makes

About 1951, we planned to graft some of our pear trees to the variety Red Bartlett. Since the wood was very scarce, we decided to make a bark graft using one bud, set in the stock. This would provide a better take.

We used a 5 kilowatt electric generator and an electric chain saw to remove the tree tops. A band saw was used to cut the scions, always leaving one or two buds on the top of the scion and making sure that one of the buds was facing the outside of the graft This method was successful in producing take as high as 98%. When this method was used on apple trees, the results were nowhere as satisfactory. The cambium seemed to be injured by the saw.

About 1953, we started growing Malling rootstock for dwarfing apple trees. We grafted apple root below Malling 7 and 9,

Many of the fine horticultural collections of the world have been built on the importation or exchange of seeds A good seed list of a reliable dealer is a kind of magic carpet which brings the plants of the world to us regardless of where we live.

Most of the seeds which we use in our nurseries present no particular germination problems for a reasonably skillful propagator or even the rankest amateur. If, on the other hand, we consider the whole field of plants we may fairly state that seed germination is indeed a complex problem.

The existing

There are two primary reasons for my view. The first is that the more dependable and economical propagation becomes, the more predictable and profitable production becomes. The second reason is my belief that only through cooperative development of knowledge and techniques can we hope to advance our methods last

With advancement of agricultural sciences and the extensive research work by our men in the University in the different departments, many things have been learned which we did not know 20 or 30 years ago. For instance, we know that certain organisms attack the roots of walnuts. The ones with which we are primarily concerned are nematodes, more specifically, the lesion nematodes, Pratylenchus vulnus and Pratylenchus penetrans which are the most damaging to walnuts. There are, of course, other disorders with which we are concerned, such as crown gall, rootknot, nematodes, crown rot, etc.

We learned also of the desirability of other rootstocks which possess resistance to some of these diseases as well as

Thus when I established my own commercial nursery several years ago, it was only logical to pick up seedling production practices where I had left off working for the government.

In other discussions we have referred

The following trees will be discussed: Liquidambar styraciflua, Pistacia chinensis, Ginkgo biloba, Magnolia grandiflora and Quercus ilex

Liquidambar

Your program committee asked me to discuss our experiences concerning the propagation of Pistacia at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Introduction Station, Chico, California, particularly as these experiences relate to P. chinensis.

Interest in the genus Pistacia is rapidly increasing throughout much of this country. Thus far this attention has centered on Pistacia chinensis Bunge, a fall coloring shade tree, and on P vera L., which produces the edible pistachio nut of commerce. Additional species such as P atlantica Desf, P. intergerrima Stewart, P. Lentiscus, L., P. terebinthus L, and some hybrids of these are also promising as shade trees or for rootstocks

Most of our research with Pistacia has been concerned with P. vera as a potential new crop for this country. To a lesser extent this research has also included work with Pistacia species and hybrids as rootstocks for P vera, and with P. chinensis as an ornamental shade tree Although there are problems in

Our present method is to pot all our summer cuttings in Jiffy pots. We hold them during the winter in frames. The potting medium used is one-half sand and one-half peat. We fertilize once a week, using 20–20–20, Rapid Gro, until the end of August. The pots are covered in late November with line gravel to prevent heaving. The frames are covered with tar paper. This is removed in April and the potted cuttings are watered once a week.

We can begin planting in May. We use two Smallford planters drawn by a Farmall tractor. Four men plant approximately 20,000 per day at 12 inch settings. We have a very small loss.

We use the shield bud and have had the best success with using buds that have not pushed or enlarged, and the wood mature enough to be firm. This selection has given about a 96% take, whether budded in spring or fall, or at what height the bud is placed on the seedling stem

In growing the Pistacia, we have tried several methods and are still using or testing three. They are described as follows:

1. Plants are field grown and bare root transplanted.
2. Plants are field grown and bare root transplanted to five gallon cans

We have reduced cutting loss to a point so close to zero that it no longer interests us to figure loss Cuttings grown under glass are expensive! We cannot afford to lose them.

In addition, under the sanitary conditions of the U. C. System, we have cut production time almost in half by being able to propagate a large percentage of our material in the pots in which they are sold. For example, Crotons take twenty-eight days to root to satisfy us. If rooted in bed, bare-rooted, then potted, we must allow nearly the same time for establishing. By rooting in the pot, we use merely the twenty-eight days From our point of view, this is a gift of 60% to 70% more greenhouses.

We have the usual aids — low and high pressure mist, heating cables, fan and pad cooling, etc. We have learned from

The intermittent mist system is composed of a series of mist nozzles controlled by a system of solenoid switches, clocks, and intermittent timers. The nozzles used are the Spraying Systems ¼TTN4W nozzle or the Flora-life wire baffle nozzle. The interval of misting varies between 12 and 18 seconds "on," every 6 minutes during hot weather and every 12 minutes during cooler weather. The TORK timer is used, because of its versatility in setting intervals. The timer makes a complete cycle each 6 minutes, however, by connecting all the interval timers to one master timer any multiple of 6 minutes is possible. In this way, the timers can be set to give the minimum amount of water for the corresponding weather conditions. Electric clocks are set to turn the system on in the morning and shut it off in the evening. The moisture present is usually sufficient to carry over the cuttings through the night.

I have been asked to talk to you gentlemen on "Mist Propagation, with Emphasis on Hardening-Off" We in the Northwest who propagate with mist, work under climatic conditions of greater variation than you here in California. However, we must meet certain conditions and factors that are common to both of us. First, a good, clean rooting medium must be used that will afford excellent drainage, second, a supply of good, clean water, third, bottom heat; and fourth, an assist from a rooting hormone.

We have, in the Portland area, good, clean, sharp sand. Several propagators are using PERLITE, a manufactured coarse material that affords excellent drainage yet has the ability to hold a great deal of water in its expanded structure. Clean, pure water is no problem; in fact, we sometimes have too much.

The bottom heat we use depends on the crop we are growing. We had several weeks of high, 90-degree weather this past summer. A 3-foot bench, filled with Clematis armandi cuttings, without mist, maintained a bottom temperature of 65 degrees, which seemed to be the right temperature for the best results. When the weather cooled off,

As an essential preliminary to our discussion, we should first consider briefly some of the wider aspects of the misting techniques. I like to think of misting as being a better method of controlling water loss from cuttings,

The chief benefit of potting for us is that we have been able to eliminate the planting of any coniferous material into beds, thus saving the tremendous amount of hand labor involved in keeping the beds clean. We are able to plant directly in the field, and to sell the liner directly from the row as a B & B plant.

We use two types of pots in our operation. For our grafting understock we use a 2¼" plastic rose pot, which has to be removed before planting. For our cuttings we use a 2¼" or 3" square peat pot.

Cotoneaster horizontals, and C. praecox are potted because of low survival. I have found that leaving summer cuttings in the rooting medium until spring and transplanting them bare root has often showed a 25 per cent to 50 per cent loss. By potting them after they have rooted and placing them in a frost free frame, usually 95 per cent survive the winter and planting operation in the spring. Magnolias, viburnums, Pink dogwoods, and Japanese maples are also potted. These items after potting are placed in a controlled warm frame

Our climate may be described as sub-tropical. Geographically, however, we are located in the Temperate zone. Exact location, relevant to the nearest point of land, is 568 miles from Cape Hatteras. The nearest west indian island is Abaca, some 700 miles to the south west. Contrary, to general belief, we are not part of the West Indies, but are indeed, very much an isolated land mass.

We owe our congenial climate entirely to our close proximity to the Gulf Stream. Frost in unknown. The lowest recorded temperature is

Realizing this overhead expense, some growers have experimented with mist lines to eliminate the need for using sash. During the summer this has proved very successful in grafting Japanese maples, dogwoods and

Green grafting of rhododendron is a kind of a special situation, because I think almost anyone agrees today that a rhododendron is better off on its own roots. There are a few situations, however, where it is just about necessary to graft. There are a few rhododendrons that are not vigorous enough on their own roots and there are a few, that will not root from cuttings. Mrs. C. S. Sargent, for example, which is just about universally recognized to be about the finest often is described by the nurserymen as being impossible to root.

Rhododendrons have traditionally been grafted in the winter in the greenhouse. A few years ago I read about topworking old plants by grafting. I then adapted this technique to the propagation of new plants by green grafting, since it seemed to me to be far superior to dormant winter grafting technique.

The understock can be almost any kind of a two or