Propagation

Professional growers nowadays are supplying a large variety of plant species to their clients. A very labor-intensive process and in addition to the extensive audit work, it’s also a very error-prone process leading young plant propagators to expensive and often compromised solutions. That’s why TTA…

The use of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) grafting is gaining traction across the United States, but small-scale growers face the challenge of creating optimum postgrafting healing conditions. The practice of blocking light for a period of 2 to 4 days while maintaining high humidity is commonly…

News has come out that Russia will not allow imports of tomatoes from Uzbekistan, Turkey, Armenia, Morocco and some other countries anymore due to detection of the pepino mosaic. Speaking with a Russian fruit specialist, it seems this is all true except for the Moroccon imports. They are not able to ship…

The experiment evaluated the influence of different light qualities and 6-benzyladenine (BA) concentration in a medium on the leaf response of multiplied Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex Hook. f.‘Big Apple’ shoots. Three different light-emitting diode (LED) spectra—100% blue (B), 100% red (R) and red and blue mixture (7:3, RB)—were used, and a fluorescent lamp was used as a control (Fl). Concentrations of BA in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium were 1, 2.5 and 5 µM. Leaves developed under 100% blue light had a lower frequency of stomata and a smaller area as compared with those from plants exposed to light with red in spectrum. Under 100% red light, the leaf area and the frequency of stomata increased along with growing concentration of BA in the medium. The thickest mesophyll was spotted in the cross-section of leaves exposed to the blue LED light. Leaves developed under the 100% red light had the thinnest mesophyll layers. Increasing concentration of BA in the medium resulted in enhanced leaf blade thickness. The cross-section of leaf vascular bundles was only half of that in petioles. The leaves under the LED combinations had larger vascular bundles than those under fluorescent light. The highest level of photosynthetic pigments was noticed in the leaves grown under LED R and RB lights.

There are many different ways to carry out plant cloning: tissue culture, plugs, rockwool, and so on. At the same time, more innovative technologies have been coming up over time, which made cloning much easier. One of the most interesting is aeroponic cloning, which has many benefits for large-scale growers, as it allows them…

The beneficial effects that silicon (Si) has on plant growth as well as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses have been well documented for many crops in recent years. However, few studies focus on the effects of Si on plant growth during the propagation stage of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa, Duchesne). This study was conducted to investigate the optimal method for Si application during the cutting propagation of strawberry in soilless cultivation. Strawberry mother plants were supplied with Si through foliar spray, runner spray, or root drench before the cutting propagation, then half of the daughter plants in each treatment received continued Si supply through foliar spray or through root drench after the cutting propagation. The results showed that the plant height, petiole length and diameter, leaf length and width, shoot fresh and dry weights, and root fresh and dry weights were significantly increased by Si root drench both before and after the cutting propagation. Moreover, plants absorbed more Si by drench than by spray, and the absorbed Si was only able to be transported from the root to the shoot, and from the mother plant to the daughter plant.

After completing a successful summer planting season, Proplant Propagation announces another 5 acre expansion, to be completed in early 2021. In preparation for the expansion the company has doubled down on their biosecurity efforts with the completion of a new, larger and more automated building for cleaning trolleys and…

At the recent Grodan seminar, the second speaker was Roelands Plant from Ontario, a large propagator. The first speaker was Marta Streminski, and the third and last one was Thomas Douma. Read more about them in this previous article. Roelands Plant is a large propagator in Ontario, Canada. Edward Thoren, head grower with the company,…

Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Chairman Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan recently made a statement saying that in Pakistan, tissue culture technology is now starting to be used widely for large-scale plant multiplication, giving a science-based solution for plant propagation, disease elimination and…

In the video below you can see a huge lot of single headed tomatoes, two per block. Propagation Solutions writes that they are tough for a propagator, as in September they grow like crazy.  These tomatoes had a super generative growth from the beginning, which worked out well.  Source: Propagation Solutions.

There are economic and knowledge-based challenges that must be addressed for indoor farms to be viable in the United States despite their potential benefits. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify the needs of specialty crop growers and stakeholders interested in or currently using indoor…