Plant Girdling?!?!

WalkedOnTheMoon said:

Hey Guys,

I was doing a bit of research for one of my classes and found something that struck my interest and was wondering what you all would think. It's called plant girdling. Essentially the concept is to remove the phloem off of the plant to stop downward flow of photosynthetic sugars. It is normally used to kill plants, but some fruit growers girdle certain parts of the plant so the leaves cannot transport their sugars downward leaving the only place of the phloem to sink into the collateral fruits. They do this to create fruits many times the size they would normally. Has anyone ever tried doing this with bud? maybe on just a lateral stem? i found it rather interesting

Click to expand...

i bet no one has tried it, you should do it and make a discovery thread about it, it may make you famous. take pictures lots of pictures could do just like a lil test on a small part of your crop

[SIZE=+1]The influence of girdling on flower type, number, inflorescence density, fruit set, and yields in three different olive cultivars (Barnea, Picual, and Souri)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] A. G. Levin[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] A[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] ,[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] C[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]and [/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] S. Lavee[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] B[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]A Dept of Plant Pathology, Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Experiment Station, M.P. Negev, 85280, Israel.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]B Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]C Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
[/SIZE]

Abstract [SIZE=-1] The influence of girdling on flower type and number, inflorescence density, and fruit set in 3 different olive cultivars (Barnea, Picual, and Souri) under intensive growing conditions using saline irrigation water was studied for 3 years. The density of inflorescences on the branches was not affected by girdling in any of the 3 cultivars during any of the 3 consecutive years studied. Also, no clear relation between the number of flowers and girdling was found in any of the 3 cultivars tested. The percentage of perfect flowers on the girdled scaffolds of cvv. Barnea and Picual increased significantly, except for Picual in 2002 where no differences were observed. However, no such difference between the non-girdled and girdled scaffolds was observed in cv. Souri. Comparison of fruit set on non-girdled and girdled scaffolds showed a similar and generally positive response to the treatment in the examined cultivars. However, in the third year of the study, no significant difference between the non-girdled and girdled scaffolds was observed. A significantly higher yield of the girdled trees was measured in the 3 cultivars during the first year after the winter girdling. Due to the young age of the trees the effect of girdling on yield was not further recorded.
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] Fruit size on the girdled scaffolds was smaller than those from the non-girdled ones, as a consequence a higher percentage of fruit set was observed on the first ones. The results presented in this study point to different varietal responses of olive trees to girdling. However, this might also be due to the young age of the trees in this study as well as the peculiar agronomic condition of the trees.[/SIZE]

Click to expand...

WalkedOnTheMoon said:

girdling can not only be done on trees... it is really only the process of removing a ring of phloem on a plant... the reason it is easier to do on trees obviously is because your phloem is part of your bark which just breaks right off, but i would imagine if you made a a cut all the way around at just the right depth, it is essentially the same as de-barking a tree.

Click to expand...

NewGrowth said:

It would be like micro surgery on something other than a tree so yeah it might be possible but no one is doing it on anything other then woody plants.

Click to expand...

fdd2blk said:

just grow a woody plant. View attachment 134271

never say never.

Click to expand...