Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/53575
IN MY VIEW Vicky Scharlau, Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers Clean plants: your reputation and your profit Healthy plant material is the foundation of a vibrant industry. I f you've been in the business very long, you know that plant diseases and pests are costly. They cost you money, time, and, if missed, even your reputation. To be competitive in a world market, you need healthy, clean planting stock. The problem is that producing clean stock takes years and, frankly, is often cost- prohibitive. I've been hearing these complaints ever since I started with the wine grape growers over ten years ago. And the complaints continue to come from more than just Washington growers. Clearly, clean plants have become enough of an issue to many, many producers that we now have a National Clean Plant Network. The NCPN is a network of grow- ers and nurseries supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the goal to provide you with high-quality plant material that's free of pathogens and pests. The network screens plants for diseases and exotic pests that can be spread by contaminated stock and be difficult and costly to control. The Clean Plant Network was created to help growers and nurseries prosper and remain economically viable in the face of worldwide competition. So, the real purpose of the network is to produce clean plant mate- rial, focus on getting rid of pathogens, develop testing techniques and therapeutic methods, establish guidelines and standards, and maintain blocks of tested plants. It represents five specialty crops: • Fruit trees (pome and stone fruit, including apples, crab apples, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds, pears, and quince) • Grapes (table, wine, juice, raisin, and rootstock grape producers) • Citrus (orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime and juice production) • Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries) • Hops Start clean, stay clean Healthy plant material is key to cost-effective production of specialty crops like the five listed above. Healthy material is easier to propagate than common planting stock and produces higher yields and better quality because it's been screened for viruses and other diseases. For Good Fruit Grower readers, I will refer to just two crops here. National Clean Plant Network - Fruit Trees provides "clean" virus- tested and certified planting material for fruit and nursery stock pro- duction, allowing growers to be competitive both in foreign and domestic markets. The headquarters for the NCPN Fruit Tree program is at Washington State University's Irrigated Agriculture and Research Center in Prosser. Two other centers are the Foundation Plant Service at the University of California, Davis, and the Southeast Budwood Program at Clemson University. National Clean Plant Network - Grapes has five clean plant centers across the nation to produce, maintain, and distribute healthy 38 FEBRUARY 1, 2012 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com