Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/787641
22 FEBRUARY 15, 2017 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com can meet," Chang said. "If the growers buy directly from us, that's really much more efficient for everybody on this scale, as long as they are able to handle these trees. Large growers certainly can." Tom Auvil, research horticulturist for the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, agreed. "It provides a whole different opportunity to get access to plant mate- rials that are oversold for the next three to four years. Growers can short-circuit that backlog by learning how to farm them," he said. However, he said he also encourages people to con- sider the small, green-leafed tissue culture plants more like tomato transplants than apple trees. "They take a lot of care," Auvil said. The rootstock nurseries, mainly in Oregon, already have been selling to growers directly, and the fact that they can now get them from a tissue culture facility as well likely won't change that, said Bill Howell, manager of the Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute. "There's a lot of demand, that's for sure," he said. He agreed, though, that the product is different. "Growing a nursery tree, it's not easy. And the growers who take it on are carrying that extra duty and getting their own tree," he said. "For a grower to do it, it requires them to become a little more diversified, because instead of just growing a fruit crop, he's now growing a vegetative crop." Tissue culture history Chang didn't particularly like plants as a child, but as a university student in China's Heibei Province in the Beijing area of north China, the government assigned him a career based on his aptitude tests. "At the begin- ning, I didn't like it," he said, laughing. "After I got my degree I thought I would never touch it. Unfortunately — or fortunately — I have been working on it all the time since." Now, it's his passion. "He is always walking through the greenhouse, look- ing at the beautiful green plants, and he is so happy," said Shirley Feng, a biologist at North American. "Now, he has passion for the plants. You can see the smile. The combination of love and the ability to make money has worked well for him." Tissue culture techniques have been around for many years. Given the proper nutrients and plant hormones, pieces of leaves, stems or roots can often be used to generate a new plant. The plant material is generally separated with a fine scalpel into roughly 1-inch growing tips in aseptic conditions to protect against pathogenic microorganisms, and the tissue cultures are grown in sterile conditions with the proper media. Selecting the correct stock material for microprop- agation is the first step, requiring clean material and a carefully crafted media recipe for the culture process. Once workers know they have clean material and a proper recipe, plants are multiplied in the laboratory — a process that shows the efficiency and power of micro- propagation. From one shoot, within 12 months, North American can produce 400,000 plants. TJ MULLINAX/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Yongjian Chang and Shirley Feng of North American Plants walk through a nearly endless array of rootstocks that have been propagated through tissue culture and await shipment. TJ MULLINAX/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Jars containing tissue cultures are moved to a laboratory to propagate more plants.