Producers in the central United States are showing considerable interest in growing alternative crops such as specialty forest products for food, herbal medicinal, decorative floral and craft markets. Crops showing particular promise are shrubs and trees that produce decorative woody stems such as curly willow (Salix matsudana), scarlet curls willow (S. matsudana `Scarlet Curls'), french `Scarlet Curls'), french pussy willow (S. caprea), red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea), and branches of flowering trees and shrubs, including apple (Malus spp.), cherry (spp.), cherry (Prunus spp.), and forsythia (Forsythia spp.). spp.). The objectives of this study were to 1) determine yields and performance of 10 woody plant cultivars used in the floral industry, and planted in an alley-cropping configuration, and 2) quantify wholesale prices, establishment and maintenance costs, management and harvest labor inputs, and financial returns by cultivar. Production and performance data are derived from a 40-acre (16.2-ha) alleycropping trial in Nebraska containing 10 species or cultivars of shrubs that produce woody florals. Results are based on two harvests that commenced two and three growing seasons after establishment. Harvested woody stem size and quality were measured and determined, and sold to wholesale florists to determine prices and identify buyer requirements. Annual gross financial returns ranged from a high of $24.94/plant for scarlet curls willow to a low of $0.63/plant for bloodtwig dogwood (C. sanguinea var. atrosanguinea), while net returns per plant for these species ranged from a positive $17.46 to a loss of $1.30. Financial returns varied among species and cultivars due to the combined effects of annual marketable stem production, harvesting and processing labor requirements, and price/stem. Stem production increased over time due to subsequent coppicing of harvested plants. Overall findings indicate that commercial production of selected cultivars of woody florals in an alleycropping arrangement can be a profitable alternative to using conventional woody species.
Despite the hundreds of existing stone fruit (Prunus spp.) cultivars used for fresh market, there is a continuing need to develop new stone fruit cultivars as the requirements of the industry change. Over the last 20 years there has been a shift toward private breeding as the public sector decreases its support of these long-range programs. As a result there are fewer public breeding programs and many of those still operating protect their releases and partially fund their programs with royalty payments. Other trends that are shaping the development of new stone fruit cultivars are a need for smaller or more easily managed tree architecture, a trend toward the use of fewer agricultural chemicals, the expansion of production zones into the milder winter zones to allow year-round availability of stone fruit, a general diversification of fruit types being marketed, the increased awareness of the health benefits of fruit consumption, the need for better and more consistent quality, and given the global marketing of these fruit the increased need for enhanced postharvest qualities. The breeding programs of the world are responding to these trends and working toward developing the cultivars for the world markets of the future.
Logs of white and red oak (Quercus spp.), black cherry [Prunus serotina (Ehrh.)], sassafras (Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees), and eastern sycamore [Platanus occidentalis (L.)] were inoculated with eight strains of shiitake mushroom in 12-mm holes drilled 25 mm deep and spaced 15 cm apart down the log and 5 cm apart around the log in a staggered pattern. Logs then were placed in quonset houses covered with 80% shadecloth in Mar. 1991. The environment within these shaded houses was not modified otherwise. Harvested mushrooms were counted and weighed and biological efficiency (BE) was determined. White and red oaks produced significantly higher yields of shiitake mushrooms over the lifetime of the log than the other types of wood. Only one strain, CW25, produced significantly lower yields than the best four strains. Interactions among strains and seasons of harvest and the species and seasons of harvest were significant. The most productive mushroom strains and tree species yielded more mushrooms later in the life of the logs than the least productive strains and tree species did earlier in the life of the logs. BE attained from strain × species interactions ranged from 0% (WW70, CW25, and WR85 on sycamore) to 8.8% (WW44 on red oak) in an outdoor noncontrolled environment. The gross per cord value (at wholesale price) of shiitake harvested from white oak was $2475.00. The cost of producing one cord of shiitake is about $6.44 per log in a small-scale operation. A net return of $1509.00 per cord is realistic and includes the cost of labor.
by a number of soilborne pests, including pathogens such as Pythium spp. and Verticillium dahlia ; nematodes such as lesion nematode ( Pratylenchus spp.), root-knot nematode, and dagger nematode ( Xiphinema spp.); and competition from a wide
Consecutive replanting of peach (Prunus persica) trees on the same orchard site can result in various replant problems and diseases, including armillaria root disease (Armillaria spp.), which develops upon contact between the roots of newly planted trees and infested residual root pieces in the soil. There is little information regarding the quantity of roots remaining in stone fruit orchards following tree removal and land clearing. We investigated the utility of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to characterize reflector signals from peach root fragments in a controlled burial experiment and to quantify the amount of residual roots remaining after typical commercial orchard clearing. In the former experiment, roots ranging from 2.5 to 8.2 cm in diameter and buried at depths of 11 to 114 cm produced characteristic parabolic reflector signals in radar profiles. Image analysis of high-amplitude reflector area indicated significant linear relationships between signal strength (mean pixel intensity) and root diameter (r = -0.517; P = 0.0097; n = 24) or the combined effects of root diameter and burial depth, expressed though a depth × diameter term (r = -0.630; P = 0.0010; n = 24). In a peach orchard in which trees and roots had been removed following typical commercial practice (i.e., trees were pushed over, burned, and tree rows subsoiled), a GPR survey of six 4 × 8-m plots revealed that the majority of reflector signals indicative of root fragments were located in the upper 30 to 40 cm of soil. Based on ground-truth excavation of selected sites within plots, reflectors showing a strong parabolic curvature in the radar profiles corresponded to residual root fragments with 100% accuracy, whereas those displaying a high amplitude area represented roots in 86.1% of the cases. By contrast, reflectors with both poor curvature and low amplitude yielded roots for less than 10% of the excavated sites, whereas randomly selected sites lacking reflector signals were devoid of any roots or other subsurface objects. A high level of variability in the number of residual roots was inferred from the radar profiles of the six plots, indicating an aggregated distribution of root fragments throughout the field. The data further indicated that at least one residual root fragment would be present per cubic meter of soil, and that many of these fragments have diameters corresponding to good to excellent inoculum potential for armillaria root disease. Further GPR surveys involving different levels of land clearing, combined with long-term monitoring of armillaria root disease incidence in replanted trees, will be necessary to ascertain the disease threat posed by the levels of residual root biomass observed in this study.
. Twelve-year-old ‘Andross’ peach trees, grafted on the peach rootstock ‘GF677’ [a hybrid of peach × almond ( Prunus amygdalus )], were sprayed three times (30 May—15 d before pit hardening; 9 June—at pit hardening time; 24 June—15 d after pit hardening
apple ( Malus spp.), 22 plum ( Prunus spp.), and 10 grape ( Vitus spp.) varieties ( Hansen and West, 2009 ). Fruit is sold at the Apple House on the HRC grounds in the summer and fall where people can purchase new releases as well as numbered
grape ( Vitis spp.), cherry ( Prunus spp.), and citrus for the control of insects, including aphids (Aphidoidea), phylloxera ( Viteus vitifoliae ), and thrips (Thysanoptera). Recently, spirotetramat has shown the potential to control plant
), forsythia ( Forsythia spp.), and crape myrtle ( Lagerstroemia spp.) when applied using liquid soil injection or liquid surface drench ( Rose and Joyner, 2003 ). Research also indicates that response of trees and shrubs to fertilization is influenced by
[ Prunus persica ( Mindêllo Neto, 2005 )], guava [ Psidium guajava ( da Costa et al., 2003 )], and vanilla [ Vanilla planifolia ( Silva et al., 2009 )]. In Brazil, few studies have been performed on the effects of cutting age, growth regulator